Novel dry electrode EEG headbands for home use: comparing performance and comfort

Monitoring brain activity at home using electroencephalography (EEG) is an increasing trend for both medical and non-medical applications. Gel-based electrodes are not suitable due to the gel application requiring extensive preparation and cleaning support for the patient or user. Dry electrodes can be applied without prior preparation by the patient or user. We investigate and compare two dry electrode headbands for EEG acquisition: a novel hybrid dual-textile headband comprising multipin and multiwave electrodes and a neoprene-based headband comprising hydrogel and spidershaped electrodes. We compare the headbands and electrodes in terms of electrode-skin impedance, comfort, electrode offset potential and EEG signal quality. We did not observe considerable differences in the power spectral density of EEG recordings. However, the hydrogel electrodes showed considerably increased impedances and offset potentials, limiting their compatibility with many EEG amplifiers. The hydrogel and spider-shaped electrodes required increased adduction, resulting in a lower wearing comfort throughout the application time compared to the novel headband comprising multipin and multiwave electrodes.