Bone Conduction Headphones for Force Feedback in Robotic Surgery

Abstract

Bone conduction headphones (Fig. 1) offer the unique ability to provide auditory information to the user without obstructing external sounds. We apply this technology to robotic surgery to provide the surgeon with force feedback information with minimal distraction. The device is evaluated by pairing it with a force sensor that is attached to a suture pad. Four participants were tasked to complete 25 sutures on the suture pad while either receiving no feedback or audio, visual, or combined feedback that represents the magnitude of their applied force. Trials performed with bone conducting headphones had noticeable improvements compared to previous trials without feedback, while the most noticeable improvements were observed for cases with both visual and auditory feedback. Auditory feedback may have an important role in a robotic surgery setting and bone conduction headphones may enable this form of feedback with minimal distraction.