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Department of Mechanical Engineering

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These digital collections include theses, dissertations, faculty publications, and datasets from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

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Browsing Department of Mechanical Engineering by Author "Alciatore, David, committee member"

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    Development of a sensory substitution API
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Martinez, Marco, author; Williams, John, advisor; Stone-Roy, Leslie, advisor; Alciatore, David, committee member; McConnell, Ross, committee member
    Sensory substitution – or the practice of mapping information from one sensory modality to another – has been shown to be a viable technique for non-invasive sensory replacement and augmentation. With the rise in popularity, ubiquity, and capability of mobile devices and wearable electronics, sensory substitution research has seen a resurgence in recent years. Due to the standard features of mobile/wearable electronics such as Bluetooth, multicore processing, and audio recording, these devices can be used to drive sensory substitution systems. Therefore, there exists a need for a flexible, extensible software package capable of performing the required real-time data processing for sensory substitution, on modern mobile devices. The primary contribution of this thesis is the development and release of an Open Source Application Programming Interface (API) capable of managing an audio stream from the source of sound to a sensory stimulus interface on the body. The API (named Tactile Waves) is written in the Java programming language and packaged as both a Java library (JAR) and Android library (AAR). The development and design of the library is presented, and its primary functions are explained. Implementation details for each primary function are discussed. Performance evaluation of all processing routines is performed to ensure real-time capability, and the results are summarized. Finally, future improvements to the library and additional applications of sensory substitution are proposed.
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    ItemOpen Access
    Evaluation of electrical tongue stimulation for communication of audio information to the brain
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Moritz, Joel Adrian, Jr., author; Williams, John, advisor; Stone-Roy, Leslie, advisor; Alciatore, David, committee member; Malcolm, Matt, committee member
    Non reparative solutions to damaged or impaired sensory systems have proven highly effective in many applications but are generally underutilized. For auditory disorders, traditional reparative solutions such as hearing aids and implant technology are limited in their ability to treat neurological causes of hearing loss. A method to provide auditory information to a user via the lingual nerve is proposed. The number of mechanoreceptors in the tongue exceeds the number of inner hair cells in the cochlea and the dynamic range of neurons in both systems is comparable suggesting that the achievable throughput of information in the lingual nerve is comparable to that of the auditory nerve. This supports the feasibility of transmitting audio information to the brain via the lingual nerve. Using techniques implemented in similar successful technology, the achievable throughput of the dorsal surface of the tongue using existing stimulation methods without additional innovation was estimated to be as high as 1,800 bits per second for an experienced user, in the same range required by many audio codecs used for spoken language. To make a more accurate estimation of achievable throughput, devices were developed to stimulate the tongue electrically, and an experiment to map the sensitivity of the tongue to a form of electrotactile stimulus was performed. For the population tested, discrimination ability of the tongue varied greatly. For all participants estimates for the immediately achievable throughput for the surface of the tongue was sufficient to communicate basic phonetic information to the participant. The estimated throughput for an experienced user was estimated to be as high as 1,400 bits per second. Lingual sensitivity maps were generated that will allow researchers and developers to manufacture electrode arrays that can reliably stimulate lingual nerve endings in a discriminatory manner. In another study we tested the feasibility of sending audio information to a person via the tongue. Preliminary data are presented on participants in a learning study that were able to discern stimuli generated from recorded voices, supporting our hypothesis on immediately achievable throughputs.