Abstract
Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings represent a vital component of the assessment of sleep physiology, but the methodology presently used is costly, intrusive to participants, and laborious in application. There is a recognized need to develop more easily applicable yet reliable EEG systems that allow unobtrusive long-term recording of sleep-wake EEG ideally away from the laboratory setting. cEEGrid is a recently developed flex-printed around-the-ear electrode array, which holds great potential for sleep-wake monitoring research. It is comfortable to wear, simple to apply, and minimally intrusive during sleep. Moreover, it can be combined with a smartphone-controlled miniaturized amplifier and is fully portable. Evaluation of cEEGrid as a motion-tolerant device is ongoing, but initial findings clearly indicate that it is very well suited for cognitive research. The present study aimed to explore the suitability of cEEGrid for sleep research, by testing whether cEEGrid data affords the signal quality and characteristics necessary for sleep stage scoring. In an accredited sleep laboratory, sleep data from cEEGrid and a standard PSG system were acquired simultaneously. Twenty participants were recorded for one extended nocturnal sleep opportunity. Fifteen data sets were scored manually. Sleep parameters relating to sleep maintenance and sleep architecture were then extracted and statistically assessed for signal quality and concordance. The findings suggest that the cEEGrid system is a viable and robust recording tool to capture sleep and wake EEG. Further research is needed to fully determine the suitability of cEEGrid for basic and applied research as well as sleep medicine.
Highlights
Since the discovery of the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) in humans (Loomis et al, 1937), physiological studies on sleep and its disorders have been primarily conducted in specialized sleep laboratories, often within research settings
In the present study we examined the suitability of sleep data collection with cEEGrid combined with a miniaturized amplifier (Smarting, mBrainTrain, Serbia) and an off-the-shelf smartphone (Sony Z1) for sleep research
The signal quality was comparable for both systems throughout the recording period; we note that the overall signal strength was lower for cEEGrid than for SomnoHD
Summary
Since the discovery of the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) in humans (Loomis et al, 1937), physiological studies on sleep (polysomnography, PSG) and its disorders have been primarily conducted in specialized sleep laboratories, often within research settings. Home-PSG studies further showed increased slow wave and rapid eye-movement sleep (REM), and lower sleep fragmentation (Kingshott and Douglas, 2000; Iber et al, 2004; Bruyneel et al, 2011), indicating that sleep maintenance and sleep architecture might be better at home than in the lab Further support for this notion is provided by Edinger’s studies (Edinger et al, 1997, 2001) which demonstrated differences in sleep continuity and sleep architecture indicative of better sleep at home in a within-subject paradigm of three nights of lab- and home PSG, respectively. Whether these differences reflect genuinely better sleep at home or methodological differences is disputed
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