Development and Verification of an Electrode for Recording Electrodermal Activity Underwater

Underwater recording of biosignals such as electrodermal activity has the potential to improve our current understanding of diving medicine. However, the deployment is currently limited by the required waterproofing of EDA electrodes. In this work, we showcase the development and verify our design of a new water-tolerant electrode for underwater EDA collection. In time, frequency, and time-frequency domains, our electrode design performs as well as or better than the standard Ag/AgCI electrodes, showing only a small baseline shift when submerged and produced signal differences no larger than those EDA collected at different sites on the same body. Further development is required to establish the longevity of our electrode and the usability in varied other real-world water environments.