Evaluating dry-electrode electroencephalography system for auditory neuroscience using speech-in-noise tasks

This study evaluates the feasibility of using a dry-electrode electroencephalography (EEG) system for auditory cognitive neuroscience research by comparing its performance with a conventional wet-electrode system during auditory tasks. EEG data were collected using the Biosemi Active Two (wet-electrode system) and the Wearable Sensing DSI-24 (dry-electrode system) as participants completed a Speech-in-Noise task based on the Coordinate Response Measure (CRM) corpus. Participants identified the color and number of target sounds while masker sounds varied in direction and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Results reveal no significant differences in SNR between the dry- and wet-electrode systems. This indicates that the dry-electrode system can reliably capture auditory neural responses, making it a suitable tool for auditory neuroscience research. The use of auditory stimuli in this study highlights the applicability of dry-electrode systems for investigating brain responses to complex auditory environments, such as speech-in-noise. These findings suggest that dry-electrode EEG systems offer a practical and efficient alternative for auditory cognitive neuroscience, enabling easier setup and improved participant comfort without compromising data quality. This advancement holds promise for applications in auditory attention decoding, brain-computer interfaces, and clinical research.