Abstract
The feasibility of myoelectric control using the facial muscles, frontalis, temporalis, buccinator, and sterno-cleido-mastoid, was investigated. Tracking experiments were performed and compared with manual control manipulated by an on-off switch matrix. The subject was required to respond with appropriate muscle movement or to switch a key according to command, which consisted of five different numbers displayed on the CRT screen in random crder. Two experimental parameters, i. e., command display interval and time constant of an integrator circuit which was used to smooth myoelectric signal were varied. Finally, the rate of the subject's correct response was calculated every 10 miliseconds over the 10 time trials. Also, tracking error, delay time, and settling time were calculated for the evaluation of each control modality. The results showed that myoelectric control under the use of a smaller time constant gave a faster response than manual control, with some exceptions, despite the use of a pattern discriminator. On the other hand, manual control provided performance superior to myoelectric control at longer command display intervals. Total inspection of the results suggested that the myoelectric control offered tracking performance approximately comparable to manual control.
