Abstract
BackgroundConsistency is one of the most important concerns to convey stable artificially induced sensory feedback. However, the constancy of perceived sensations cannot be guaranteed, as the artificially evoked sensation is a function of the interaction of stimulation parameters. The hypothesis of this study is that the selected stimulation parameters in multi-electrode cutaneous stimulation have significant impacts on the perception threshold.MethodsThe investigated parameters included the stimulated location, the number of active electrodes, the number of pulses, and the interleaved time between a pair of electrodes. Biphasic, rectangular pulses were applied via five surface electrodes placed on the forearm of 12 healthy subjects.ResultsOur main findings were: 1) the perception thresholds at the five stimulated locations were significantly different (p < 0.0001), 2) dual-channel simultaneous stimulation lowered the perception thresholds and led to smaller variance in perception thresholds compared to single-channel stimulation, 3) the perception threshold was inversely related to the number of pulses, and 4) the perception threshold increased with increasing interleaved time when the interleaved time between two electrodes was below 500 μs.ConclusionsTo maintain a consistent perception threshold, our findings indicate that dual-channel simultaneous stimulation with at least five pulses should be used, and that the interleaved time between two electrodes should be longer than 500 μs. We believe that these findings have implications for design of reliable sensory feedback codes.
Highlights
Consistency is one of the most important concerns to convey stable artificially induced sensory feedback
Human beings sense the external environment by exteroceptors and proprioceptors embedded throughout the body, and the receptors are wired to the central nervous system (CNS) via peripheral nerves
Within the study on a limited set of stimulation parameters in single-channel and dual-channel stimulation, we conclude that incorporation of a second stimulating electrode reduced the perception threshold
Summary
Consistency is one of the most important concerns to convey stable artificially induced sensory feedback. Injuries to the nervous system, for example transection of nerves following the amputation of a limb, impair motor function and result in abnormal sensory feedback or neuropathic pain [1]. In those with upper limb amputation, proprioceptive, kinesthetic and tactile feedback from the missing arm/hand is severely degraded. Sensory feedback can be artificially induced using, e.g., mechanical indentation, intraneural electrical stimulation or electrocutaneous stimulation [6,7,8]. A number of successful applications of electrocutaneous stimulation in the sensory feedback systems of artificial arm/hand were reported [11,12,13,14,15]
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