S Halder1, I Käthner2, A Kübler2. 1. Institute of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Marcusstr. 9-11, 97070 Würzburg, Germany; Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, 359-8555 Saitama, Japan. Electronic address: sebastian.halder@uni-wuerzburg.de. 2. Institute of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Marcusstr. 9-11, 97070 Würzburg, Germany.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Auditory brain-computer interfaces are an assistive technology that can restore communication for motor impaired end-users. Such non-visual brain-computer interface paradigms are of particular importance for end-users that may lose or have lost gaze control. We attempted to show that motor impaired end-users can learn to control an auditory speller on the basis of event-related potentials. METHODS: Five end-users with motor impairments, two of whom with additional visual impairments, participated in five sessions. We applied a newly developed auditory brain-computer interface paradigm with natural sounds and directional cues. RESULTS: Three of five end-users learned to select symbols using this method. Averaged over all five end-users the information transfer rate increased by more than 1800% from the first session (0.17 bits/min) to the last session (3.08 bits/min). The two best end-users achieved information transfer rates of 5.78 bits/min and accuracies of 92%. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that an auditory BCI with a combination of natural sounds and directional cues, can be controlled by end-users with motor impairment. Training improves the performance of end-users to the level of healthy controls. SIGNIFICANCE: To our knowledge, this is the first time end-users with motor impairments controlled an auditory brain-computer interface speller with such high accuracy and information transfer rates. Further, our results demonstrate that operating a BCI with event-related potentials benefits from training and specifically end-users may require more than one session to develop their full potential.
OBJECTIVE: Auditory brain-computer interfaces are an assistive technology that can restore communication for motor impaired end-users. Such non-visual brain-computer interface paradigms are of particular importance for end-users that may lose or have lost gaze control. We attempted to show that motor impaired end-users can learn to control an auditory speller on the basis of event-related potentials. METHODS: Five end-users with motor impairments, two of whom with additional visual impairments, participated in five sessions. We applied a newly developed auditory brain-computer interface paradigm with natural sounds and directional cues. RESULTS: Three of five end-users learned to select symbols using this method. Averaged over all five end-users the information transfer rate increased by more than 1800% from the first session (0.17 bits/min) to the last session (3.08 bits/min). The two best end-users achieved information transfer rates of 5.78 bits/min and accuracies of 92%. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that an auditory BCI with a combination of natural sounds and directional cues, can be controlled by end-users with motor impairment. Training improves the performance of end-users to the level of healthy controls. SIGNIFICANCE: To our knowledge, this is the first time end-users with motor impairments controlled an auditory brain-computer interface speller with such high accuracy and information transfer rates. Further, our results demonstrate that operating a BCI with event-related potentials benefits from training and specifically end-users may require more than one session to develop their full potential.
Authors: Sijie Zhou; Brendan Z Allison; Andrea Kübler; Andrzej Cichocki; Xingyu Wang; Jing Jin Journal: Front Comput Neurosci Date: 2016-10-13 Impact factor: 2.380
Authors: Ivo Käthner; Sebastian Halder; Christoph Hintermüller; Arnau Espinosa; Christoph Guger; Felip Miralles; Eloisa Vargiu; Stefan Dauwalder; Xavier Rafael-Palou; Marc Solà; Jean M Daly; Elaine Armstrong; Suzanne Martin; Andrea Kübler Journal: Front Neurosci Date: 2017-05-22 Impact factor: 4.677