P125. mindBEAGLE: A BCI for communication and assessment of consciousness for patients with disorders of consciousness

Abstract

Introduction In this publication we present a tool for assessment and communication with patients suffering Disorder of Consciousness (DOC). Four different Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) approaches are used: An auditory P300 approach, a vibrotactile P300 approach with two or three tactile stimulators, and a Motor Imagery (MI) based approach. The vibrotactile P300 and the MI based approaches can be used for both, the assessment of consciousness and communication with patients. The auditory P300 approach can be used only for assessment of consciousness. System overview Fig. 1 shows an overview of the system. The user wears an EEG cap with 16 electrodes, distributed to fit for all three BCI approaches. The laptop controls the paradigms, performs the signal processing and displays the results to the user. Three vibrotactile stimulators are used for the tactile P300 approach, earphones are used for the auditory P300. The cues that are needed for the MI approach are also played via the earphones. System validation Table 1 shows results of five healthy users, controlling mindBEAGLE. The vibrotactile P300 approach was already tested on a group of six Locked-In Patients showing a average accuracy of 80% for two tactors and 55.3% for three tactors ( Lugo et al., 2014 ). The feasibility of auditory P300 for cognitive assessment was also proved in previous studies ( Cipresso et al., 2012 , Kubler et al., 2009 ). In future studies, all approaches of the device system will be validated on both: healthy users and patients.