Trajectory Correction for Visually Impaired Athletes on 100 m Paralympic Races

peer reviewedThe paper reports an experimental study that was carried out in Manaus (Amazonas, Brazil) with the participation of eight visually impaired athletes on 100 m sprint Paralympic races. A trajectory correction system was used, based on an accelerometer and a gyroscope for motion detection, an algorithm to track the athlete’s trajectories and a haptic actuator for the interaction with the athletes. The experimental results show the relevance in the use of this type of systems in Paralympic 100 m races for visually impaired athletes, mainly with the purpose of increasing their autonomy by mimicking their guides.10. Reduced inequalitie

Réorganisation audiotactile suite à un entraînement multisensoriel ou à une privation auditive congénitale

Des études suggèrent que certaines capacités sensorielles peuvent être augmentées chez l’humain, soit i) à la suite d’un entraînement ou ii) à la suite de privation sensorielle précoce. Des études suggèrent qu’une telle altération sensorielle peut être retrouvée chez les personnes ayant subi un entraînement musical. L’interaction entre ce qui est entendu et ressenti est spécialement importante lorsqu’un individu joue d’un instrument de musique. L’entraînement musical est reconnu comme étant une forme d’entraînement multisensoriel incluant des interactions entre des composantes auditives, visuelles et tactiles. Celui-ci peut mener à des réorganisations anatomiques et structurelles dans les régions corticales associées à ces modalités sensorielles. Plusieurs études comportementales ont révélé des habiletés de détection tactile améliorées chez les musiciens. Il est toujours incertain que ces améliorations puissent être retrouvées lors de processus plus complexes tels que la reconnaissance des émotions. Une autre population d’étude pourrait aussi révéler une altération des capacités tactiles, soit les personnes sourdes de naissance. Des études en imagerie ont révélé que les stimuli vibrotactiles activaient les régions auditives chez les personnes sourdes, suggérant ainsi une importante réorganisation tactile chez ces individus. Pourtant, au niveau comportemental, les capacités de détection tactile semblent similaires aux contrôles. Récemment, il a été suggéré que des processus tactiles plus complexes pourraient permettre de révéler des différences comportementales entre les personnes sourdes et entendantes. Malheureusement, tout comme chez les musiciens, ces processus n’ont toujours pas été évalués à ce jour. L’objectif principal de cette thèse est donc d’évaluer i) la perception unisensorielle tactile, auditive ainsi que multisensorielle chez les musiciens et ii) la perception unisensorielle tactile chez les sourds à l’aide de tâches non-musicales et musicales. Chez les musiciens, les résultats de cette thèse suggèrent des capacités de discrimination fréquentielle auditive, tactile et audiotactile améliorées (étude 1) ainsi que des améliorations de la perception d’émotions musicales complexes auditive et tactile (étude 2). Ces études supportent l’hypothèse qu’une formation musicale à long terme : i) entraîne une amélioration des capacités unisensorielles auditives et tactiles, mais surtout que celle-ci s’étend à des processus tactiles complexes, ii) a un impact à tous les niveaux hiérarchiques du traitement sensoriel et cognitif. Chez les individus sourds, les résultats ont révélé un plus haut taux d’erreurs lors de la tâche de détection d’ordre temporel tactile (étude 3). Ce résultat suggère que la cartographie spatiale du toucher est altérée chez les individus sourds. De plus, l’étude ayant mesuré la perception des émotions tactiles a révélé que ceux-ci sont capables d’identifier des émotions via la modalité tactile seule et ont même une capacité améliorée à identifier la joie (étude 4). Cette capacité accrue à percevoir la joie dans une mélodie via la modalité tactile illustre que des habiletés tactiles complexes peuvent être améliorées suite à une privation auditive de longue date. Ces deux études mises en commun illustrent que des capacités tactiles complexes non-musicales et musicales sont altérées chez l’individu sourd, ce qui supporte les études suggérant une réorganisation corticale des aires auditives et tactiles chez les individus sourds.Studies suggest that some sensory abilities may be increased in humans, either i) following training or ii) following early sensory deprivation. Studies suggest that such sensory alteration can be found in people who have undergone musical training. The interaction between what is heard and felt is especially important when an individual is playing a musical instrument. Musical training is well-known as a form of multisensory training that includes interactions between auditory, visual and tactile modalities. This can lead to anatomical and structural reorganizations in the cortical regions associated with these sensory systems. Several behavioral studies have revealed improved tactile perception skills in musicians. It is still unclear whether these improvements can be found for more complex processes, such as recognition of emotions. Similar alteration of tactile abilities may also be found in another population, namely early-deaf individuals. Imaging studies have shown that vibrotactile stimuli activate auditory regions following deafness, suggesting a significant tactile reorganization of their cortex. Yet, from a behavioral point of view, tactile perception in deaf seems similar to controls. Recently, it has been suggested that more complex tactile processes may reveal behavioral differences between deaf and normal-hearing individuals. Unfortunately, similarly to musicians, these processes have not been investigated to date. The main objective of this thesis is therefore to evaluate via non-musical and musical tasks i) tactile, auditory and multisensory perception of music among musicians and ii) tactile perception of music among deaf individuals. For musicians, results of this thesis suggest enhanced auditory, tactile and audio-tactile frequency discrimination capabilities (Study 1). Also, results suggest an increase perception of emotions in music, which suggests improvements for complex auditory and tactile abilities (Study 2). These studies support the hypothesis that long-term musical training: i) leads to improved auditory and tactile perception, but especially that it extends to complex tactile processes, ii) has an impact at all hierarchical levels of sensory and cognitive processing For deaf individuals, results revealed a higher error rate during the tactile temporal order detection task (Study 3). This result suggests that spatial mapping of touch is impaired in deaf individuals. In addition, the study measuring tactile perception of emotion in music revealed that they are able to identify emotions via tactile modality solely. Also, improvements were found for the identification of happy emotion via tactile modality solely (Study 4). This increased ability to perceive happiness in a melody via the tactile modality illustrates that complex tactile skills can be improved following longstanding hearing deprivation. These two studies together suggest that complex non-musical and musical tactile abilities are altered in the deaf individual, which supports studies suggesting a cortical reorganization of auditory and tactile areas following long-term auditory deprivation

Design and fabrication of flexible tactile sensing and feedback interface for communication by deafblind people

Humans generally interact and communicate using five basic sensory modalities and mainly through vision, touch and audio. However, this does not work for deafblind people as they have both impaired hearing and vision modalities, and hence rely on touch-sensing. This necessitates the development of alternative means that allows them to independently interact and communicate. To do this requires a solution which has the capability for tactile sensing and feedback. Therefore, tactile interface becomes a critical component of any assistive device usable by deafblind people for interaction and communication. Given that existing solutions mainly use rigid and commercial components, there is a need to tap into the advancements in flexible electronics in order develop more effective and conformable solutions. This research involves the development of flexible tactile communication interface usable in assistive communication devices for deafblind people. First, commercial sensors and actuators were utilised as a proof-of-concept and then four novel tactile interfaces were explored which include two similar touch-sensitive electromagnetic actuators, one capacitive tactile sensing array, and a facile flexible inductance-based pressure sensor. The two fabricated touch-sensitive electromagnetic actuators (Type 1 and 2) are both based on electromagnetic principle and capable of simultaneous tactile sensing and feedback. Each comprises of a tandem combination of two main modules - the touch-sensing and the actuation module, with both modules integrated as a single device in each case. The actuation module employs a flexible planar spiral coil and a Neodymium magnet assembled in a soft Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) structure, while the touch-sensing module is a planar capacitive metal- insulator-metal structure of copper. The flexible coil (~17µm thick and with 45 turns) was fabricated on a Polyimide sheet using Lithographie Galvanoformung Abformung (LIGA) process. The results of characterisation of these actuators at frequencies ranging from 10Hz to 200Hz, shows a maximum displacement (~ 190µm) around 40Hz. Evaluation of this by 40 (20 deafblind and 20 sighted and hearing) participants show that they can feel vibration at this range. Another tactile interface fabricated is an 8 x 8 capacitive tactile sensing array. The sensor was developed on a flexible Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) sheet with column electrodes deposited on one side and row electrodes on the reverse side. It is intended for use as an assistive tactile communication interface for deafblind people who communicate using deafblind manual alphabets as well as the English block letters. An inductance-based pressure sensor was also designed, fabricated and characterised for use as an input interface for finger Braille as well as other tactile communication methods for deafblind people. It was realised with a soft ferromagnetic elastomer and a 17µm-thick coil fabricated on a flexible 50 µm-thick polyimide sheet. The ferromagnetic elastomer acts as the core of the coil, which when pressed, sees the metal particles moving closer to each other, leading to changes in the inductance. The coil, with 75µm conductor and 25µm pitch, was also realised using LIGA micromolding technique. Seven different sensors were fabricated using different ratios (1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:5, 2:1, 3:1, and 5:1) of Ecoflex to Iron particles. The performance of each sensor was investigated and generally, sensors with higher Iron particles gave better sensitivity, linear as well as dynamic range. In comparison with all other fabricated sensors, the sensor made with 1:5DD was recommended for application as a tactile interface

Influences of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Hand-feel Touch Cues on Sensory Perception and Emotional Responses toward Beverage Products

Consumer perception of and preference toward products are influenced by intrinsic product-specific (e.g., product temperature) and extrinsic non-product-specific (e.g., packaging or container) characteristics. Besides communicating information between products and consumers to create expectations toward the content at the point of sale, packaging also influences sensory perception of the content during consumption. Previous cross-modal studies on packaging effects on the content had largely overlooked hand-feel touch cues. Touch closely relates to consumers’ emotional responses to and their quality evaluation of products. One way to manipulate hand-feel touch cues in a beverage consumption setting is to vary materials of cup sleeve, which are served concurrently with brewed coffee (BC) and green tea (GT). This thesis aimed to determine 1) influences of intrinsic cues (product temperature) on sensory perception of and emotional responses to BC and GT; 2) cross-modal association (CMA) of extrinsic hand-feel touch cues (12 sleeve materials) with evoked emotions, basic tastes, and coffee-related flavors; and 3) cross-modal influences of extrinsic hand-feel touch cues (4 sleeve materials) on emotional responses, sensory perception, arousal, and valence of BC. Results showed both intrinsic and extrinsic cues influenced emotional responses to and sensory perception of BC and GT. Beverages at higher temperature were characterized by positive emotions, while those at room and cold temperatures were characterized by low arousal-negative emotions and high arousal-negative emotions, respectively. CMA between hand-feel touch and taste cues were confirmed to exist: bitter taste and black coffee flavor with cardboard sleeves; sweet taste and creamy flavor with towel; sour taste with stainless steel; and salty taste with linen. Correlations between certain textural parameters and sensory CMA were also observed: thicker and rougher materials positively correlated with positive emotions and sweet taste, while thinner and smoother materials positively correlated with negative and high-arousal emotions and sour taste. Additionally, coffee presented with samples (towel, linen, or stainless steel) were perceived differently, in terms of both emotions and sensory attributes, compared to cardboard (control). As highlighted here, touch cues are important in product evaluation. Professionals in food and beverage industries should consider incorporating more hand-feel textural features on product packaging or container designs

The Knotweed Factor: Non-visual Aspects of Poetic Documentary

This thesis is an inquiry into the creative processes of poetry and poetic expression in documentary. The practice-based element is a 60 minute video about a poet living in Exeter, UK, called James Turner. The documentary is entitled, The Knotweed Factor. This written element of the thesis contextualises the investigation as a discourse on blindness and visual impairment. There are few representations of blindness and/or visual impairment (VI) in The Knotweed Factor. Rather, the documentary is concerned with how visual information (e.g., filming a poet) is translated non-visually (e.g., the sound of the poem being recited). It also addresses the issue of how the non-visual is translated into the visual. I argue in this text that blindness/VI is marginalised in visual studies/culture. This is unfortunate because blindness/VI studies provides valuable context for understanding the dynamics of sound and vision in creative media, which is a central concern of The Knotweed Factor. The rationale for taking this approach is as follows: During the editing, it was noticed that Turner (who is sighted) provides a kind of unprompted audio description (AD) of events in his environment to the audience, as if he is participating in a radio documentary. This raised questions, not only about the ekphrastic possibilities of his technique, but also about the potential to contextualise such scenes as a disquisition on blindness/VI. Blindness/VI is an important and under-theorised element of visual studies/culture (VS/C). Many films, plays, animations, documentaries, and television programmes are audio described. AD enables the blind/visually impaired (also VI) to comprehend and enjoy visual action. It is suggested here that AD theory is an insufficient model for critically reflecting on the creative processes in The Knotweed Factor. This is because the field is presently more concerned with practicability than with aesthetics. It seemed more helpful to address the broader question of how blindness/VI is positioned in VS/C. Doing so has highlighted instances of exclusion and marginalisation in VS/C. In the course of the video production, it was discovered that the interaction of dreams, memories, and ideas (the mindscape) informs the temporal creative process. Most analytical models within VS/C (e.g., Deleuze) offer a dialectical approach to understanding creativity. Henri Bergson, however, proposes a theory of multiplicity, which considers the interplay of phenomenological creativity of the mindscape as a homogenous, multifaceted process, in place of a dialectical one. Martha Blassnigg interrogates Bergson’s responses to audiovisual media and argues that Bergson’s multiplicity formula is more useful for understanding these processes, both for artist and audience. Blassnigg interprets Bergson’s theory as a universality of idea communication. This thesis considers what the universality of audiovisual experience implies for blindness/VI studies. It does so by contextualising the written research as a discourse on VS/C. In The Knotweed Factor, the emotions, sounds, and visual ideas, memories, and dreams which inform James Turner’s creativity are conveyed to the audience in two ways: 1) By sound (Turner’s recitations, interviews, and conversations), and 2) by the documentary’s abstracted audiovisualisations of Turner’s poetry and mindscape. For Turner, the ‘image’ is a personalised, innate phenomenon. It is ephemeral, intangible imagination. Turner’s experience (audiovisualised in The Knotweed Factor) is compared in this written part of the thesis to pre-Socratic ideations of image-making. It is argued that for many cultures, the image was (and for some remains) an emanation of spirit or idea. In other words, the image was considered a transcendent force, and the ‘soul’ of the image eternal and universal. This transcendence is considered in this written element of the thesis as a bridge between the present academic gap in the fields of blindness/VI studies and visual studies/culture. In this text, The Knotweed Factor serves as a case-study to test how non- and minimal-visual elements of audiovisual art and media are positioned in VS/C. Constructed here is a history of the interpretation of blindness and the image, from pre-Socratic aesthetics to the Enlightenment, where ideas concerning the phenomenology of blindness and visual impairment were transformed into epistemological inquiries. This approach enables the researcher to reflect critically on the aesthetics of The Knotweed Factor, using the framework of the non-visual (in this case recited poetry) to test and interrogate the visual (i.e., ‘poetically’ visualised poetry)