A Simple and Practical Sensorimotor EEG Device for Recording in Patients with Special Needs

Abstract

In studies involving patients with special needs, the use of electroencephalography (EEG) recordings is among the most delicate measurement modalities. The quietness needed and the long preparation time can be challenging especially in young ages. Furthermore, the invasive appearance of the instrumentation involved is not appealing and can raise distrust in patients. We developed a customized EEG device which adresses these issues by merging commercially available EEG hardware with an unobtrusive headphones design. The resulting device has very short preparation times, non-clinical appearance, and delivers adequate data quality with respect to recording of sensorimotor rhythms. Our device was employed in a study investigating sensorimotorrelated brain activity in adolescents and adults with cerebral palsy (CP) conducted at a day-care center. Experimenters reported convenient data collection and overall acceptance of the system among patients. The changes in sensorimotor rhythms over time during a hand motor task meet the observations described in the literature, supporting the functionality of our EEG device for the assessment of sensorimotor-related measures of brain activity in patients with sensorimotor disorders of neuronal origin.