Prosthetic hand users have to rely extensively on visual feedback, which seems to lead to a high conscious burden for the users, in order to manipulate their prosthetic devices. Indirect methods (electro-cutaneous, vibrotactile, auditory cues) have been used to convey information from the artificial limb to the amputee, but the usability and advantages of these feedback methods were explored mainly by looking at the performance results, not taking into account measurements of the user’s mental effort, attention, and emotions. The main objective of this study was to explore the feasibility of using psycho-physiological measurements to assess cognitive effort when manipulating a robot hand with and without the usage of a sensory substitution system based on auditory feedback, and how these psycho-physiological recordings relate to temporal and grasping performance in a static setting.

Upper limb amputees have to rely extensively on visual feedback in order to monitor and manipulate successfully their prosthetic device. This situation leads to high consciousness burden, which generates fatigue and frustration. Therefore, in order to enhance motor-sensory performance and awareness, an auditory display was used as a sensory feedback system for the prosthetic hand's spatio-temporal and force information in a complete reaching and grasping setting. The main objective of this study was to explore the effects of using the auditory display to monitor the prosthetic hand during a complete reaching and grasping motion. The results presented in this paper point out that the usage of an auditory display to monitor and control a robot hand improves the temporal and grasping performance greatly, while reducing mental effort and improving their confidence.

Microcirculation is the blood flow through arterioles, capillaries, and venules, which exists throughout all tissues in a living body. Microcirculation plays an important role in supplying nutrients and oxygen to cells in the tissues. Thus, insufficient supplies of oxygen in microcirculation may lead to tissue hypoxia. Tissue hypoxia is considered to be one of the factors of serious diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and chronic bronchitis.¹ Moreover, it is well known that varieties of experimental shock states (e.g., sepsis and haemorrhage) are related to hypoxia.² 3. ^{– 4} In the early stages of these shock states, the impaired microcirculation will result in the rapid onset of tissue hypoxia. However, mechanisms of these diseases due to the hypoxia condition have not been clarified. Visualizing an individual microcirculation and observing the changes in the oxygen saturation (${\mathrm{SO}}_2$) during disease progression can be effective for understanding disease dynamics.

The purpose of this study is to design a new surgical scissors handle and determine its effectiveness with various usability indices. A new scissors handle was designed that retains the professional grip but has the shapes of the eye rings modified to fit the thumb and ring finger and finger rests for the index and little finger. The newly designed scissors and traditional scissors were compared by electromyography, subjective evaluation and task performance in experiments using cutting and peeling tasks. The newly designed scissors reduced muscle load in both hand during cutting by the closing action, and reduced the muscle load in the left hand during peeling by the opening action through active use of the right hand. In evaluation by surgeons, task performance improved in addition to the decrease in muscle load. The newly designed scissors used in this study demonstrated high usability. Practitioner Summary: A new scissors handle was designed that has the eye rings modified to fit the thumb and ring finger. The newly designed scissors reduced muscle load and enabled active use of the right hand. In evaluation by surgeons, task performance improved in addition to the decrease in muscle load.