Relationship between the palmar skin’s thermal perception and its mechanical characteristics

Our final goal is to develop a portable display which will enable the deaf-blind to character on the palm through the use of tactile sensations. We propose the use of thermal stimulation as the tactile sensation, because in this way small-sized and lightweight devices can be developed. However, it might still be impossible to capture continuous movement, which is necessary to recreate characters on the palm. In past research, we found that thermal perception is dependent on the palm position. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the cause of this position dependence by comparing the skin´s thermal perception and its mechanical characteristics.