Handheld or wearable device for recording or sonifying brain signals
Inventors
Parvizi, Josef • Chafe, Christopher D. • Chao, Xingjuan • Eddington, Jr., Ronald C.
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-11471088-B1
Publication Date
2022-10-18
Expiration Date
Abstract
A handheld device for sonifying electrical signals obtained from a subject is provided. The device can utilize at least one of several operations including (but not limited) digitizing signals from electrodes, adjusting the signals based on accelerometer input, filtering the signals, conditioning the signals according to conditioning parameters, modulating the signal according to sound synthesis parameters, and generating sound from the representations of the signals to accomplish sonification. The device can include an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter to digitize the one or more electrical signals and a processor that receives the one or more digitized electrical signals and produces a representation of an acoustic signal. The device further includes a speaker system that sonifies the representation of the acoustic signal.
Core Innovation
The invention relates to a device and method for sonifying signals by receiving at least one electroencephalogram signal produced by a plurality of electrodes indicative of brain activity. The device includes an input port, an analog-to-digital converter that digitizes the electroencephalogram signal, and a filter that filters non-seizure-related brain wave features from the digitized signal. A processor executes machine readable instructions in real time to condition the digitized signal according to conditioning parameters.
Conditioning includes boosting the digitized signal by taking the power-law exponent to enhance contrast, applying absolute value signal rectification to double signal frequency, rejecting signals with an amplitude below a threshold as low-amplitude noise signals, scaling signals above the threshold to create a fixed range boosted signal, and compressing the fixed range boosted signal to raise the prominence of small features. The conditioned signal is then used to modulate sound synthesis parameters to produce an audio signal.
The audio signal is converted into sound by a speaker system configured to generate sound based upon the audio signal output by the processor. In dependent refinements, the conditioning and transformation pipeline includes a dual-stage filter arrangement and additional mappings from conditioned signals to sound synthesis parameters, including formant pitch mapping and inverse pitch frequency mapping using an interpolated look-up table.
Further refinements specify that modulating the sound synthesis parameters may include mapping to a vowel lookup table with named sounds and applying defined pitch and amplitude offsets and scalings. The document also describes audio output performance for discrimination of seizures versus non-seizures and indicates that it can be comparable to visual electroencephalogram interpretation.
Claims Coverage
The partial content provides two independent claims (device and method). Each independent claim centers on real-time sonification of electroencephalogram signals with a conditioning pipeline and modulation of sound synthesis parameters to drive a speaker system, while filtering out non-seizure-related brain wave features. Across the independent claims, the inventive features are concentrated in preprocessing (filtering and conditioning) and audio generation (modulating sound synthesis parameters to produce audio sound).
Real-time electroencephalogram signal input and digitization for sonification
A device comprising an input port configured to receive at least one electroencephalogram signal produced by a plurality of electrodes indicative of brain activity, and an analog-to-digital converter to digitize the at least one electroencephalogram signal.
Filtering non-seizure-related brain wave features
A device comprising a filter configured to filter non-seizure-related brain wave features from the at least one digitized signal.
Power-law exponent contrast enhancement with rectification and threshold-based noise rejection
A processor directed by machine readable instructions to perform real time conditioning comprising boosting the digitized signal by taking the power-law exponent to enhance contrast, applying absolute value signal rectification to double signal frequency, rejecting signals with amplitude below a threshold as low-amplitude noise signals, and scaling signals above the threshold to create a fixed range boosted signal.
Compressing fixed range boosted signal and modulating sound synthesis parameters
A processor wherein conditioning further comprises compressing the fixed range boosted signal to raise prominence of small features, and using the conditioned signal to modulate sound synthesis parameters to produce an audio signal.
Speaker system output from synthesized audio
A speaker system configured to generate sound based upon the audio signal output by the processor.
Receiving, digitizing, and filtering electroencephalogram signals for sonification
A method comprising receiving at least one electroencephalogram signal produced by a plurality of electrodes using an input port, digitizing the electroencephalogram signal using an analog-to-digital converter, and filtering non-seizure-related brain wave features from the digitized signal.
Real-time signal conditioning using power-law exponent, rectification, threshold rejection, scaling, and compression
Producing a sonification in real time using a processor, wherein the set of operations comprises conditioning the digitized signal by boosting with a power-law exponent to enhance contrast, applying absolute value signal rectification to double signal frequency, rejecting signals with amplitude below a threshold as low-amplitude noise signals, scaling signals above the threshold to create a fixed range boosted signal, and compressing the fixed range boosted signal to raise prominence of small features.
Modulating sound synthesis parameters to produce audio and generating sound
Using the conditioned signal to modulate sound synthesis parameters to produce an audio signal, and generating sound based upon the audio signal using a speaker system of the sonification device.
In the independent device and method claims, the inventive coverage is primarily the combination of real-time electroencephalogram acquisition and digitization, filtering non-seizure-related brain wave features, conditioning the digitized signal using power-law exponent contrast enhancement with absolute value rectification, threshold-based low-amplitude noise rejection, scaling to a fixed range, and compression to raise prominence of small features, and using the conditioned signal to modulate sound synthesis parameters that drive a speaker system to output sound.
Stated Advantages
Enables producing a sonification of electroencephalogram signals in real time.
Filters non-seizure-related brain wave features from the digitized signal.
Enhances contrast and raises prominence of small features in the conditioned signal via power-law exponent boosting, thresholding, scaling, and compression.
Produces an audio signal by modulating sound synthesis parameters based on conditioned electroencephalogram signals.
Documented Applications
Discrimination of seizures versus non-seizures using the generated audio output, with performance comparable to visual electroencephalogram interpretation [as described in the provided summary].
EEG quality feedback using an EEG concordance metric with lab EEG [as described in the provided summary].
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