FFT-based digital tactile vocoder system for real-time use.
A microprocessor-based real-time digital vibrotactile vocoder system has been developed to train the deaf and for artificial hearing research. The system is composed of a microcomputer module with a digital signal processor, interface units and an attenuator/driver circuit. Live or digitised (stored or synthetic) speech is presented to the skin spectrally through a belt housing eight or 16 vibrators. Speech is processed in real time using a fast Fourier transform. The system is also capable of presenting any arbitrary spatiotemporal pattern on the skin for artificial hearing experiments. A preliminary experiment with a deaf subject indicates that the system is potentially an effective device for artificial hearing.
Ozdamar
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O
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Miami, Florida 33124.
Lopez
C N
CN
Oller
D K
DK
Eilers
R E
RE
Miskiel
E
E
Lynch
M P
MP
D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D003638:Deafness / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted