Wireless in-ear EEG system for auditory brain-computer interface applications in adolescents

In-ear electroencephalography (EEG) systems offer several practical advantages over scalp-based EEG systems for non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) applications. However, the difficulty in fabricating in-ear EEG systems can limit their accessibility for BCI use cases. In this study, we developed a portable, low-cost wireless in-ear EEG device using commercially available components. In-ear EEG signals (referenced to left mastoid) from 5 adolescent participants were compared to scalp-EEG collected simultaneously during an alpha modulation task, various artifact induction tasks, and an auditory word-streaming BCI paradigm. Spectral analysis confirmed that the proposed in-ear EEG system could capture significantly increased alpha activity during eyes-closed relaxation in 3 of 5 participants, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 2.34 across all participants. In-ear EEG signals were most susceptible to horizontal head movement, coughing and vocalization artifacts but were relatively insensitive to ocular artifacts such as blinking. For the auditory streaming paradigm, the classifier decoded the presented stimuli from in-ear EEG signals only in 1 of 5 participants. Classification of the attended stream did not exceed chance levels. Contrast plots showing the difference between attended and unattended streams revealed reduced amplitudes of in-ear EEG responses relative to scalp-EEG responses. Hardware modifications are needed to amplify in-ear signals and measure electrode-skin impedances to improve the viability of in-ear EEG for BCI applications.