title: Monitor, a vibrotactile aid for environmental perception: a field evaluation by four people with severe hearing and vision impairment.
abstract: Monitor is a portable vibrotactile aid to improve the ability of people with severe hearing impairment or deafblindness to detect, identify, and recognize the direction of sound-producing events. It transforms and adapts sounds to the frequency sensitivity range of the skin. The aid was evaluated in the field. Four females (44-54 years) with Usher Syndrome I (three with tunnel vision and one with only light perception) tested the aid at home and in traffic in three different field studies: without Monitor, with Monitor with an omnidirectional microphone, and with Monitor with a directional microphone. The tests were video-documented, and the two field studies with Monitor were initiated after five weeks of training. The detection scores with omnidirectional and directional microphones were 100% for three participants and above 57% for one, both in their home and traffic environments. In the home environment the identification scores with the omnidirectional microphone were 70%-97% and 58%-95% with the directional microphone. The corresponding values in traffic were 29%-100% and 65%-100%, respectively. Their direction perception was improved to some extent by both microphones. Monitor improved the ability of people with deafblindness to detect, identify, and recognize the direction of events producing sounds.
authors.affiliation: Audiological Research Centre, Örebro University Hospital, 701 85 Örebro, Sweden. parivash.ranjbar@orebroll.se
authors.forename: Parivash
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ranjbar
authors.forename: Ingeborg
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stenström
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017753:Ecosystem; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012656:Self-Help Devices; D014110:Touch; D052245:Usher Syndromes / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D014732:Vibration