I-Corps: Commercial form-factor earbuds for unobtrusive and comfortable sleep monitoring

I-Corps：商业外形耳塞，用于不显眼且舒适的睡眠监测

• 批准号: 2306442
• 负责人: Rikky Muller
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-15 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306442&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Commercial; form; factor; earbuds

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a comfortable, easy-to-use, and discreet electroencephalography system that would not only empower end users to track sleep and readiness, but would also enable a whole new class of large-scale, easy-to-administer sleep studies. A re-usable, comfortable, in-ear electroencephalography (Ear electroencephalography) could also help improve the diagnoses of cognitive disorders (e.g., anxiety and depression), sleep disorders, and epilepsy by providing medical professionals with a new tool for observing their patients in their daily lives. The downstream effects related to at-home sleep monitoring and easier, more comfortable diagnoses include improved public health, greater scientific understanding of the human brain, and healthcare cost savings.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a device for unobtrusive and comfortable sleep monitoring. The technology uses dry electrodes and a wireless recording system for electroencephalography and wellness monitoring through commercial form-factor earbuds. Current clinical electroencephalography (EEG) systems used to perform sleep studies rely on technicians to help patients apply and remove the EEG electrodes. EEG electrodes are wet electrodes that rely on skin cleaning and abrasion as well as cumbersome electronics. The required skin preparation often results in skin lesions and hair loss. These system requirements limit patient comfort, user movement, and the ability to measure uncontaminated neural activity. While some commercial systems have introduced smaller electronics and dry electrodes, their headset form-factors cannot be comfortably used in sleep, and they are still too bulky for comfortable day-to-day use in both public and private environments. This project will develop a user-generic, in-ear electroencephalography recording platform that fits into commercial earbuds, significantly reducing system weight and size to dramatically improve comfort and usability allowing for daily wear. The proposed platform also uses novel dry electrode designs, low-power wireless recording electronics, and a widely adopted form factor to enable a new era of comfortable, daily use, and at-home sleep monitoring.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响和商业潜力在于开发一种舒适、易于使用、谨慎的脑电图系统，它不仅能让最终用户跟踪睡眠和准备情况，还能实现一种全新的大规模、易于管理的睡眠研究。一种可重复使用的、舒适的耳内脑电图（Ear electroencephalography）也可以为医疗专业人员提供一种观察患者日常生活的新工具，从而帮助改善对认知障碍（如焦虑和抑郁）、睡眠障碍和癫痫的诊断。与家庭睡眠监测和更容易、更舒适的诊断相关的下游影响包括改善公众健康，对人类大脑有更深入的科学了解，以及节省医疗成本。这个I-Corps项目的基础是开发一种不引人注目且舒适的睡眠监测设备。这项技术使用干电极和无线记录系统，通过商用耳机进行脑电图和健康监测。目前用于睡眠研究的临床脑电图（EEG）系统依赖于技术人员帮助患者应用和移除EEG电极。脑电图电极是湿电极，依赖于皮肤清洁和磨损以及繁琐的电子设备。所需的皮肤准备常常导致皮肤损伤和脱发。这些系统要求限制了患者的舒适度、使用者的活动以及测量未受污染的神经活动的能力。虽然一些商业系统已经引入了更小的电子设备和干电极，但它们的耳机外形不能在睡眠中舒适地使用，而且它们仍然太笨重，无法在公共和私人环境中舒适地日常使用。该项目将开发一种适合商用耳塞的用户通用耳内脑电图记录平台，显著降低系统重量和尺寸，显著提高日常佩戴的舒适性和可用性。该平台还采用了新颖的干电极设计、低功耗无线记录电子设备和广泛采用的外形因素，以实现舒适、日常使用和家庭睡眠监测的新时代。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。