|
Digital
Library of the European Council for Modelling
and Simulation |
Title: |
On
Usage Of EEG Brain Control For Rehabilitation Of Stroke Patients |
Authors: |
Tom Verplaetse, Filippo Sanfilippo,
Adrian Rutle, Ottar L. Osen, Robin T. Bye |
Published in: |
(2016).ECMS 2016 Proceedings edited
by: Thorsen Claus, Frank Herrmann, Michael Manitz, Oliver Rose, European
Council for Modeling and Simulation. doi:10.7148/2016 ISBN:
978-0-9932440-2-5 30th
European Conference on Modelling and Simulation, Regensburg Germany, May 31st
– June 3rd, 2016 |
Citation
format: |
Tom Verplaetse, Filippo Sanfilippo,
Adrian Rutle, Ottar L. Osen, Robin T. Bye (2016). On Usage Of EEG Brain
Control For Rehabilitation Of Stroke Patients, ECMS 2016 Proceedings edited
by: Thorsten Claus, Frank Herrmann, Michael Manitz, Oliver Rose European Council for Modeling
and Simulation. doi:10.7148/2016-0544 |
DOI: |
http://dx.doi.org/10.7148/2016-0544 |
Abstract: |
This paper demonstrates rapid
prototyping of a stroke rehabilitation system consisting of an interactive 3D
virtual reality computer game environment interfaced with an EEG headset for
control and interaction using brain waves. The system is intended for
training and rehabilitation of partially monoplegic stroke patients and uses
lowcost commercial-off-the-shelf products like the Emotiv EPOC EEG headset
and the Unity 3D game engine. A number of rehabilitation methods exist that
can improve motor control and function of the paretic upper limb in stroke
survivors. Unfortunately, most of these methods are commonly characterised by
a number of drawbacks that can limit intensive treatment, including being
repetitive, uninspiring, and labour intensive; requiring one-on-one manual
interaction and assistance from a therapist, often for several weeks; and
involve equipment and systems that are complex and expensive and cannot be
used at home but only in hospitals and institutions by trained personnel.
Inspired by the principles of mirror therapy and game-stimulated
rehabilitation, we have developed a first prototype of a game-like computer
application that tries to avoid these drawbacks. For rehabilitation purposes,
we deprive the patient of the view of the paretic hand while being challenged
with controlling a virtual hand in a simulated 3D game environment only by
means of EEG brain waves interfaced with the computer. Whilst our system is only
a first prototype, we hypothesise that by iteratively improving its design
through refinements and tuning based on input from domain experts and testing
on real patients, the system can be tailored for being used together with a
conventional rehabilitation programme to improve patients’ ability to move
the paretic limb much in the same vain as mirror therapy. Our proposed system
has several advantages, including being game-based, customisable, adaptive,
and extendable. In addition, when compared with conventional rehabilitation
methods, our system is extremely low-cost and flexible, in particular because
patients can use it in the comfort of their homes, with little or no need for
professional human assistance. Preliminary tests are carried out to highlight
the potential of the proposed rehabilitation system, however, in order to
measure its efficiency in rehabilitation, the system must first be improved
and then run through an extensive field test with a sufficiently large group
of patients and compared with a control group. |
Full
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