Tactile Substitution for Vision

Sensory Substitution (SenSub) is an approach that allows perceiving environmental information that is normally received via one sense (e.g., vision) via another sense (e.g., touch or audition). A typical SenSub system includes three major components: (a) a sensor that senses information typically received by the substituted modality (e.g., visual), (b) a coupling system that can process the sensor’s output and drive the actuator, and (c) an actuator that activates receptors of the substituting modality (e.g., skin mechanoreceptors or auditory hair cells) (Bach-y-Rita 2002; Bach-y-Rita and Kercel 2003; Lenay et al. 2003; Renier and De Volder 2005; Ziat et al. 2005). Vision, the predominant sense in sighted humans, is typically the substituted modality in SenSub. The substituting modalities are touch and hearing (Renier and De Volder 2005). This chapter focuses on visual-to-touch SenSub (VTSenSub).