An Adaptive Hybrid Brain-Computer Interface for Hand Function Rehabilitation of Stroke Patients

• Published in: IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering Vol. 32; pp. 2950 - 2960
• Main Authors: Su, Jianqiang, Wang, Jiaxing, Wang, Weiqun, Wang, Yihan, Bunterngchit, Chayut, Zhang, Pu, Hou, Zeng-Guang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 2024
• Subjects: Accuracy; Adult; Aged; Algorithms; Brain-Computer Interfaces; Electroencephalography; Electroencephalography - methods; Evoked Potentials, Visual - physiology; Female; Gestures; Hand; hand rehabilitation; Healthy Volunteers; Humans; Hybrid brain computer interface; Imagination - physiology; Male; Middle Aged; motor imagery; Motors; Photic Stimulation; Reproducibility of Results; Signal-To-Noise Ratio; Soft robotics; steady-state visual evoked potential; Stroke - physiopathology; Stroke Rehabilitation - methods; Task analysis; Visualization; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1534-4320; 1558-0210; 1558-0210
• DOI: 10.1109/TNSRE.2024.3431025

Motor imagery (MI) based brain computer interface (BCI) has been extensively studied to improve motor recovery for stroke patients by inducing neuroplasticity. However, due to the lower spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of electroencephalograph (EEG), MI based BCI system that involves decoding hand movements within the same limb remains lower classification accuracy and poorer practicality. To overcome the limitations, an adaptive hybrid BCI system combining MI and steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) is developed to improve decoding accuracy while enhancing neural engagement. On the one hand, the SSVEP evoked by visual stimuli based on action-state flickering coding approach significantly improves the recognition accuracy compared to the pure MI based BCI. On the other hand, to reduce the impact of SSVEP on MI due to the dual-task interference effect, the event-related desynchronization (ERD) based neural engagement is monitored and employed for feedback in real-time to ensure the effective execution of MI tasks. Eight healthy subjects and six post-stroke patients were recruited to verify the effectiveness of the system. The results showed that the four-class gesture recognition accuracies of healthy individuals and patients could be improved to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">94.37~\pm ~4.77 </tex-math></inline-formula>% and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">79.38~\pm ~6.26 </tex-math></inline-formula>%, respectively. Moreover, the designed hybrid BCI could maintain the same degree of neural engagement as observed when subjects solely performed MI tasks. These phenomena demonstrated the interactivity and clinical utility of the developed system for the rehabilitation of hand function in stroke patients.