Dual-channel electrodermal activity and an ECG wearable sensor for measuring mental stress from the hands

Abstract

The paper describes the design and characterisation of a dual-channel electrodermal activity (EDA) and ECG sensor for acquiring data from the hands. The need for dual-channel data acquisition is due to the removal of motion artefacts that may happen when EDA is measured on subjects when they are moving their hands in their everyday activities. The ECG channel is measured from the hands using the same electrodes that have already been used for EDA. This choice reduces the invasiveness of ECG measurement with respect to the usual vests or chest bands. The characterisation demonstrates high-level performance of the sensor in terms of linearity and jitter, even if the measurement on the hands provides a weaker ECG signal with respect to chest derivations. Even when the subject is using their hands, no artefacts were found in extracting the heart rate from ECG.