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Hearables: In-Ear Multimodal Brain Computer Interfacing

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Brain-Computer Interface Research

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Electrical and Computer Engineering ((BRIEFSELECTRIC))

Abstract

The Brain Computer Interface (BCI) of the near future must be suitable for widespread use in real-world environments. As such, it will be robust, portable, user friendly and discreet—and ideally wearable. In addition, for ‘affective’ functionality, standard electroencephalogram (EEG) based BCI needs to be augmented with sensors for other physiological modalities. Our generic ‘Hearables’ earpiece, equipped with miniature multimodal sensors, provides such a multimodal solution for reliable measurement of both neural activity and vital signs. Real-world viability is demonstrated through single-channel, multimodal digital noise removal in the EEG, standard BCI responses and more than 100 h of out-of-clinic sleep analysis. The benefits of collocated, multimodal sensing of the neural function and vital signs within our Hearables are demonstrated to extend beyond the enhancement of current BCIs, and into BCI-enabled eHealth. Finally, the advantages of our device are validated in an ‘affective’ BCI setting—where both the mental and physical state of the user is integrated through simultaneous monitoring of brain and vital functions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communications and Signal Processing, Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, UK

    Metin C. Yarici, Harry J. Davies, Takashi Nakamura, Ian Williams & Danilo P. Mandic

Authors
  1. Metin C. Yarici
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  2. Harry J. Davies
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  3. Takashi Nakamura
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  4. Ian Williams
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  5. Danilo P. Mandic
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Metin C. Yarici .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. g.tec medical engineering GmbH, Schiedlberg, Oberösterreich, Austria

    Christoph Guger

  2. Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Brendan Z. Allison

  3. Brain State Decoding Lab, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Michael Tangermann

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Yarici, M.C., Davies, H.J., Nakamura, T., Williams, I., Mandic, D.P. (2021). Hearables: In-Ear Multimodal Brain Computer Interfacing. In: Guger, C., Allison, B.Z., Tangermann, M. (eds) Brain-Computer Interface Research. SpringerBriefs in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60460-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60460-8_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-60459-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-60460-8

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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