Touch sense is extremely important for humans. The amount of information we acquire using this channel is incredible; however, we take this sense for granted and we tend to underrate its importance. 

Did you know that there is a purely touch-based language, dubbed "protactile language" (PT), that has emerged in the DeafBlind (DB) community over the last decade? As researchers in haptics and haptic technologies, PT language is incredible and intuitive! We stand to learn much from the DB community about how to design touch technologies, and this project seeks to capture some of this touch intuition and recreate it on a wearable haptic sleeve. Specifically, we are exploring the core elements of communication that can be re-routed through the tactile channel, which will benefit all technology users while also potentially enabling DB individuals a more independent remote communication experience.

Now more than ever, we need to bring touch into remote communication tools. In the CHROME Lab, we are learning about intuitive, meaningful touch profiles for communication from the DB community and we are recreating them on wearable haptic interfaces. We and our collaborative team are tackling issues such as teaching numeracy and teaching the foundations of human communication as facilitated by haptic technology.

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This  material  is  based  upon  work  supported  by  the  National  Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health. Any opinions,  findings  and  conclusions  or  recommendations  expressed  in  this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.