Garrett Markus, Debener Stefan, Verhulst Sarah
Department of Medical Physics and Acoustics, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all", Oldenburg, Germany.
Front Neurosci. 2019 Jul 16;13:730. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00730. eCollection 2019.
Even though the principles of recording brain electrical activity remain unchanged since their discovery, their acquisition has seen major improvements. The cEEGrid, a recently developed flex-printed multi-channel sensory array, can be placed around the ear and successfully record well-known cortical electrophysiological potentials such as late auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) or the P300. Due to its fast and easy application as well as its long-lasting signal recording window, the cEEGrid technology offers great potential as a flexible and 'wearable' solution for the acquisition of neural correlates of hearing. Early potentials of auditory processing such as the auditory brainstem response (ABR) are already used in clinical assessment of sensorineural hearing disorders and envelope following responses (EFR) have shown promising results in the diagnosis of suprathreshold hearing deficits. This study evaluates the suitability of the cEEGrid electrode configuration to capture these AEPs. cEEGrid potentials were recorded and compared to cap-EEG potentials for young normal-hearing listeners and older listeners with high-frequency sloping audiograms to assess whether the recordings are adequately sensitive for hearing diagnostics. ABRs were elicited by presenting clicks (70 and 100-dB peSPL) and stimulation for the EFRs consisted of 120 Hz amplitude-modulated white noise carriers presented at 70-dB SPL. Data from nine bipolar cEEGrid channels and one classical cap-EEG montage (earlobes to vertex) were analysed and outcome measures were compared. Results show that the cEEGrid is able to record ABRs and EFRs with comparable shape to those recorded using a conventional cap-EEG recording montage and the same amplifier. Signal strength is lower but can still produce responses above the individual neural electrophysiological noise floor. This study shows that the application of the cEEGrid can be extended to the acquisition of early auditory evoked potentials.
尽管自发现以来记录脑电活动的原理保持不变，但其采集方式已有了重大改进。cEEGrid是一种最近开发的柔性印刷多通道传感阵列，可放置在耳朵周围，并成功记录诸如晚期听觉诱发电位（AEP）或P300等著名的皮层电生理电位。由于其应用快速简便以及信号记录窗口持久，cEEGrid技术作为一种灵活的“可穿戴”解决方案，在获取听力的神经关联方面具有巨大潜力。听觉处理的早期电位，如听觉脑干反应（ABR）已用于感音神经性听力障碍的临床评估，而包络跟随反应（EFR）在阈上听力缺陷的诊断中已显示出有前景的结果。本研究评估了cEEGrid电极配置捕捉这些AEP的适用性。记录了cEEGrid电位，并将其与年轻听力正常的听众以及高频斜坡型听力图的老年听众的帽式脑电图电位进行比较，以评估这些记录对于听力诊断是否具有足够的敏感性。通过呈现咔嗒声（70和100 dB peSPL）引出ABR，而EFR的刺激由以70 dB SPL呈现的120 Hz调幅白噪声载波组成。分析了来自九个双极cEEGrid通道和一个经典帽式脑电图导联（耳垂至头顶）的数据，并比较了结果测量值。结果表明，cEEGrid能够记录形状与使用传统帽式脑电图记录导联和相同放大器记录的ABR和EFR相当的信号。信号强度较低，但仍能产生高于个体神经电生理本底噪声的反应。本研究表明，cEEGrid的应用可以扩展到早期听觉诱发电位的采集。
