ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to relevant information on sensory impairments, specifically vision and hearing. Spectacle lenses, sticks to detect obstacles, and ear trumpets to augment sounds have existed since time immemorial, but the growth of sensory assistive technology as we know it today is mostly a post-World War II phenomenon. Since the inception of what we now know as rehabilitation engineering, perhaps the majority of the field has been devoted to addressing physical disabilities. The invention of the transistor and the advent of modern electronics triggered the development of a wide variety of portable sensory enhancement and sensory substitution devices for both visual and hearing deficits. While details are outside the scope of this chapter, there are many projects around the world to develop retinal, and optic nerve, or cortical implants to restore a degree of vision in totally blind subjects.
