Myrthe Plaisier

Myrthe Plaisier is an assistant professor in the Human Technology Interaction (HTI) group at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). She investigates multisensory technology. We experience the world in an inherent multisensory way. In daily life we rarely experience information through a single perceptual channel. What if one of the perceptual channels is not available? This can be the case when this channel is already occupied with a different task. Looking at your phone while driving is dangerous because you should be looking at the road. It can also be the case that a perceptual channel is not available due to, for instance, blindness or deafness. Whatever the reason for the unavailability of a perceptual channel is, sensory substitution can be used to overcome the problem. Very often one sensory modality is used to substitute one other modality. However, there are benefits of providing information through several perceptual channels. Plaisier investigates performance of the different sensory modalities and how they can be combined. Such combinations of perceptual channels can be exploited when designing multisensory substitution devices.

The future of technology is multisensory