Please Vote For An Awesome EEG Project!

October 26, 2012

Please take 10 seconds to vote for my New Challenge application:

Despite being rather silent on this blog recently, I’ve actually been quite busy. My ongoing thesis at Parsons MFA Design & Technology is an exploration of practical applications of wearable brain-computer interfaces. More on that to come.

Recently, some fellow designers, engineers, researchers, and myself applied for an award of up to 10K to explore if wearable BCIs could be used to find complimentary or alternative solutions for people suffering from attention disorders such as ADHD. If you support this cause, please click on the image above or the following link and click the “vote” button. You could comment here, but it would be better for you to comment on the application page itself in order to prove to the judges that people truly do care about this cause.

The application is as follows:

Project Title: Brain Design Lab – Finding Alternative Approaches to Addressing ADHD

People Involved:

• Conor Russomanno (Director) – Conor is currently a 2^nd Year in Parsons School of Design MFA Design & Technology Program. Conor did his undergraduate degree in engineering at Columbia University, and has been working with brain-computer interfaces for the past year. Check out his website at conorrussomanno.me.
• Kristen Kersh – Candidate for MFA in Design & Technology at Parsons School of Design, Masters in Neuroscience and Education from Harvard University
• James Ramadan – Received dual majors in biology and statistics from University of Virginia, currently does research in statistical analysis of quantitative EEG.
• Amy Burns – Award winning reporter, spent more than 17 years in the multi-media industry, covering a diverse range of topics through the written word, social media, and the power of video.
• Other members of the Brain Design Lab (our website is currently being built, braindesignlab.com)

The Problem

Our brains are dependent on the stimuli provided by our environment. Neuroplasticity is the notion that our neurons can be molded and re-purposed based on our experiences, even after critical stages of development. Currently, elite academic institutions such as Harvard, Columbia, and MIT are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and electroencephalography (EEG) to research the brain’s ability to develop and change in response to stimuli. These studies have produced important findings with regards to a wide range of neurological diseases, traumatic brain injuries, and learning. In turn, these findings are being translated and applied to improved techniques in medicine, therapy, and education.

One of the main shortcomings of interfacing the brain is the ability to attain data outside of the confinement of a laboratory setting. There are very few studies done with a patient within the context of their normal environment, looking at how their home, what they eat, smell, see, hear, and touch affects the activity within their brain. Understandably, this is a very large challenge to address. If we are honored with receiving funds from the New Challenge competition, we intend to contribute to this pervasive challenge by addressing the issues of one of its sub communities, people suffering from attention disorders that affect their ability to focus and learn.

In 2007, the Center for Disease Control reported that 8.4% of American children aged 3-17 were at one point diagnosed with ADHD. Roughly 50% of children with attention disorders continue to experience issues as they progress into adulthood, and almost 60% of people diagnosed with these disorders are prescribed medication in an attempt to address the symptoms. It is vital that researchers continue to explore alternative and complimentary methods for solving attention-related disorders, and do not rely entirely on prescription medication to resolve the issue. Additionally, we believe that solutions to these problems have the potential to extend beyond the scope of individuals diagnosed with ADHD, and could be implemented by undiagnosed individuals trying to enhance their level of focus, learning ability, and productivity. It is this ubiquitous issue that we intend to examine.

Our Solution

To address this problem, my team of designers, engineers, and researchers has come together to found the Brain Design Laboratory (BDL). The goal of this community is to design, build, test, and rebuild non-invasive neurofeedback platforms that allow users to record environmental conditions over prolonged periods of time, while simultaneously tracking brain activity. In order to explore alternative techniques to addressing ADHD, we want to analyze the data that is recorded by these systems.

The systems will be comprised of a non-invasive headset that wirelessly sends brainwave data to a mobile phone and a central server, as well as a mobile application that tracks environmental stimuli both actively and passively. Passive stimuli will include variables such as location, noise, and movement, using GPS, audio inputs, and accelerometers. Actively recorded stimuli will include variables such as diet, activities, and moods, and will be input manually by the user. We believe this system will provide invaluable insight into how environmental stimuli correlate to variations in levels of attention. We will reach out to find user groups willing to test the platform. Eventually we hope to be able to provide real-time feedback to the user about how their environment is affecting their level of attention.

Currently, the potentials of commercial EEG have been used primarily for stationary recording and interaction, and do not serve as a good system for prolonged recording of brain activity. Some of the major shortcomings include comfort and attention to aesthetics. We believe that our diverse team of designers and engineers with experience in neuroscience, electrical engineering, as well as fashionable technology, can provide a new outlook on these problems, creating a system that is both wearable and functional. Lastly, we don’t want to just build technology; we strive to turn BDL into an open community of designers, researchers, patients, parents, and other organizations who are dealing with this problem.

Rough Budget

Our Qualifications

I first began trying to address this issue last spring when I designed and built a baseball cap with a sensor for recording brainwaves. To accompany the hat I developed a mobile application for Android that received and recorded the user’s EEG allowing for retroactive analysis of the data. The application also allowed the user to record a variety of moods and daily activities, the intention being to see how quantitative brain activity could be used to find new comparisons between the two. For more information about the project refer to: http://conorrussomanno.me/2012/06/19/interactive-android-application-for-eeg-biofeedback/

This Fall, with the support of former dean of Parsons The New School of Design’s Art Media and Technology department, Sven Travis, I founded the Brain Design Lab (BDL), a community focused on finding practical applications for brain-computer interfaces. Since it’s inception the community has grown and now has members both inside and outside of the New School community. Some of BDLs most prominent members include a recent graduate of Harvard’s Neuroscience and Education M.S. program, a University of Virginia graduate with a double major in biology and statistics, an award-winning journalist whose son suffers from an incredibly rare undiagnosed neurological disorder, and a graduate of Columbia University’s engineering program.

Recently we received $1,500 from the New School Student Activities Finance Committee to host a development jam titled Hack-A-Brain. The goal of the event is to explore the potentials of various front-line commercial EEG devices, while introducing New School students to the emerging industry of brain-computer interfacing (BCI). The Brain Design Lab has already connected with a number of individuals and organizations involved in the industry. Now we are looking to find additional support, make new connections, and apply novel design techniques to address problems related to the brain. We want to start by attempting to build user feedback applications for addressing attention disorders such as ADHD.