Auditory display as a prosthetic hand sensory feedback for reaching and grasping tasks

Upper limb amputees have to rely extensively on visual feedback in order to monitor and manipulate successfully their prosthetic device. This situation leads to high consciousness burden, which generates fatigue and frustration. Therefore, in order to enhance motor-sensory performance and awareness, an auditory display was used as a sensory feedback system for the prosthetic hand´s spatio-temporal and force information in a complete reaching and grasping setting. The main objective of this study was to explore the effects of using the auditory display to monitor the prosthetic hand during a complete reaching and grasping motion. The results presented in this paper point out that the usage of an auditory display to monitor and control a robot hand improves the temporal and grasping performance greatly, while reducing mental effort and improving their confidence.