A Wearable Vibration Glove for Improving Hand Sensation in Persons with Spinal Cord Injury Using Passive Haptic Rehabilitation

Abstract

We define Passive Haptic Rehabilitation (PHR) as an improvement in haptic sensations or abilities using methods which require little or no attention on the part of the user. We present a study that suggests improvement in hand sensation in participants with partial Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) in C4 - T1 after use of our Mobile Music Touch (MMT) glove. The MMT glove is designed to teach piano melodies passively. It stimulates the participant's fingers repeatedly in the order of notes in the songs to be learned. In a study of ten hands, seven people with incomplete SCI participate in simple piano lessons three times a week for thirty minutes a session for eight weeks. The experimental group also attends these lessons but also wear our Mobile Music Touch (MMT) glove for two hours a day, five times a week to reinforce these lessons passively. Participants were injured over a year before the beginning of the study. The Semmes-Weinstein test is used to measure sensation at eight points on the hand before and after the piano lessons. The mean improvements between the experimental group and control group show a difference that is statistically significant. All hand areas in the experimental group show an improvement in average Semmes-Weinstein scores.