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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
The EU research project EMBRACE at German Technical University of Ilmenau has been nominated for the European Excellence Award. In this medical technology project, an interdisciplinary team of researchers and industry experts developed, for the first time, a novel method for simultaneously monitoring the human brain and the physiological and neurological processes of two or more people interacting with one another - for example, while playing table tennis. This makes it possible to study the development of social behavior in people who interact with one another. The project received 818,800 euros in funding over four years as part of the EU’s HORIZON Europe funding program.
The EMBRACE team has likely become the first in the world to successfully measure ten independent physiological signals in real time from people interacting with one another. Previous methods for measuring brain activity using EEG alongside other physiological signals had the major drawback that they could only analyze processes in individual subjects - brain activity that occurred specifically as a result of people interacting with one another remained unexplored. This novel medical technology for multimodal brain analysis will now make it possible to gain a deep understanding of the processes occurring in people who are interacting with one another.
Wireless synchronization of independent systems achieved for the first time
It was a long road to this research success for the team led by Prof. Jens Haueisen, EMBRACE project leader at the Technical University of Ilmenau and head of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Thuringia. The highly interdisciplinary team - comprising biomedical engineers, computer scientists, neuroscientists, and psychologists from both research and industry - developed a system that allows for the simultaneous, real-time recording of three different signal groups from subjects who were physically interacting, such as playing table tennis or dancing together: the neural signals; physiological reactions, i.e., those reflecting biological processes in the body; and kinematic signals, which pertain to body movements. In total, the researchers recorded ten signals synchronously and in real time: from the brain, heart, lungs, muscles, and body movements. Synchronizing all these signals was essential for the research, not only to obtain meaningful multimodal data but also so that this data from various sources could subsequently be analyzed reliably.
To achieve this, the researchers synchronized independent systems from different manufacturers wirelessly - a crucial step for conducting analyses on people who are moving, such as during physical activities. Using a seemingly simple strategy, they reduced the number of devices that needed to be synchronized by grouping them into individual intermediate devices: The EEG cap for recording brain waves, the ECG electrodes for monitoring the heart, and each subject’s respiratory belt were wirelessly connected to the same mobile EEG recording device for each subject, while the EMG sensors, which measure the electrical activity of the muscles, and the subjects’ motion markers were connected to a stationary motion capture system for all subjects. The researchers then developed a system to synchronize the mobile and stationary device groups.
Software tools for multimodal data fusion and analysis
Equally important for the new analysis method: the in-house developed software tools for multimodal data fusion and analysis, which enable the interpretation of complex signals through a single interactive process. These include, in particular, new methods for reducing so-called motion artifacts—that is, disturbances or changes in the recorded signals caused by the subjects’ movements during recording. The scientists also developed methods for analyzing the functional connectivity of the subjects’ brains, which provide insights into the synchrony of brain activity during their interaction.
Innovative Flower electrodes for flexible long-term EEG monitoring
The multimodal measurements for EEG monitoring of brain waves were only possible using dry electrodes specially developed at TU Ilmenau - that is, electrodes that measure brain waves without conductive gel. Conventional dry electrodes could not be used because, during measurements as long as those in the EMBRACE study - which lasted two, sometimes even three hours - the comfort of the participants would have suffered. Their movements, for example while playing table tennis, would not only have uncomfortably increased the pressure of the electrode cap on their heads, but would also have distracted them during the sporting activity, resulting in poor signal quality.
The researchers named the new dry electrodes “flower electrodes” because of their unique shape: the pins - that is, the contact points on the scalp - are arranged spatially like the petals of a flower. This shape allows for optimal use of the flexibility of the material resting on the subject’s head, and the flower-shaped design also increases comfort for those wearing the EEG cap during long-term measurements.
Not only is the shape of the Flower electrodes new, but the pins - which are three to eight millimeters long and penetrate the hair to reach the scalp to establish electrical contact—are now angled. The pin angles, pin flexibility, and pin arrangement on the flexible base plate have also been redesigned. This allows the pins to bend upon contact with the head, thereby increasing the contact area between the electrode and the skin. The result: better signal quality. The unique shape of the pins and their interlaced arrangement not only allow the EEG cap to be adapted to individual head shapes, but also further enhance comfort for the subjects by compensating for excessive pressure when putting on and wearing the cap.
Also important: the substrate material of the Flower electrodes is polyurethane. Coated with a conductive layer developed in-house, the material allows for free and flexible shaping. The special chemical coating process also reduces mechanical wear on the electrodes, thereby increasing their durability.
EMBRACE Project Opens the Door to In-Depth Research on Human Interactions
Such a complex multimodal system, which synchronizes medical devices from different manufacturers - who typically use different standards - has likely been realized for the first time worldwide. However, the new tools are not only used by the EMBRACE team: freely available online, they can now also be used by other research groups to analyze their data. Thus, the successfully completed EMBRACE project now opens up entirely new possibilities for other fields of research, such as social neuroscience, which explores the biological foundations of human social behavior, or sports neuroscience, which investigates the interactions between physical activity, athletic performance, and the central nervous system. With such a new brain-computer interface, however, it is now also possible to redefine any “normal” EEG analysis conducted outside a laboratory.
Prof. Jens Haueisen is convinced that the EMBRACE results have opened the door to comprehensive investigations of human interactions: “Understanding brain activity and the interplay between brain and body activity in the context of interactions among multiple people is one of the great challenges of our time for medical technology. Our technology helps bring us a step closer to that goal.”
EMBRACE Project Nominated for European Excellence Award
The EU project EMBRACE at the Technical University of Ilmenau has now been nominated for the European Excellence Award. Of course, Professor Haueisen - who is also a member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering, which advises policymakers and society on future issues in science, engineering, and technology policy - would be delighted if his team were to receive the European Excellence Award. But he already found his greatest satisfaction during his four years of research: “For people from disciplines as far apart as our team members, it’s not always easy to find a common language. We found it! It was wonderful to see how everyone pulled together with such a positive approach and led EMBRACE to success. I’m particularly proud of that.”
The research institutions that collaborated so closely are based in three different countries: The Technical University of Ilmenau and the medical technology company eemagine Medical Imaging Solutions GmbH from Germany; the Università degli Studi Gabriele d’Annunzio di Chieti-Pescara and BTS Bioengineering, which specializes in motion analysis in medicine and sports, from Italy; and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and BRAINVESTIGATIONS SL, which specializes in cognitive neuroscience, from Spain. A high degree of interdisciplinarity, and across national borders at that - it would be a truly European award for the EMBRACE team.
Prof. Jens Haueisen
Director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science
Ilmenau University of Technology
+49 3677 69-2861
jens.haueisen@tu-ilmenau.de
The researchers named the new dry electrodes “flower electrodes” because of their unique shape: the ...
Source: Jens Haueisen
Copyright: TU Ilmenau
Prof. Jens Haueisen, EMBRACE project leader and director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering ...
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