System for bilateral in-ear EEG recording with closed-loop binaural sensory stimulation

Inventors

Le Van Quyen, Michel • GENIN, Alexis • STEINER, Alexis • Valderrama, Mario • NAVARRETE, Miguel

Assignees

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS • Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Paris APHP • Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale INSERM • Sorbonne Universite • Institut du Cerveau et de La Moelle Epiniere ICM

Abstract

An in-ear stimulation system including a first device configured to be worn at least partially in a first ear canal of a subject and a second device configured to be worn at least partially in a second ear canal of the subject. Each of the first device and the second device includes: at least one in-ear active electrode configured to receive a bio-signal and at least one in-ear reference electrode configured to receive a bio-signal;at least one stimulation device configured for emitting at least one electrical or sensory stimulus; andan electronic system configured to detect at least one bio-signal pattern from the bio-signals measured from the electrodes.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to an in-ear binaural stimulation system comprising a first device configured to be worn at least partially in a first ear canal and a second device configured to be worn at least partially in a second ear canal. Each device comprises at least one in-ear active electrode configured to receive a bio-signal and at least one in-ear reference electrode configured to receive a bio-signal, together with at least one stimulation device configured for emitting at least one electrical or sensory stimulus. The in-ear active electrode of the first device is referenced to the in-ear reference electrode of the second device and vice versa between the first and second devices.

An electronic system is configured to detect at least one bio-signal pattern from the bio-signals received by the in-ear active/reference electrodes of both devices. In response to the detection of the at least one bio-signal pattern, the electronic system triggers a generation of at least one stimulus from the at least one stimulation device of the first device and a generation of at least one stimulus from the at least one stimulation device of the second device. The system supports temporally separated stimuli by configuring a time delay between stimuli generated by the first device and the second device.

The described approach further includes sleep-focused triggering based on specific sleep features, including detection of a peak and a falling slope of sleep slow waves and triggering stimulation in response. The disclosed operation is compatible with sleep monitoring using identifiable sleep grapho-elements, including sleep slow oscillations, sleep cycles, NREM sleep, sleep spindles, and K-complex activity. The system is also described as enabling stimulation timing using interaural time delay and optionally using stimulus sequences, with example implementations and tests indicating in-ear EEG quality comparable to scalp EEG for alpha and sleep K-complex/spindle activity.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim covered by the partial content defines a two-device in-ear binaural stimulation system that uses cross-referenced in-ear electrodes, detects bio-signal patterns from both devices, and triggers stimulus generation from both devices based on the detected pattern. The coverage includes multiple dependent refinements that mainly constrain stimulus timing, sleep-trigger features, stimulation modalities, electronic-system architecture, and brain-area relevance.

Overall, the claim set defines an in-ear binaural stimulation system that cross-references active and reference electrodes across the two ear-canal devices, detects bio-signal patterns across both devices, and triggers binaural stimulus generation, with further refinements for interaural time delay, sleep slow-wave peak and falling slope triggering, stimulation modality, electronic-system architecture, and specified brain areas.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications