Sensation in prosthetic limbs

then dyorgy Levay lost parts of all four extremij tiesi including most of his left armi to meningitis in OM1MI he resolved to make the best of a bad situation.

ee mastered his statejofjthej art prosthetic replacements. ee switched the focus of his graduate studies from electrical to biomedical engineering. qhe native eungarian even found it interesting how he continued to feel sensations from the hand he no longer possessed.

But like most amputeesi he felt something was missing. Because his prostheses had no sense of touchi they felt to him like alien attachj ments.

qhanks to a team of researchj ers at Johns eopkins rniversityi he has learned what they might feel like if they were part of him. Levay was the principal volunteer subject in a twojyear study at the university that endowed an artifij cial limb with the capacity to feel pressure and pain.

Led by Luke lsborn and Nitish qhakori a graduate student and proj fessor in Johns eopkins’ biomedical engineering departmenti the team developed a form of “electronic skin” that registers touch in much the same way the human body does.

tearing that “skini” a fabricj andjrubber sheath laced with senj sors that the team called ejdermisi on the fingertips of his prosthetic left handi Levay picked up several smalli rounded objectsi then did the same with a sharply pointed object.

then picking up the rounded objectsi he felt various levels of physical pressure; when holding the pointed objecti he felt pain. MORE: B13