Multisensory Piano Rehabilitation System

Hand function may become impaired due to many factors. Physical therapy may help to improve hand motor function. Multisensory feedback combined with the task of generating music on a keyboard may result in enhanced recovery. This project designed and assembled a prototype system for instructor led training of pressing notes on a keyboard. The keyboard was segmented, such that the lower half of the keys were the instructor side, and the upper half of the keys were the student side. As the instructor played a key, an LED on the corresponding key on the student side would light up to give a visual indicator of what note to play. The auditory tone resulting from the key press would also reflect what note the instructor pressed, and if the student pressed the correct corresponding note, the same tone would be generated. Both the instructor and student wore a glove with the purpose of detecting what finger the instructor was using to press the key, so that the corresponding finger in the glove of the student would vibrate. This vibration would provide haptic feedback to help the student know what finger to use to press the target key. The system provided visual, audio and haptic feedback to the student to aid instructor led playing of one or of a sequence of keys on a piano keyboard.