Does sensory feedback in prosthetic hands provide functional benefits in daily activities of amputees?

Abstract

In an attempt to investigate the value of artificial somatosensory feedback in upper limb prostheses we designed a novel, modular feedback system and paired it with a battery of clinically-relevant tests. Three transhumeral amputee subjects, wearing dexterous myoelectric hands, participated in the study. The obtained objective as well as subjective performance outcomes indicate that the benefits of feedback might be seen only in dexterous, delicate tasks.