Automatic Detection of Signalling Behaviour from Assistance Dogs as they Forecast the Onset of Epileptic Seizures in Humans

Abstract

Epilepsy or the occurrence of epileptic seizures, is one of the world's most well-known neurological disorders affecting millions of people. Seizures mostly occur due to non-coordinated electrical discharges in the human brain and may cause damage, including collapse and loss of consciousness. If the onset of a seizure can be forecast then the subject can be placed into a safe environment or position so that self-injury as a result of a collapse can be minimised. However there are no definitive methods to predict seizures in an everyday, uncontrolled environment. Previous studies have shown that pet dogs have the ability to detect the onset of an epileptic seizure by scenting the characteristic volatile organic compounds exuded through the skin by a subject prior a seizure occurring and there are cases where assistance dogs, trained to scent the onset of a seizure, can signal this to their owner/trainer. In this work we identify how we can automatically detect the signalling behaviours of trained assistance dogs and use this to alert their owner. Using data from an accelerometer worn on the collar of a dog we describe how we gathered movement data from 11 trained dogs for a total of 107 days as they exhibited signalling behaviour on command. We present the machine learning techniques used to accurately detect signalling from routine dog behaviour. This work is a step towards automatic alerting of the likely onset of an epileptic seizure from the signalling behaviour of a trained assistance dog.