Coherent Communication System (CCS) for Elderly People with Multiple

Disabilities
K. Padma Vasavi R. Viswanadham T. Sairam Vamsi
Professor, Assistant Professor Assistant Professor
[email protected]. [email protected] [email protected]
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Department of ECE Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women Bhimavaram

Abstract
People with profound intellectual and physical disabilities like the comatose and elderly
patients create significant challenges to those who care them and for those who commission and
manage the services they receive. This project aims at developing a coherent communication
system for elderly people with multiple disabilities. The main objectives of the project are: to
assist the clients to get connected to the real world through the CCS, so that it may lead to their
speedy recovery and to adopt precise and objective measures for evaluating the performance of
CCS and to consider factors that affect the user acceptance of CCS and also to consider the
effects of cognitive loads on the efficacy of CCS to test if it can be used in home for everyday
living situations

Introduction

According to a statistical` survey made by World Health Organization (WHO) India suffers
from highest number of road accidents and out of which more than ten percent of them are
prone to head injuries. This scenario leads to patients death or make the victim to become
comatose. Also, many different disorders can disrupt the neuromuscular channels through which
the brain communicates with and controls its external environment. Brainstem stroke or spinal
cord injury, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophies, multiple sclerosis and numerous other diseases
impair the neural pathways leading to communication and control which make the victims
intellectually or physically disabled.
People with profound intellectual and physical disabilities like the comatose and elderly
patients create significant challenges to those who care them and for those who commission and
manage the services they receive. Recent technological and scientific advances have generated
wide interest in development of devices and systems that aid paralyzed people in
communication. Encouraged by the new developments in understanding the brain function, by
the advent of powerful low cost computer equipment, and the needs and potentials of the elderly
and people with disabilities, this project aims at developing a coherent communication
system for elderly people with multiple disabilities.
Related Work
Restoring communication is a top priority for people with severe disabilities in which the
person is completely paralyzed and is unable to speak. Consequently, researchers have
experimented with several methods of assistive communication ranging from binary (Yes/No)
capabilities and iconic selection applications such as Talk Assist to virtual keyboards that
support spelling. Donchn et al have developed a method which allows the user to select a letter
by flashing rows and columns of a two dimensional alphabet grid to determine the desired letter.
However, almost all of these systems face the challenges like low information transfer rate
which is very slow for natural interactive communication and also with high error rate because
of the high variability of the brain signals.
Model
 The proposed project is going to serve as a rehabilitation tool for severely multiple disabled
people (elderly) for communication. This may also enable the stimulus for removing the cortical
plasticity by its training procedures. This project proposal looks the BCI in a different
perspective to avoid the shortcomings like low information rate and high error rate.
To meet the above mentioned objectives, the methodology for the proposed research can be
understood with the functional diagram shown in Fig.1.
The functional model shows a generic BCI system in which the user communicates in an
operating environment through a series of functional components. The user monitors the state of
the communication through the result of his/her control efforts. The monitor displays the control
inputs within in a semantic application specified concept.
The electrodes convert the users brain state into electrical signals which are amplified and
band pass filtered by the amplifier section. The feature extractor transforms the amplified signals
into feature values that correspond to underlying neurological mechanism used by the user for
communication and control. The control interface translates the logical control signal from the
feature translator into semantic control signals that are appropriate for an emotion, this mapping
may be instantaneous or by integrating inputs over time. The control interface will have a control
display to interpret the users emotion and communicate to his attendee or care taker.

Operating Environment

Simulator

Monitor

Feature Feature Control Interface

Amplifier Extractor Translator

Fig.1. Functional Diagram of Coherent Communication System

Working Prototype Details

The implementation of the prototype is divided into two parts:
1. Software Implementation
2. Hardware Implementation
A. Hardware Implementation
The hardware implementation part includes the data acquisition system to acquire the EEG
signals from the human brain and to process it to generate suitable thresholds to operate the APP
installed on an android device.
B. Software Implementation
The software implementation part involves in developing an Android based APP which receives
the signal from the stand alone hardware unit by means of Bluetooth communication. Upon
receiving the signal the software has to perform three tasks:
Be on the same screen
 Navigate to Next screen
Choose either the top or bottom option in the layout
As we intend not to put too much of cognitive load on the elderly people, we have placed only two
options on each screen.
The results are discussed in the next section.
Results
The results depicting the excited state and relaxed state of the human brain are shown in Fig.2.

Fig.2: Relaxed State and Excited State Waveforms of the Brain

From the complex EEG signal different rhythms pertaining to different actions are extracted to fix the
thresholds to operate the Android APP and are given in Table I

Table I: PSD for various Features for Subject1

Parameters Delta(%) Theta(%) Alpha (%) Beta (%)
Eye Open and Close 11 14 21 52
Single Circle Colouring 13 15 21 49
Multi Circle Coloring 14 15 20 50
Left Eye Normal Blink 13 14 21 50
Based on the thresholds the signals are sent to the Android device through Bluetooth communication.

The android APP screens are shown from Fig.3 .

Fig.3: (From Left to Right) Splash Screen, Menu screen, Sub-Menu Screen

The complete working prototype of the model is shown in Fig.4.

 Fig.4: Prototype of Hardware Section of the Project

Conclusion
A Coherent Communication System for Elderly People is developed with the following features:
i. Simple to Use
The user need not think for many things. He just needs to focus on his required option
ii. Good Ergonomics
The software for CCS is designed in a way such that the users focus is only on the options on
the screen. This is achieved by displaying the entire screen using only black and white colors.
All the electrodes are wrapped in a band which can be fastened comfortably on the head of the
user
iii. Less Cognitive Load
As the options are readily available on the monitor, the user need not put much effort in
translating his thoughts into actions
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