Multi-command Tactile and Bone-Conduction-Auditory Brain-Computer Interface

Abstract

We study the extent to which vibrotactile stimuli delivered to the head of a user can serve as a platform for a brain computer interface (BCI) paradigm. Six and ten head position setups are used to evoke combined somatosensory and auditory (via bone-conduction effect) brain responses, in order to define a multimodal tactile and bone-conduction-auditory brain computer interface (tbcaBCI) suitable for ALS-TLS patients with bad vision and suffering from an ear-blocking-syndrome. Experimental results on users performing online tbcaBCI, using stimuli with a moderately fast stimulus-onset-asynchrony (SOA), validate the tbcaBCI paradigm, while the feasibility of the concept is illuminated through information-transfer-rate analyses.