Although above embodiments describe the speech source 318 and the signal generator 800 as being located remotely from each other, the speech source 318 may be co-located with the signal generator 800 and communicate via wire or short-distance communication. Further, the speech source 318 and the signal generator 800 may be embodied as a single device.
FIG. 10E is a diagram illustrating placing of cutaneous actuators on the receiving user 1050 for reproducing the voice signal using frequency decomposition, according to one embodiment. The signal generator 800 outputs actuator signals 812A through 812N to the cutaneous actuators 802A through 802N where each cutaneous actuator corresponds to a channel of dominant frequency as described above with reference to FIG. 10D.
In the embodiment of FIG. 10E, the first channel has a center frequency of 387.6 Hz and is mapped to a cutaneous actuator that is close to the left wrist. The second channel has a center frequency of 689.1 Hz and is mapped to a cutaneous actuator that is about an inch away from the first, placed more proximally on the left arm. Channel 16 is mapped to a cutaneous actuator near the left shoulder. Channel 17 is mapped to a cutaneous actuator that is near the right wrist, and progressively higher channels appear more proximally at higher locations with channel 32 near the right shoulder.
