An auditory selective attention brain-computer interface system based on auditory steady-state response

Auditory steady-state response (ASSR) is a brain steady-state response induced by periodic sound signals, which can be used to build an auditory brain-computer interface (BCI), thereby providing a pathway for visually impaired patients to communicate with the outside world. Most of existing ASSR-based BCI studies use linear discriminant classifier (LDA) and spatial coherence to detect ASSRs. Therefore, there is an urgent need for efficient electroencephalogram (EEG) decoding methods to improve the performance of ASSR-based BCI systems. In this study, we elicited ASSRs using sinusoidal amplitude modulated (SAM) tones that simultaneously delivered different modulation frequencies (i.e., 37 Hz for the left channel and 43 Hz for the right channel). Subjects were asked to focus their attention on the auditory stimulation on one side according to the auditory cue. Filter bank common spatial pattern (FBCSP) algorithm was innovatively introduced to detect the ASSRs. Offline results showed that the brain region with strong ASSRs was the central forehead area, and when subjects paid attention to the auditory stimulation at 37 Hz or 43 Hz, the ASSR response of 37 Hz or 43 Hz on the corresponding side would be enhanced compared to the no attention condition. Online results obtained from twelve healthy subjects showed that the mean recognition accuracy of the proposed ASSR-based BCI system achieved a mean accuracy of 82.22 ± 3.11 %. Moreover, the present study further verified that weak auditory stimuli with low stimulus intensity (i.e., 40 dB SPL) could also be used to build ASSR-based BCIs, and achieved an online mean accuracy of 78.89 ± 2.54 %. These results verified that the FBCSP algorithm could be used for detecting ASSRs and the feasibility of the proposed ASSR-based BCI system, providing a great idea for building a high-speed ASSR-based BCI system.