SICE Annual Conference 2011

September 13-18, 2011, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

A VEP-based Spelling System with Sequential Stimulus using Binary BCH

Codes
Takashi Mizoguchi, Jun Irie, Tomonari Yamaguchi and Katsuhiro Inoue
Department of Information Technology, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Fukuoka, Japan
(Tel: +81-948-29-7743; E-mail: mizoguchi@kiri.ces.kyutech.ac.jp, inoue@ces.kyutech.ac.jp)

Abstract: It is known that electroencephalograph (EEG) signals show specic responses with a event; e.g., visual
stimulus, cognition or motor imagery. Especially users can control an electronic device by classifying and interpreting the
EEG signals; such a system is called brain-computer interface (BCI). In this study, we tried to construct the BCI system,
based on transient visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and its visual stimuli ash in conformity with the sequence of binary
Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes.

Keywords: BCI, visual evoked potentials, BCH codes, Coding theory.

1. INTRODUCTION the background of a nature picture. Users can choose a

Brain-computer interface (BCI) allows users to com-
municate by classifying and translating neurophysiologic
signals into inputs for applications; such as a spelling de-
vice, wheelchair or prosthesis[1]. BCIs which use a P300
event-related potential (ERP) or visual evoked potentials
(VEPs) of the electroencephalogram (EEG) have been
much studying recently. In other words, BCIs are ex-
pected as a communication tool for those who have amy-
otrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or locked-in syndrome.
Since the use of P300-based BCI for communication
was rst introduced by Farwell and Donchin[2], P300-
BCI has been revealed high accuracy[3]. However P300-
BCI requires users to continue gazing at a target character
attentively until the system nds it, users can not use the
system a long time. The reason is that some cognition
task is needed to evoke P300.
On the other hand, several VEP studies have sought
to achieve valuable VEP-based BCIs[4]-[6]. It is known
that VEP is the potential difference evoked by visual
stimulation and recorded from electrodes over a scalp
of the occipital lobe; i.e., the visual area. VEP is di-
vided broadly into two categories; transient VEP by low-
frequency stimulus and steady-state visual evoked poten-
tial (SSVEP) by high-frequency stimulus. SSVEP needs
users to gaze rapidly blinking ashes on a PC monitor and
can detect gazing target in a short time[4]. The other ad-
vantage is that it does not require a cognition task, differ-
ing markedly from P300-BCIs. However there is a danger
of bringing about the symptoms (a indisposition, dizzi-
ness or light epilepsy). Compared with SSVEP, transient
VEP has no danger of appearing such symptoms.
Recently, G. Bin et al. have developed high perfor-
mance BCI system using code modulation VEP, where
binary pseudorandom sequences were used to modulate
different visual stimuli[6]. The system is very effective
as a spelling system and designed to set 32 stimuli over a
whole PC monitor. It is a weak point of the study that the
system needs to use a full screen. That is, a background
image is not considered by the interface. For instance,
there are some alternatives sparsely on the screen having
target by just gazing what users want; e.g., handicapped
user can open a door with watching the ashing door on
the screen.
We proposed a system that multiple stimuli turn on and
off respectively and simultaneously, not using all pixels
on the screen[7][8]. A transient-VEP was introduced to
realize an input with looking at a ashing alphabet let-
ter. Besides that, with a view to decreasing discomfort
of SSVEP, non-consecutive and random stimulation pat-
terns were generated by Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem
(BCH) codes. The BCH codes are one of the highest er-
ror correcting codes in a capability of rectifying and can
maximize the Hamming distance between every pair of
sequences[9]. The safer BCI system was constructed us-
ing them. We made an experiment to conrm the repro-
duction of characteristic VEPs fundamentally. The goal
of this paper was to detect the target letter which user
would like to input by extracting VEPs and to investigate
the effect of the stimulation patterns generated by BCH
codes on our spelling system.
2. EXPERIMENTAL PARADIGM
2.1 Subjects
Five healthy subjects (S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5) partici-
pated in this experiment. The average age was 25.6 years
old (SD=8.53, range= 21-40 years old). All subjects
reported normal or corrected-to-normal vision. The sub-
jects provided written informed consent and were paid for
their efforts.
2.2 Stimuli
The nine letters are displayed on a monitor which used
a black background in three kinds (1 1, 2 2 and 3 3
matrix); see Fig. 1 for a 3 3 character matrix. , Those
letters are corresponded with Latin alphabet [A... I] and
henceforth we use the sight stimulation instead of letter.
During the experiment, the sight stimulation ashes in
conformity to binary sequence decided by binary (15, 5,
7) BCH codes. Stimuli sequences consist of 15 bits of
binary {0,1}. The kinds of stimulation sequences used in
this experiment are nine which is equivalent with from A

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to I. In case of 1, the sight stimulation ashes on. If bit
0, it does not ash. The sight stimulation turns on for
50 ms and off for 50 ms.
2.3 EEG acquisition and Experimental procedure
EEG was measured using an electrode cap with 17
Ag/AgCl electrodes following the extended international
10-20 system; see Fig. 2 for recorded electrodes place-
ment. The non-invasive EEG signals were amplied
with g.USBamp (24 Bit biosignal amplication unit, g.tec
Medical Engineering GmbH, Austria) and digitized at a
sampling rate of 512 Hz. In addition, a trigger channel
was also recorded to synchronize EEG data with visual
stimulus.
Each subjects task was to be seated in a comfort-
able armchair about 1m away from the monitor (Pro-
Lite E2210HDS-B, MouseComputer Co.,Ltd., Japan) in
shielded room. The task needs subjects to focus attention
on instructed sight stimulation for a minute. Hereinafter
the instructed sight stimulation is referenced to as the tar-
get. For ve subjects, we carried out 18 trials with 1 1
matrix, 8 trials with 2 2 matrix and 18 trials with 3 3
matrix. These 44 trials per a day are dened as one ses-
sion and the total becomes three sessions.
Fig. 1 Example of stimulus screen, sight stimulation
matrix is 3 3; we set up a illuminometer at the
lower left to obtain an exact trigger time.
Fig. 2 Electrode positions and labels in the 10-20 sys-
tem.
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3. METHODS
Average signal is one of the most useful techniques
to extract VEPs from EEG signals and the thing which
a segment of EEG data taken out at trigger time is aver-
aged. In this session, the following processing method
is based on average signal. The EEG data of a sin-
gle trial, 60 sequences and 15 bits, was divided before-
hand into a training dataset and a test dataset in a ra-
tio of two to one on the basis of 3-folds cross valida-
tion. Using the training data obtained with average sig-
nal of original EEG data equal to 40 sequences, we gen-
erated three types of templates ({0,1}, {00,01,10,11}
and {000,001,010,011,100,101,110,111}). A template
matching technique was used after generating these tem-
plates. Let us, for the moment, call them k-bits tem-
plate. Then 2k templates are obtained; e.g., two template
are generated as 0 and 1 respectively when k = 1. In
this paper, we employed k = 1, 2 and 3 and the data
length of every template M is 102[point] (equivalent to
200 ms), 154[point] (300 ms) and 205[point] (400 ms) in
practice.
The acquired EEG data are denoted as xn (t), n =
1, , N and N is a number of acquired data. Let
averaged signals with k-bits template denote y(t) =
[y1 (t), , y2k (t)] (i = 1, , 2k ). Now dene yi (t):
N
1
yi (t) = xn (t), i = 1, , 2k (1)
N n=1
where i denote ith index for k-bits template and xn (t) is
M N.
Next, we examine the correlation coefcient vector
T
P = [1 , , 2k ] between x(t) and the generated tem-
plate yi (t) for a segment of EEG data.
M
yi (t) x(t)
i = t=1
(2)
M
M
yi (t) yi (t) x(t) x(t)
t=1 t=1
where i = 1, , 2k .
Then, i represents index of the templates bits for
which maximizes the correlation coefcient among all of
templates. The correlation is calculated until restore bi-
nary sequences for all test data.
i = arg max i (3)
i
where i stands for estimated index and gives k-bits tem-
plates i th bits.
Furthermore, by the minimum Hamming distance de-
coder, the output bits are corrected to some binary se-
quences which had decided in advance and the estimated
target can be obtained. Now the test dataset is separated
into four segments which consist of the ve estimated tar-
gets. The processing length was 7.5 second since one
cycle was equivalent to 1.5 second. Finally, we can rec-
ognize the target which a user stared at with a decision
by majority of the estimated ve. The outline of this al-
gorithm is shown at Fig. 3. Also the bit error rate (BER)
dened as dij /15 was used for evaluating output binary
sequences (where dij is the Hamming distance between
sequences i and j).
Outline of algorithm
Input: The single trial (corresponding to 60 sequences
and divided into the training and the test),
a priori information of used binary sequences,
and the number of bits k.
Output: The target character
Initialization: Give a signicance to non-ash or ash
with {0,1}
Method:
1. Generate 2k bits template obtained by the training
data.
2. For iteration number c =1:number of the test data
Examine the test with 2 templates using cor-
k
repeated stimuli at rapidly ashing of 5 Hz and over[10].
In our experimental system, the stimuli of this segment
were ashing at 10 Hz. The frequency of 10 Hz satis-
ed with a condition of evoking SSVEP. Then the bit fol-
lowing the four consecutive ashes was investigated by
the template matching. Table 1 shows the error rate of
which the output bit, an original bit is 0, is judged as
1 using 1-bit template. From Table 1, it was obvious
that the four consecutive ashes inuenced S1. Looking
toward the other subjects, it was conrmed that the error
rate showed a different tendency. The tendency should be
examined thoroughly. We will refer to the BER of whole
bits at following section.

relation coefcient.
Decide temporal binary sequence conforming
to bits of templates similar to the test.
Correct the temporal bits to the nearest binary
sequence by the Hamming distance.
3. Judge the target by a majority decision.
Fig. 3 Algorithm of detecting the target.

In addition, the occipital region of Oz, known to be

most inuenced by visual information, was adopted as
analyzed channels, and we analyzed the bipolar deriva-
tion with Oz-Pz.
Fig. 4 Superimposed averaged waveforms of subject S1
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS to every number of the sight stimulation; for stimula-
4.1 Response waveform including VEPs tion pattern of A.
The superimposition of averaged waveform shows al-
Table 1 Error rate of which the output bit is judged as
most similar shape to every number of the sight stimula-
1 using 1-bit template for all subjects in 2 2; the bit
tion; see Fig. 4 for subject S1. However, the electroneg-
error rate is shown with parentheses and the values are
ative wave of nearby 100 ms became unstable. The am-
calculated as a percentage.
plitudes which appeared in a single light source (1 1)
and did not come out in multiple light sources (3 3) Subject Session1 Session2 Session3
give the example. In time of a single light source, the S1 56.7 (41.8) 56.7 (43.1) 65.4 (43.1)
potential difference occurs with P75, N100 and P145, the S2 45.0 (46.7) 45.8 (45.5) 44.2 (46.5)
latencies are 75 ms, 100 ms and 145 ms respectively after S3 50.0 (45.3) 63.3 (45.3) 44.2 (45.8)
stimulus. When multiple light sources, we had already S4 52.5 (39.3) 39.2 (43.0) 30.8 (43.1)
conrmed it difcult to nd N100 in VEPs between stim- S5 41.7 (47.0) 50.8 (47.5) 51.7 (48.3)
ulus and non-stimulus at our previous study[8]. The rea- [%]
son of this phenomenon is that the neighbors of target
inuenced VEPs component. Regarding our experiment,
some subjects reported their steadily gaze was fairly hard 4.2 Discrimination of target to sight stimulation
because the neighbors surrounding a target obstructed it Fig. 5 , Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 show that k = 1 can ob-
in multiple light sources. That has left an unresolved is- tain comparatively high accuracy in 2 2 and the ac-
sue which includes the way to gaze steadily at multiple curacy of k = 3 is the highest in 3 3. It is think-
light sources. able that the accuracy of 3-bits template was resulted
In the same study[8], it was conrmed that the SSVEP from a processed length of templates. The VEPs wave-
components were extracted using independent compo- form of multiple light sources became more complex than
nent analysis when the target ashed on the sequences that of a single light source as described above. In our
which had four consecutive stimuli part. The response method, the template can reect the inuence of mul-
waveform of SSVEP is a sine wave-like and evoked by tiple light sources since the template includes complex

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response signal of VEPs which had subsequent latency
when k is larger. The required number of average times
for VEPs was from about a hundred to two hundred[10]
and an adequate number of times could not be obtained
in a present method when k 4. Also the number of
average times for {0,1} reached about from four hundred
twenty to four hundred eighty when k = 1. It is the most
important that the necessary and sufcient number of av-
erage times has been given on recording evoked poten-
tials. There is a strong possibility that the result of aver-
age signal was obscure using the large number of average
signal times; thus, it may bring the decline of accuracy.
From the above, we can draw the following discussion:
it is necessary that users would receive the adjustment of
stimulation patterns and a necessary and sufcient train-
ing data should be obtained in advance as P300-based
spelling device considering a practical interface.
spite of being guaranteed the minimum Hamming dis-
tance may give a lower effect to the discrimination. In
this study, the BCH codes we selected can correct 3 error
bits within 15 bits[9]. As shown in Table 2, the binary
sequences will be corrected perfectly when the BER is
under 20%; i.e., we can detect the target completely if the
error bits of one sequence are under 3 bits within 15 bits.
In future work, a precise decision of binary sequences
will be needed as well as the optimal codes besides rear-
ranging above factors properly.
The required length of detecting a target was 7.5 sec-
ond although a majority decision should be investigated
how many majorities are appropriate on our method in
detail. Mainly calculation was only correlation between
an original signal and templates. We could make special
mention of obtaining a sort of results with the method
which is a simple calculation.

Table 2 Bit error rate of all subjects for all of bit

template in 2 2 and 3 3; calculated as a percentage.

22 33
Subject 1 bit 2 bits 3 bits 1 bit 2 bits 3 bits
S1 46.2 42.4 41.2 43.7 43.9 41.0
S2 46.2 42.4 44.8 47.8 46.8 46.5
Fig. 5 The result of {0,1} pattern (k = 1) in 2 2 and S3 45.2 46.5 42.0 45.8 46.0 43.9
3 3, all subjects. S4 41.8 44.1 40.0 42.5 42.2 39.5
S5 47.6 47.6 46.8 47.3 47.6 46.9
[%]

Fig. 6 The result of {00,01,10,11} pattern (k = 2) in
2 2 and 3 3, all subjects.
Fig. 7 The result of {000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110,
111} pattern (k = 3) in 2 2 and 3 3, all subjects.
Table 2 shows the BER for all subjects when all of
bit templates were used. From Table 2 the BER of 3-
bits template is the smallest. It means that the output bi-
nary sequences are the most accurate; i.e., 3-bits template
can restore the sequence which is obtained by our method
to accurate one, compared with the other template. Em-
ploying the sequences which resemble the other ones in
5. CONCLUSIONS
In this study, we tried to construct the EEG typewriter
system based on VEPs by applying template matching.
The system was designed to stimulate users in conformity
with binary sequences by BCH codes.
There seems to be a similarity in each of averaged
waveform although the discrepancy of shape of VEPs ex-
ists. Thus the characteristic VEPs were extracted in our
system. Also as for multiple sight stimulations, the prob-
lems of the inuence from other sight stimulations were
found.
By calculation of correlation between templates and
processed signal, it was conrmed that subjects could
choose the target with up to about 74% of recognition ac-
curacy in four classes and about 59% in nine classes using
the processed length of 7.5 second. The output binary
sequences were inaccurate because the BER showed a
higher error rate than 20%. We will investigate the appro-
priate method of a precise decision of binary sequences,
which will be able to output more accurate bits. It also
requires consideration from BCH codes. More practical
BCI system using VEP will be constructed by developing
this research further.

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