Adaptive, Multisensorial, Physiological and Social: The Next Generation of Telerehabilitation Systems

Some people require special treatments for rehabilitating physical, cognitive or even social capabilities after an accident or degenerative illness. However, the ever-increasing costs of looking after an aging population, many of whom suffer chronic diseases, is straining the finances of healthcare systems around Europe. This situation has given rise to a great deal of attention being paid to the development of telerehabilitation (TR) systems, which have been designed to take rehabilitation beyond hospitals and care centers. In this article, we propose which features should be addressed in the development of TR systems, that is, they should consider adaptive, multisensorial, physiological and social aspects. For this aim, the research project Vi-SMARt is being conducted for evaluating whether and how different technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), multi-sensorial feedback, or telemonitoring, may be exploited for the development of the next generation of TR systems. Beyond traditional aural and visual feedback, the exploitation of haptic sense by using devices such as haptic gloves or wristbands, can provide patients with additional guidance in the rehabilitation process. For telemonitoring, Electroencephalography (EEG) devices show signs of being a promising approach, not only to monitor patients’ emotions, but also to obtain neuro-feedback useful for controlling his/her interaction with the system and thus to provide a better rehabilitation experience

Exploring Effects of Background Music in A Serious Game on Attention by Means of EEG Signals in Children

Music and Serious Games are separately useful alternative therapy methods for helping people with a cognitive disorder, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The goal of this thesis is to explore the effect of background music on children with and without ADHD. In this study, a simple Tetris game is designed with Beethoven, Mozart music, and no-music. There are different brainwave techniques for recording; among others, the electroencephalography (EEG) allows for the most efficient use of BCI. We recorded the EEG brain signals of the regular and ADHD subjects who played the Tetris we designed according to our protocol that consists of three trials with three different background music. Attention related Alpha and Beta waves of EEG signals analyzed based on time and time-frequency domain features. The changes in the data over the 1-minute Tetris game sections are investigated with the Short-time Fourier Transform (STFT) method. The results showed that music has a considerable impact on attention of children. When it comes to music types, in general, Mozart music increases Beta waves while decreasing the Alpha band waves for subjects without ADHD. On the other hand, Beethoven music increased both Alpha and Beta band values for children with ADHD

On Usage Of EEG Brain Control For Rehabilitation Of Stroke Patients

This paper demonstrates rapid prototyping of a stroke rehabilitation system consisting of an interactive 3D virtual reality computer game environment interfaced with an EEG headset for control and interaction using brain waves. The system is intended for training and rehabilitation of partially monoplegic stroke patients and uses low-cost commercial-off-the-shelf products like the Emotiv EPOC EEG headset and the Unity 3D game engine. A number of rehabilitation methods exist that can improve motor control and function of the paretic upper limb in stroke survivors. Unfortunately, most of these methods are commonly characterised by a number of drawbacks that can limit intensive treatment, including being repetitive, uninspiring, and labour intensive; requiring one-on-one manual interaction and assistance from a therapist, often for several weeks; and involve equipment and systems that are complex and expensive and cannot be used at home but only in hospitals and institutions by trained personnel. Inspired by the principles of mirror therapy and game-stimulated rehabilitation, we have developed a first prototype of a game-like computer application that tries to avoid these drawbacks. For rehabilitation purposes, we deprive the patient of the view of the paretic hand while being challenged with controlling a virtual hand in a simulated 3D game environment only by means of EEG brain waves interfaced with the computer. Whilst our system is only a first prototype, we hypothesise that by iteratively improving its design through refinements and tuning based on input from domain experts and testing on real patients, the system can be tailored for being used together with a conventional rehabilitation programme to improve patients’ ability to move the paretic limb much in the same vain as mirror therapy. Our proposed system has several advantages, including being game-based, customisable, adaptive, and extendable. In addition, when compared with conventional rehabilitation methods, our system is extremely low-cost and flexible, in particular because patients can use it in the comfort of their homes, with little or no need for professional human assistance. Preliminary tests are carried out to highlight the potential of the proposed rehabilitation system, however, in order to measure its efficiency in rehabilitation, the system must first be improved and then run through an extensive field test with a sufficiently large group of patients and compared with a control group