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

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种舒适、易于使用和谨慎的脑电系统，该系统不仅将使最终用户能够跟踪睡眠和准备情况，还将使一种全新的大规模、易于管理的睡眠研究成为可能。一种可重复使用、舒适的耳内式脑电图仪(耳脑电图仪)还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共健康、更科学地了解人脑，以及节省医疗成本。这个i-Corps项目基于开发一种不引人注目和舒适的睡眠监测设备。该技术使用干燥电极和无线记录系统，通过商用耳机进行脑电和健康监测。目前用于进行睡眠研究的临床脑电(EEG)系统依赖于技术人员帮助患者应用和移除EEG电极。EEG电极是湿电极，依赖于皮肤清洁和磨损以及笨重的电子设备。所需的皮肤准备通常会导致皮肤损伤和脱发。这些系统要求限制了患者的舒适度、用户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燥电极，但它们的耳机外形因素在睡眠中不能舒适地使用，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。该项目将开发一种用户通用的入耳式脑电记录平台，适合商业耳塞，显著减轻系统重量和尺寸，显著提高舒适性和可用性，从而允许日常佩戴。拟议的平台还使用了新颖的干电极设计、低功率无线记录电子设备和广泛采用的外形因素，以实现舒适、日常使用和在家睡眠监测的新时代。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.