imec The Netherlands/Holst Centre, 5656 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Dätwyler Schweiz AG, 6467 Schattdorf, Switzerland.
Sensors (Basel). 2024 Jan 10;24(2):420. doi: 10.3390/s24020420.
In-ear acquisition of physiological signals, such as electromyography (EMG), electrooculography (EOG), electroencephalography (EEG), and electrocardiography (ECG), is a promising approach to mobile health (mHealth) due to its non-invasive and user-friendly nature. By providing a convenient and comfortable means of physiological signal monitoring, in-ear signal acquisition could potentially increase patient compliance and engagement with mHealth applications. The development of reliable and comfortable soft dry in-ear electrode systems could, therefore, have significant implications for both mHealth and human-machine interface (HMI) applications. This research evaluates the quality of the ECG signal obtained with soft dry electrodes inserted in the ear canal. An earplug with six soft dry electrodes distributed around its perimeter was designed for this study, allowing for the analysis of the signal coming from each electrode independently with respect to a common reference placed at different positions on the body of the participants. An analysis of the signals in comparison with a reference signal measured on the upper right chest (RA) and lower left chest (LL) was performed. The results show three typical behaviors for the in-ear electrodes. Some electrodes have a high correlation with the reference signal directly after inserting the earplug, other electrodes need a settling time of typically 1-3 min, and finally, others never have a high correlation. The SoftPulse electrodes used in this research have been proven to be perfectly capable of measuring physiological signals, paving the way for their use in mHealth or HMI applications. The use of multiple electrodes distributed in the ear canal has the advantage of allowing a more reliable acquisition by intelligently selecting the signal acquisition locations or allowing a better spatial resolution for certain applications by processing these signals independently.
入耳式采集生理信号,如肌电图(EMG)、眼电图(EOG)、脑电图(EEG)和心电图(ECG),由于其非侵入性和用户友好的特点,是移动健康(mHealth)的一种很有前途的方法。通过提供一种方便和舒适的生理信号监测手段,入耳式信号采集有可能提高患者对 mHealth 应用的依从性和参与度。因此,可靠和舒适的软干入耳式电极系统的发展可能对 mHealth 和人机接口(HMI)应用都有重大意义。本研究评估了插入耳道的软干电极获得的 ECG 信号的质量。为此研究设计了一个带有六个软干电极的耳塞,这些电极分布在其周边,可以独立分析来自每个电极的信号,同时相对于放置在参与者身体不同位置的公共参考电极。对信号进行了分析,并与测量自右上胸(RA)和左下胸(LL)的参考信号进行了比较。结果显示入耳式电极有三种典型行为。一些电极在插入耳塞后直接与参考信号有很高的相关性,其他电极需要 1-3 分钟的稳定时间,而最后一些电极则永远没有高相关性。本研究中使用的 SoftPulse 电极已被证明非常能够测量生理信号,为它们在 mHealth 或 HMI 应用中的使用铺平了道路。使用分布在耳道内的多个电极具有通过智能选择信号采集位置来实现更可靠采集的优势,或者通过独立处理这些信号来为某些应用提供更好的空间分辨率。