@article{ref1,
title="Monitor, a vibrotactile aid for environmental perception: a field evaluation by four people with severe hearing and vision impairment",
journal="ScientificWorldJournal",
year="2013",
author="Ranjbar, Parivash and Stenström, Ingeborg",
volume="2013",
number="",
pages="206734-206734",
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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2356-6140",
doi="10.1155/2013/206734",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/206734"
}