Deafblindness is a unique disability characterized by a dual sensory reduction of both hearing and vision. For some Deafblind individuals, communication via touch may be their most accessible sensory channel. Multiple techniques that rely purely on touch exist within the Deafblind community. One method of interest referred to as "Deafblind Tactile Fingerspelling Alphabet " in Australia or "Deafblind Manual Alphabet " in the U.K., comprises twenty-six tactile symbols representing the letters of the Latin alphabet. This letter describes the HaptiComm, a device designed to reproduce the sensations generated during fingerspelling communication. The HaptiComm comprises an array of twenty-four strategically placed electrodynamic actuators specifically designed to produce distinct tactile sensations upon which the fingerspelling alphabet is constructed. The first experimental evaluation showed promising results suggesting further investigations related to the timing and the pace at which the stimuli are produced.

The main objective of this study is to investigate whether one can use recordings of human-to-human touch, such as a caress, to improve tactile apparent motion interfaces to make them feel more natural. We report here preliminary recordings of natural and continuous human-to-human caresses. To do this, six accelerometers were positioned on the receiving hand next to the stimulated area while a finger gently stroked the skin. The results suggest that we are able to capture signals from real human caresses that can be compared to signals produced by apparent motion stimuli. This is encouraging for our plan to continue the study in the second stage, which consists of tuning vibrotactile actuators to reproduce a similar pattern of vibrational responses in the accelerometers. In this way, the actuators mimic human behavior.

Neural mechanisms of touch are typically studied in laboratory settings using robotic or other types of well-controlled devices. Such stimuli are very different from highly complex naturalistic human-to-human touch interactions. The lack of scientifically useful naturalistic stimuli hampers progress, particularly in social touch research. Vision science, on the other hand, has benefitted from inventions such as virtual reality systems that have provided researchers with precision control of naturalistic stimuli. In the field of touch research, producing and manipulating stimuli is particularly challenging due to the complexity of skin mechanics. Here, we review the history of touch neuroscience focusing on the contrast between strictly controlled and naturalistic stimuli, and compare the field to vision science. We discuss new methods that may overcome obstacles with precision-controlled tactile stimuli, and recent successes in naturalistic texture production. In social touch research, precise tracking and measurement of naturalistic human-to-human touch interactions offer exciting new possibilities.