The major concern of the Phase I feasibility study was the design of a wearable vibrotactile array. The proposed design consists of seven piezo-electric vibrators with all electronics and vibrators in one package and the power supply in a second package. Each package measures approximately 2 1/4"""""""" x 6 1/2"""""""" x 3/4"""""""" and is designed to be worn on the forearm of an adult or on the thigh of a small child. Each vibrator will have a separate filter and driving circuit associated with it to allow for the investigation of various coding schemes. Phase II development is divided into four stages: (1) construct breadboard devices with three different coding schemes; (2) evaluate the bench models on four functionally deafened and four profoundly deaf adult subjects and select one of the coding techniques; (3) construct twelve wearable units (engineering prototypes); and (4) field test the wearable units on six additional profoundly hearing impaired adults and contrast their performance with six non-aided control subjects. It is anticipated that Phase II development will result in a production ready vibrotactile aid for the profoundly hearing impaired with enough inherent flexibility to support alternative speech coding strategies.
