Mobile Games for Training Tactile Perception

Abstract

Tactile interactive multimedia propose a wide spectrum of developmental games both for visually impaired children and adults. While some simulators can produce strong vibro-tactile sensations, the discrimination of several tactile patterns remains quite poor. Skin sensitivity is not enough for remembering and recognizing vibration patterns (tactons) and their combinations. Short-term tactile memory is the crucial factor in educational and vocational environments for deaf and blind people. We designed a vibro-tactile pen and software to create tactons and semantic sequences of vibro-tactile patterns on mobile devices (iPAQ pocket PC). We propose special games to facilitate learning and manipulation by tactons. The techniques are based on gesture recognition and spatial-temporal mapping for imaging vibro-tactile signals. The proposed approach and the tools implemented allow creating a new kind of mobile communication environment for deaf and blind people.