Toward a SSSEP-Based BCI Using the Sensory Gating Phenomenon

José Rouillard (1) , François Cabestaing (1) , Marie-Hélène Bekaert (1) , Jean-Marc Vannobel (1)

1 CRIStAL - Centre de Recherche en Informatique, Signal et Automatique de Lille - UMR 9189

A physiological phenomenon named movement-related sensory gating has been described in the literature in the late 80s. To the best of our knowledge, it has not yet been exploited in the BCI domain. We consider that this phenomenon could significantly decrease the resonance-like frequency of Steady State Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SSSEP) and be exploited as a voluntary command of the user will. We describe our work to retrieve a resonance in user's EEG while applying vibrations under their fingers. Our first results confirm previous works reported in literature concerning SSSEP. We report SSSEP detected on four healthy subjects who received tactile vibration under their right and left index finger at five different frequencies (14, 17, 20, 23 and 26 Hz). The mechanical stimulation was created by a device conceived in our laboratory. This device is based on two C2-tactors piloted by an Arduino. We think that a SSSEP-based BCI using the sensory gating phenomenon could be used soon by DMD (Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy) patients that can perceive vibrations under their skin but are no more able to perform voluntary movements.

Domaines: Interface homme-machine [cs.HC]; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]

José Rouillard, François Cabestaing, Marie-Hélène Bekaert, Jean-Marc Vannobel. Toward a SSSEP-Based BCI Using the Sensory Gating Phenomenon. Journal Of Clinical Neurology, Neurosurgery And Spine, 2021. ⟨hal-03232373⟩