Mental Health and Cognitive Capacity, Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Computer Science, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2019 Sep 3;7(9):e14474. doi: 10.2196/14474.
Registration of brain activity has become increasingly popular and offers a way to identify the mental state of the user, prevent inappropriate workload, and control other devices by means of brain-computer interfaces. However, electroencephalography (EEG) is often related to user acceptance issues regarding the measuring technique. Meanwhile, emerging mobile EEG technology offers the possibility of gel-free signal acquisition and wireless signal transmission. Nonetheless, user experience research about the new devices is lacking.
This study aimed to evaluate user experience aspects of emerging mobile EEG devices and, in particular, to investigate wearing comfort and issues related to emotional design.
We considered 7 mobile EEG devices and compared them for their wearing comfort, type of electrodes, visual appearance, and subjects' preference for daily use. A total of 24 subjects participated in our study and tested every device independently of the others. The devices were selected in a randomized order and worn on consecutive day sessions of 60-min duration. At the end of each session, subjects rated the devices by means of questionnaires.
Results indicated a highly significant change in maximal possible wearing duration among the EEG devices (χ=40.2, n=24; P<.001). Regarding the visual perception of devices' headset design, results indicated a significant change in the subjects' ratings (χ=78.7, n=24; P<.001). Results of the subjects' ratings regarding the practicability of the devices indicated highly significant differences among the EEG devices (χ=83.2, n=24; P<.001). Ranking order and posthoc tests offered more insight and indicated that pin electrodes had the lowest wearing comfort, in particular, when coupled with a rigid, heavy headset. Finally, multiple linear regression for each device separately revealed that users were not willing to accept less comfort for a more attractive headset design.
The study offers a differentiated look at emerging mobile and gel-free EEG technology and the relation between user experience aspects and device preference. Our research could be seen as a precondition for the development of usable applications with wearables and contributes to consumer health informatics and health-enabling technologies. Furthermore, our results provided guidance for the technological development direction of new EEG devices related to the aspects of emotional design.
脑活动记录变得越来越流行，它提供了一种通过脑机接口来识别用户的精神状态、防止不适当的工作负荷以及控制其他设备的方法。然而，脑电图（EEG）通常与测量技术的用户接受度问题有关。同时，新兴的移动 EEG 技术提供了无需使用凝胶即可进行信号采集和无线信号传输的可能性。尽管如此，针对新设备的用户体验研究仍然缺乏。
本研究旨在评估新兴移动 EEG 设备的用户体验方面，特别是调查佩戴舒适度和与情感设计相关的问题。
我们考虑了 7 种移动 EEG 设备，并比较了它们的佩戴舒适度、电极类型、外观以及受试者对日常使用的偏好。共有 24 名受试者参与了我们的研究，并独立于其他设备测试了每一种设备。设备以随机顺序选择，并在连续 60 分钟的佩戴期间进行佩戴。在每次佩戴结束时，受试者通过问卷对设备进行评分。
结果表明，EEG 设备的最大佩戴时间有显著变化（χ=40.2，n=24；P<.001）。关于设备耳机设计的视觉感知，受试者的评分有显著变化（χ=78.7，n=24；P<.001）。关于设备实用性的受试者评分也有显著差异（χ=83.2，n=24；P<.001）。排名和事后检验提供了更深入的见解，并表明针电极的佩戴舒适度最低，尤其是与刚性、沉重的耳机一起使用时。最后，对每种设备分别进行多元线性回归分析表明，用户不愿意为更具吸引力的耳机设计而接受较低的舒适度。
本研究对新兴的移动和无凝胶 EEG 技术以及用户体验方面和设备偏好之间的关系进行了差异化的研究。我们的研究可以被视为开发可穿戴应用的前提条件，并为消费者健康信息学和使能技术做出了贡献。此外，我们的研究结果为新 EEG 设备的技术发展方向提供了指导，涉及情感设计方面。
