The Smartphone Brain Scanner: A Mobile Real-time Neuroimaging System

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Smartphone Brain Scanner, a fully portable, real-time 3D EEG imaging system using consumer-grade hardware and smartphones, enabling neuroimaging outside traditional lab environments.

Contribution

It presents the first fully mobile system for real-time 3D EEG imaging combining off-the-shelf neuroheadsets with smartphones, expanding neuroimaging to everyday contexts.

Findings

Successful real-time 3D brain activity reconstruction in mobile settings

Comparable signals in simple imagined finger tapping tasks

Potential for neuroimaging in natural environments despite lower signal quality

Abstract

Combining low cost wireless EEG sensors with smartphones offers novel opportunities for mobile brain imaging in an everyday context. We present a framework for building multi-platform, portable EEG applications with real-time 3D source reconstruction. The system - Smartphone Brain Scanner - combines an off-the-shelf neuroheadset or EEG cap with a smartphone or tablet, and as such represents the first fully mobile system for real-time 3D EEG imaging. We discuss the benefits and challenges of a fully portable system, including technical limitations as well as real-time reconstruction of 3D images of brain activity. We present examples of the brain activity captured in a simple experiment involving imagined finger tapping, showing that the acquired signal in a relevant brain region is similar to that obtained with standard EEG lab equipment. Although the quality of the signal in a mobile solution using a off-the-shelf consumer neuroheadset is lower compared to that obtained using high density standard EEG equipment, we propose that mobile application development may offset the disadvantages and provide completely new opportunities for neuroimaging in natural settings.