A Vibrotactile P300-Based Brain–Computer Interface for Consciousness Detection and Communication

Abstract

Brain-computer interface (BCI) has been used for many years for communication in severely disabled patients. BCI based on electrophysiological signals has enabled communication, using auditory or visual stimuli to elicit event-related potentials (ERPs). The aim of this study was to determine whether patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS) could elicit a P300 wave, using a vibrotactile oddball paradigm for establishing somatosensory BCI-based communication. Six chronic LIS patients performed 2 electroencephalography (EEG)-based vibrotactile P300 oddball tasks. After a simple mental counting task of the target stimuli, participants were instructed to answer 5 questions by counting the vibration on either the right wrist for "yes" or the left wrist for "no." All participants were able to elicit a P300 wave using the vibrotactile oddball paradigm BCI task. In the counting task, 4 patients got accuracies of 100% (average above chance). In the communication task, one patient achieved 100% accuracy (average above chance). We have shown the feasibility of eliciting a P300 response using vibrotactile stimulation in patients with LIS. The present study provides evidence that this approach can be used for EEG-based BCI communications in this patient group. This is the first study to prove the feasibility of a BCI based on somatosensory (vibratory) stimulation in a group of brain-injured patients. Furthermore, this approach could be used for the detection of consciousness in non-communicating patients due to severe brain injuries.

Trends in BCI Research I: Brain-Computer Interfaces for Assessment of Patients with Locked-in Syndrome or Disorders of Consciousness

“…In the VT3 approach, one tactor is mounted on the left hand (10% of stimuli), one tactor is mounted on the right hand (10% of stimuli) and one tactor is mounted on the spine or leg (80% of the stimuli) [5,6]. Now the patient can count the stimuli on the left hand to say YES and can say NO by counting right hand stimuli.…”

“…Previous EEG based BCIs have proven useful to assess awareness and command following in this patient group. Auditory [22,6] P300 oddball paradigms, and MI experiments [12] have been used successfully.…”

Real-time brain computer interface using imaginary movements

“…Commonly used EEG signals include the event-related P300 potentials [14][15][16][17][18], steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) [19][20][21][22][23], and the motor imagery (MI)-related rhythms [24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. In these, the P300 potentials and SSVEPs are evoked by external stimuli and the MI rhythms are voluntarily modulated by the subjects.…”

Human-in-the-loop assistive cyber physical system control using physiological signals

“…Furthermore, many studies have validated that dual task paradigms yield high training accuracies, but consistently fail during online testing [22,13,14] …”

“…BCIs have faced significant obstacles in terms of online classification accuracy [13,14] and decision speed compared to their visual based counterparts [15]. The experiments employed in this study were designed with the primary goal of gaining deeper understanding why this is the case.…”