Advancing towards Ubiquitous EEG, Correlation of In-Ear EEG with Forehead EEG

  • Wearable EEG has gained popularity in recent years driven by promising uses outside of clinics and research. The ubiquitous application of continuous EEG requires unobtrusive form-factors that are easily acceptable by the end-users. In this progression, wearable EEG systems have been moving from full scalp to forehead and recently to the ear. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that emerging ear-EEG provides similar impedance and signal properties as established forehead EEG. EEG data using eyes-open and closed alpha paradigm were acquired from ten healthy subjects using generic earpieces fitted with three custom-made electrodes and a forehead electrode (at Fpx) after impedance analysis. Inter-subject variability in in-ear electrode impedance ranged from 20 kΩ to 25 kΩ at 10 Hz. Signal quality was comparable with an SNR of 6 for in-ear and 8 for forehead electrodes. Alpha attenuation was significant during the eyes-open condition in all in-ear electrodes, and it followed the structure of power spectral density plots of forehead electrodes, with the Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.92 between in-ear locations ELE (Left Ear Superior) and ERE (Right Ear Superior) and forehead locations, Fp1 and Fp2, respectively. The results indicate that in-ear EEG is an unobtrusive alternative in terms of impedance, signal properties and information content to established forehead EEG.

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Metadaten
Author:Swati Mandekar, Abigail Holland, Moritz Thielen, Mehdi BehbahaniORCiD, Mark Melnykowycz
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/s22041568
ISSN:1424-8220
Parent Title (English):Sensors
Publisher:MDPI
Place of publication:Basel
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2022
Date of the Publication (Server):2022/02/21
Tag:biopotential electrodes; correlation; forehead EEG; impedance spectroscopy; in-ear EEG
Volume:22
Issue:4
First Page:1
Last Page:19
Link:https://doi.org/10.3390/s22041568
Zugriffsart:weltweit
Institutes:FH Aachen / Fachbereich Medizintechnik und Technomathematik
FH Aachen / IfB - Institut für Bioengineering
collections:Verlag / MDPI