A Multisensory Feedback Framework for Prosthetic Gait Rehabilitation: Analysis of Gait-synchronized Vibrotactile and Thermal Stimuli

Abstract

Lower-limb prosthetic rehabilitation increasingly emphasizes the restoration of sensory feedback to compensate for the loss of natural proprioceptive and tactile perception following amputation. Recent developments in multisensory human–machine interfaces have demonstrated the potential of integrating complementary feedback modalities, such as vibrotactile and thermal stimulation, to improve gait stability, user embodiment, and motor adaptation during prosthetic-assisted ambulation. Lower-limb prosthetic users often experience impaired gait symmetry, reduced proprioceptive awareness, and elevated cognitive load during ambulation. Sensory substitution and augmentation have emerged as promising strategies to restore afferent feedback lost due to amputation. This paper presents a comprehensive multisensory feedback framework integrating gait-synchronized vibrotactile and thermal stimuli to support prosthetic gait rehabilitation. The proposed system maps real-time gait events to spatially and temporally congruent vibrotactile cues, augmented with controlled thermal feedback to reinforce stance-phase awareness and load perception. A detailed system architecture, signal processing pipeline, control strategies, and experimental protocol are described. Quantitative gait metrics and qualitative user-reported outcomes are analyzed to evaluate efficacy. Results indicate improvements in temporal gait symmetry, stance stability, and perceived embodiment, suggesting that multimodal sensory feedback can enhance motor learning and rehabilitation outcomes for lower- limb amputees.