What are the four fields of application for rehabilitation engineering?

• A. Mobility, communication, activities of daily living, and independence.
• B. Vision, hearing, taste, smell.
• C. Sports, finance, politics, cooking.
• D. Navigation, energy, transportation, housing.

Answer: (A)

Rehabilitation engineering focuses on giving people with disabilities practical tools to participate more fully in daily life, across four main areas. Mobility covers the ability to move around and travel, using devices like wheelchairs, powered mobility aids, or gait-support systems to navigate environments safely. Communication includes technologies that help people express themselves and understand others, such as speech-generating devices, hearing aids, or user-friendly interfaces for those with speech or language challenges. Activities of daily living refer to tools and adaptations that enable tasks like eating, dressing, bathing, and grooming, so self-care can be performed with less assistance. Independence ties these together, aiming to enable a person to live autonomously and participate in society by integrating mobility, communication, and ADL supports into the home, community, and daily routines.

The other options don’t align with this framework: they either focus on senses, which are separate from the typical four application domains, or list domains like sports, politics, or cooking, which aren’t the standard fields rehab engineering targets.