A simulation environment for studying transcutaneous electrotactile stimulation

Gloria Araiza Illan; Heiko Stüber; Ken E Friedl; Ian R Summers; Angelika Peer

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0212479

A simulation environment for studying transcutaneous electrotactile stimulation

PLoS One. 2019 Feb 22;14(2):e0212479. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212479. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Gloria Araiza Illan^{1

2}, Heiko Stüber³, Ken E Friedl⁴, Ian R Summers², Angelika Peer⁵

Affiliations

¹ EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Autonomous and Robotic Systems (FARSCOPE), Bristol Robotics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
² Bristol Robotics Laboratory, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom.
³ Chair of Information-oriented Control, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
⁴ Chair of Automatic Control Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
⁵ Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen - Bolzano, Bruneck - Brunico, Italy.

Abstract

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) allows the artificial excitation of nerve fibres by applying electric-current pulses through electrodes on the skin's surface. This work involves the development of a simulation environment that can be used for studying transcutaneous electrotactile stimulation and its dependence on electrode layout and excitation patterns. Using an eight-electrode array implementation, it is shown how nerves located at different depths and with different orientations respond to specific injected currents, allowing the replication of already reported experimental findings and the creation of new hypotheses about the tactile sensations associated with certain stimulation patterns. The simulation consists of a finite element model of a human finger used to calculate the distribution of the electric potential in the finger tissues neglecting capacitive effects, and a cable model to calculate the excitation/inhibition of action potentials in each nerve.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Action Potentials
Computer Simulation
Electrodes
Equipment Design
Fingers / innervation
Finite Element Analysis
Humans
Mechanoreceptors / physiology
Membrane Potentials
Models, Neurological*
Nerve Fibers / physiology
Skin / innervation
Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation / instrumentation
Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation / methods*
Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation / statistics & numerical data

Grants and funding

This work is supported in part by the ReMeDi project within the 7th environment Programme of the European Union, under the grant agreement n. 610902 to AP, and partially supported by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Autonomous and Robotic Systems (FARSCOPE) at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory to GAI. The URLs for the funders are: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/action-programme/ and https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.