Dry contact electrodes performance in canine ECG

Abstract

Measuring the heart rate of animals is an important area of research which can be applied to numerous analyses. In this work we evaluate the performance of two dry contact electrocardiogram (ECG) electrode structures for monitoring the heart rate of domestic pets. The aim was to improve the operation of previously evaluated electrodes with some modifications. First, the thirty-pins of a previously studied polymer electrode with a silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) coating were reduced to 12. Second, a 12-pin gold-plated metal electrode was coated with poly (3,4 - ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS). These electrodes were attached to a specifically designed measurement harness and the performance of the electrodes was evaluated in terms of heartbeat detection coverage. The heart rate coverage was measured during four different behaviors: standing, sitting, lying, and walking (N=27/activity). The results were, in general, comparable to the previously reported performance but having fewer pins on a polymer electrode seemed to cause more variation in the coverage values. However, when measures such as the median value of the coverages are considered, there was no obvious difference, especially when the coverage values were observed altogether. Thus, new electrode solutions are worthy of further research.