Touch and Hearing Mediate Osseoperception
Journal article, 2017

Osseoperception is the sensation arising from the mechanical stimulation of a bone-anchored prosthesis. Here we show that not only touch, but also hearing is involved in this phenomenon. Using mechanical vibrations ranging from 0.1 to 6 kHz, we performed four psychophysical measures (perception threshold, sensation discrimination, frequency discrimination and reaction time) on 12 upper and lower limb amputees and found that subjects: consistently reported perceiving a sound when the stimulus was delivered at frequencies equal to or above 400 Hz; were able to discriminate frequency differences between stimuli delivered at high stimulation frequencies (similar to 1500 Hz); improved their reaction time for bimodal stimuli (i.e. when both vibration and sound were perceived). Our results demonstrate that osseoperception is a multisensory perception, which can explain the improved environment perception of bone-anchored prosthesis users. This phenomenon might be exploited in novel prosthetic devices to enhance their control, thus ultimately improving the amputees' quality of life.

frequency discrimination

transmission

stimulation

vibration threshold

osseointegration

rehabilitation

hairy skin

reaction-time

limb

vibrotactile thresholds

Author

F. Clemente

Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSUP)

Bo Håkansson

Chalmers, Signals and Systems, Signal Processing and Biomedical Engineering

C. Cipriani

Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSUP)

Johan Wessberg

University of Gothenburg

K. Kulbacka-Ortiz

Sahlgrenska University Hospital

Rickard Brånemark

University of California

Sahlgrenska University Hospital

Karl-Johan Fredén Jansson

Chalmers, Signals and Systems, Signal Processing and Biomedical Engineering

Max Jair Ortiz Catalan

Chalmers, Signals and Systems, Signal Processing and Biomedical Engineering

Scientific Reports

2045-2322 (ISSN) 20452322 (eISSN)

Vol. 7 45363- 45363

Subject Categories

Medical Engineering

DOI

10.1038/srep45363

More information

Latest update

9/6/2018 1