Bristle-sensors--low-cost flexible passive dry EEG electrodes for neurofeedback and BCI applications

In this paper, we present a new, low-cost dry electrode for EEG that is made of flexible metal-coated polymer bristles. We examine various standard EEG paradigms, such as capturing occipital alpha rhythms, testing for event-related potentials in an auditory oddball paradigm and performing a sensory motor rhythm-based event-related (de-) synchronization paradigm to validate the performance of the novel electrodes in terms of signal quality. Our findings suggest that the dry electrodes that we developed result in high-quality EEG recordings and are thus suitable for a wide range of EEG studies and BCI applications. Furthermore, due to the flexibility of the novel electrodes, greater comfort is achieved in some subjects, this being essential for long-term use.

J Neural Eng. 2011 Apr;8(2):025008. Epub 2011 Mar 24. Grozea C, Voinescu CD, Fazli S. Fraunhofer Institute FIRST, Kekulestrasse 7, Berlin 12489, Germany. cristian.grozea@first.fraunhofer.de