Sensory Preference in Prosthetics Study

With its roots in the Hands of X project, this study is a collaboration between Caitlin McMullan, a designer, researcher and below knee amputee, and Sarah Wilkes, research fellow at the Institute of Making.

Further Information

In the study they are exploring how the choice of materials offered for prosthetic limbs affects wearers' experience of them, and whether particular materials or textures stimulate phantom limb sensations. This will be fed back to clinicians, prosthetists and manufacturers, with the potential to inform the design of prosthetic limbs. The findings from this study will also feed into the Material Anxieties project, which aims to encourage more user-centred materials selection in the healthcare design industry.