This resource focuses on the principles, modeling, standards, devices, and technologies of rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology. It describes numerous design models and processes, including participatory action design and service delivery models. The book also discusses the components of devices such as cushions, wheelchairs, prostheses, orthoses, hearing aids, and TTYs. The contributors assess industry standards and explore innovative technology aids, such as sensors, robot-assisted therapy, and speech recognition software. The text contains a set of learning objectives and study questions in each chapter as well as a list of definitions at the end of the book.

Prostheses, assistive systems, and rehabilitation systems are essential to increasing the quality of life for people with disabilities. Research and development over the last decade has resulted in enormous advances toward that goal-none more so than the development of intelligent systems and technologies. In the first truly comprehensive book addressing intelligent technologies for the disabled, top experts from around the world provide an overview of this dynamic, rapidly evolving field. They present state-of-the-art information on the latest, innovative technologies and their applications in various systems designed to better the lives of the disabled. From the underlying principles to the design, practical applications, and assessment of results, Intelligent Systems and Technologies in Rehabilitation Engineering offers broad, pragmatic coverage of the field. It incorporates the most recent advances in sensory and limb prostheses, myoelectric control systems, circulatory systems, assistive technologies, and applications of virtual reality. Rapid progress demands a concerted effort to keep up with the latest developments so they can begin to serve their purpose and improve the lives of the disabled. By incorporating details of the latest and most important advances into one volume, Intelligent Systems and Technologies in Rehabilitation Engineering makes that undertaking essentially effortless.

The discipline of rehabilitation engineering draws on a wide range of specialist knowledge, from the biomedical sciences to materials technology. Rehabilitation Engineering Applied to Mobility and Manipulation provides broad background and motivational material to ease readers' introduction to the subject. The book begins with a wide-ranging yet concise introduction to the legislative, technological, testing, and design basis of rehabilitation engineering, followed by the fundamentals of design and materials and a full account of the biomechanics of rehabilitation. Major sections of the book are devoted to various aspects of mobility, including detailed discussion of wheelchair design. Valuable additional material deals with seating, prosthetic devices, robotics, and the often-neglected subject of recreational devices and vehicles. More than a thousand references to the research and review literature put readers in touch with the leading edge of a rapidly growing field.

INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS FOR REHABILITATION ENGINEERING Encapsulates different case studies where technology can be used as assistive technology for the physically challenged, visually and hearing impaired. Rehabilitation engineering includes the development of technological solutions and devices to assist individuals with disabilities, while also supporting the recovery of the disabled who have lost their physical and cognitive functions. These systems can be designed and built to meet a wide range of needs that can help individuals with mobility, communication, vision, hearing, and cognition. The growing technological developments in machine learning, deep learning, robotics, virtual intelligence, etc., play an important role in rehabilitation engineering. Intelligent Systems for Rehabilitation Engineering focuses on trending research of intelligent systems in rehabilitation engineering which involves the design and development of innovative technologies and techniques including rehabilitation robotics, visual rehabilitation, physical prosthetics, brain computer interfaces, sensory rehabilitation, motion rehabilitation, etc. This groundbreaking book Provides a comprehensive reference covering different computer assistive techniques for the physically disabled, visually and hearing impaired. Focuses on trending research of intelligent systems in rehabilitation engineering which involves the design and development of innovative technologies and techniques. Provides insights into the role of intelligent systems in rehabilitation engineering. Audience Engineers and device manufacturers working in rehabilitation engineering as well as researchers in computer science, artificial intelligence, electronic engineering, who are working on intelligent systems.

The most recent high-profile advocate for Americans with disabilities, actor Christopher Reeve, has highlighted for the public the economic and social costs of disability and the importance of rehabilitation. Enabling America is a major analysis of the field of rehabilitation science and engineering. The book explains how to achieve recognition for this evolving field of study, how to set priorities, and how to improve the organization and administration of the numerous federal research programs in this area. The committee introduces the "enabling-disability process" model, which enhances the concepts of disability and rehabilitation, and reviews what is known and what research priorities are emerging in the areas of: Pathology and impairment, including differences between children and adults. Functional limitationsâ€"in a person's ability to eat or walk, for example. Disability as the interaction between a person's pathologies, impairments, and functional limitations and the surrounding physical and social environments. This landmark volume will be of special interest to anyone involved in rehabilitation science and engineering: federal policymakers, rehabilitation practitioners and administrators, researchers, and advocates for persons with disabilities.

The U.S. Census Bureau has reported that 56.7 million Americans had some type of disability in 2010, which represents 18.7 percent of the civilian noninstitutionalized population included in the 2010 Survey of Income and Program Participation. The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) provides disability benefits through the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. As of December 2015, approximately 11 million individuals were SSDI beneficiaries, and about 8 million were SSI beneficiaries. SSA currently considers assistive devices in the nonmedical and medical areas of its program guidelines. During determinations of substantial gainful activity and income eligibility for SSI benefits, the reasonable cost of items, devices, or services applicants need to enable them to work with their impairment is subtracted from eligible earnings, even if those items or services are used for activities of daily living in addition to work. In addition, SSA considers assistive devices in its medical disability determination process and assessment of work capacity. The Promise of Assistive Technology to Enhance Activity and Work Participation provides an analysis of selected assistive products and technologies, including wheeled and seated mobility devices, upper-extremity prostheses, and products and technologies selected by the committee that pertain to hearing and to communication and speech in adults.

Assistive Technology Assessment Handbook, Second Edition, proposes an international ideal model for the assistive technology assessment process, outlining how this model can be applied in practice to re-conceptualize the phases of an assistive technology delivery system according to the biopsychosocial model of disability. The model provides reference guidelines for evidence-based practice, guiding both public and private centers that wish to compare, evaluate, and improve their ability to match a person with the correct technology model. This second edition also offers a contribution to the Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology (GATE) initiative, whose activities are strongly focused on the assistive products service delivery model. Organized into three parts, the handbook: gives readers a toolkit for performing assessments; describes the roles of the assessment team members, among them the new profession of psychotechnologist; and reviews technologies for rehabilitation and independent living, including brain–computer interfaces, exoskeletons, and technologies for music therapy. Edited by Stefano Federici and Marcia J. Scherer, this cross-cultural handbook includes contributions from leading experts across five continents, offering a framework for future practice and research.