Two-step Input Spatial Auditory BCI for Japanese Kana Characters
This is an incremental improvement for paralyzed users needing communication aids, focusing on a specific language and interface.
The authors tackled the problem of enabling paralyzed users to spell Japanese kana characters by developing a two-step auditory BCI speller, achieving effective classification based on P300 responses in a pilot study.
We present an auditory stimulus optimization and a pilot study of a two-step input speller application combined with a spatial auditory brain-computer interface (saBCI) for paralyzed users. The application has been developed for 45, out of 48 defining the full set, Japanese kana characters in a two-step input procedure setting for an easy-to-use BCI-speller interface. The user first selects the representative letter of a subset, defining the second step. In the second step, the final choice is made. At each interfacing step, the choices are classified based on the P300 event related potential (ERP) responses captured in the EEG, as in the classic oddball paradigm. The BCI online experiment and EEG responses classification results of the pilot study confirm the effectiveness of the proposed spelling method.