Novel Active Comb-Shaped Dry Electrode for EEG Measurement in Hairy Site

• Published in: IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering 2015-01, Vol.62 (1), p.256-263
• Main Authors: Huang, Yan-Jun, Wu, Chung-Yu, Wong, Alice May-Kuen, Lin, Bor-Shyh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amplifiers, Electronic; Attenuation; Brain - physiology; Drying; Electrodes; Electroencephalography; Electroencephalography - instrumentation; Encounters; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Hair - physiology; Humans; Impedance; Noise; Operational amplifiers; Phase distortion; Rejection; Reproducibility of Results; Scalp - physiology; Sensitivity and Specificity; Signal-To-Noise Ratio; Walking
• ISSN: 0018-9294; 1558-2531
• DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2014.2347318

Electroencephalography (EEG) is an important biopotential, and has been widely applied in clinical applications. The conventional EEG electrode with conductive gels is usually used for measuring EEG. However, the use of conductive gel also encounters with the issue of drying and hardening. Recently, many dry EEG electrodes based on different conductive materials and techniques were proposed to solve the previous issue. However, measuring EEG in the hairy site is still a difficult challenge. In this study, a novel active comb-shaped dry electrode was proposed to measure EEG in hairy site. Different form other comb-shaped or spike-shaped dry electrodes, it can provide more excellent performance of avoiding the signal attenuation, phase distortion, and the reduction of common mode rejection ratio. Even under walking motion, it can effectively acquire EEG in hairy site. Finally, the experiments for alpha rhythm and steady-state visually evoked potential were also tested to validate the proposed electrode.