A user-friendly ear-EEG-based brain-computer interface using text sequence stimulation

IF 4.9 2区医学 Q1 ENGINEERING, BIOMEDICAL

Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering Pub Date : 2026-10-01 Epub Date: 2026-10-07 DOI:10.1016/j.bbe.2026.10.001

Xiaoyang Li, Zhuoran Xu, Bowen Li, Yijun Wang, Xiaorong Gao

{"title":"A user-friendly ear-EEG-based brain-computer interface using text sequence stimulation","authors":"Xiaoyang Li, Zhuoran Xu, Bowen Li, Yijun Wang, Xiaorong Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.10.001","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Ear-EEG-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) provide improved wearability and comfort compared to traditional scalp-EEG systems. However, their performance is constrained by low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and high rates of BCI illiteracy under conventional luminance-modulated steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) paradigms.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This study introduces a text sequence stimulation paradigm to address these limitations. Using offline frequency-sweeping experiments across 4–8 Hz, we identified optimal stimulus parameters (4.6–6.8 Hz with 0.25π phase shifts) and integrated them into a 12-target BCI system. We further conducted online experiments to compare the response characteristics and real-time spelling performance between the proposed text sequence stimulation and conventional luminance stimulation.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Comparative experiments with 14 participants demonstrated that text sequence stimulation achieved an average information transfer rate (ITR) of 44.59 ± 10.50 bits/min, representing a 76.18% higher ITR than the tested luminance stimulation implementation. Notably, 13 of the 14 participants achieved at least 70% accuracy with text sequence stimulation, while the remaining participant achieved 69.17% (mean: 86.37 ± 9.61%). In comparison, seven participants achieved less than 70% accuracy under luminance stimulation.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Text sequence stimulation received more favorable short term subjective ratings than luminance stimulation. The online results indicate its potential as a high performance and user friendly paradigm for ear-EEG BCIs. However, because the two implementations differed in stimulus content and stimulation parameters, further studies with matched control conditions and larger samples are needed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55381,"journal":{"name":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","volume":"46 4","pages":"Pages 696-706"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9000,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0208521626000719","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/10/7 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, BIOMEDICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Ear-EEG-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) provide improved wearability and comfort compared to traditional scalp-EEG systems. However, their performance is constrained by low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and high rates of BCI illiteracy under conventional luminance-modulated steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) paradigms.

Methods

This study introduces a text sequence stimulation paradigm to address these limitations. Using offline frequency-sweeping experiments across 4–8 Hz, we identified optimal stimulus parameters (4.6–6.8 Hz with 0.25π phase shifts) and integrated them into a 12-target BCI system. We further conducted online experiments to compare the response characteristics and real-time spelling performance between the proposed text sequence stimulation and conventional luminance stimulation.

Results

Comparative experiments with 14 participants demonstrated that text sequence stimulation achieved an average information transfer rate (ITR) of 44.59 ± 10.50 bits/min, representing a 76.18% higher ITR than the tested luminance stimulation implementation. Notably, 13 of the 14 participants achieved at least 70% accuracy with text sequence stimulation, while the remaining participant achieved 69.17% (mean: 86.37 ± 9.61%). In comparison, seven participants achieved less than 70% accuracy under luminance stimulation.

Conclusions

Text sequence stimulation received more favorable short term subjective ratings than luminance stimulation. The online results indicate its potential as a high performance and user friendly paradigm for ear-EEG BCIs. However, because the two implementations differed in stimulus content and stimulation parameters, further studies with matched control conditions and larger samples are needed.

查看原文本刊更多论文

一个用户友好的耳-脑电图为基础的脑-机接口使用文本序列刺激

与传统的头皮-脑电图系统相比，基于脑电的脑机接口（bci）提供了更好的可穿戴性和舒适性。然而，在传统的亮度调制稳态视觉诱发电位（SSVEP）模式下，它们的性能受到低信噪比（SNRs）和高BCI文盲率的限制。方法本研究引入文本序列刺激范式来解决这些局限性。通过4-8 Hz的离线扫频实验，我们确定了最优的刺激参数（4.6-6.8 Hz， 0.25π相移），并将其整合到一个12目标BCI系统中。我们进一步进行了在线实验，比较了本文提出的文本序列刺激和传统亮度刺激的响应特征和实时拼写性能。结果14名参与者的对比实验表明，文本序列刺激的平均信息传输速率（ITR）为44.59±10.50 bits/min，比亮度刺激高76.18%。值得注意的是，14名参与者中有13名在文本序列刺激下达到至少70%的准确率，而其余参与者达到69.17%（平均值：86.37±9.61%）。相比之下，在亮度刺激下，7名参与者的准确率低于70%。结论文本序列刺激的短期主观评分高于亮度刺激。在线结果表明，它有潜力成为一种高性能和用户友好的耳-脑机接口范例。但由于两种方法在刺激内容和刺激参数上存在差异，需要在匹配的控制条件和更大的样本下进行进一步的研究。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering ENGINEERING, BIOMEDICAL-

CiteScore

16.50

自引率

6.20%

发文量

审稿时长

38 days

期刊介绍： Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering is a quarterly journal, founded in 1981, devoted to publishing the results of original, innovative and creative research investigations in the field of Biocybernetics and biomedical engineering, which bridges mathematical, physical, chemical and engineering methods and technology to analyse physiological processes in living organisms as well as to develop methods, devices and systems used in biology and medicine, mainly in medical diagnosis, monitoring systems and therapy. The Journal''s mission is to advance scientific discovery into new or improved standards of care, and promotion a wide-ranging exchange between science and its application to humans.