Abstract:
A negative impact on the quality of life of the
severely neurologically disordered such as spinal cord injured
persons is the loss of the ability to control devices in their
immediate environment. Consequently, we have conducted
research on technology designed to restore some measure of
independence by providing hands free control over these
devices by using EEG signals associated with eye closure (EC)
and eye opening (EO). In a previous study we demonstrated
that the nonlinear technique fractal dimension analysis was a
viable alternative to spectral analysis in detecting these signals
in the EEG of able bodied persons. This paper explores the
efficacy of using fractal dimension to detect EC/EO signals in a
spinal cord injured population. The fractal dimension method
was found to improve from the standard spectral analysis
technique in that there was a significant reduction is the
occurrence of false positive and false negative switching. This
improved detection of EC/EO in the brain activity of severely
disabled people will be utilised in our technology for remote
switching of electrical devices.
