Wearable Epilepsy Monitoring Band

Abstract

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder which can be characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures caused by abnormal electrical activity in brain. Epileptic seizures have various classifications based on their nature and impact. GTC’s i.e., Generalized Tonic Clonic seizures are one of the most common types of seizure with a very high occurrence rate among epileptics. GTC’s involve severe muscle contractions along with repetitive jerks in upper as well as lower body. Keeping a track of patient’s muscle activity along with the motion of arms in 3D space can aid in the timely detection of seizure attack and thus can reduce the risk of severe injuries as well as SUDEP i.e., Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy. In this project a wearable band has been developed to efficiently detect GTC’s based on a multimodal approach involving sEMG and inertial measurement unit for monitoring muscle contractions and movement in 3D space along with the use of heart rate fluctuations as a validating factor for seizure attack. The algorithm has been designed by acquiring real time signals from sensors, preprocessing the signal data to remove noise artifacts and by extracting distinguishing features that highlight the variations in the signals while seizure occurrence. An assistive mobile application has also been developed to be paired with wearable band and it would provide certain features including sending an alert to the caregivers in case any seizure attack occurs