Graph Attention Networks for Detecting Epilepsy from EEG Signals Using Accessible Hardware in Low-Resource Settings
This work addresses the problem of under-diagnosed epilepsy in low-income countries by providing an accessible diagnostic tool, though it is incremental as it adapts existing graph attention networks to this domain.
The paper tackled epilepsy detection from EEG signals using low-cost hardware in low-resource settings, achieving promising classification performance that outperformed random forest and graph convolutional networks in accuracy and robustness.
Goal: Epilepsy remains under-diagnosed in low-income countries due to scarce neurologists and costly diagnostic tools. We propose a graph-based deep learning framework to detect epilepsy from low-cost Electroencephalography (EEG) hardware, tested on recordings from Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau. Our focus is on fair, accessible automatic assessment and explainability to shed light on epilepsy biomarkers. Methods: We model EEG signals as spatio-temporal graphs, classify them, and identify interchannel relationships and temporal dynamics using graph attention networks (GAT). To emphasize connectivity biomarkers, we adapt the inherently node-focused GAT to analyze edges. We also designed signal preprocessing for low-fidelity recordings and a lightweight GAT architecture trained on Google Colab and deployed on RaspberryPi devices. Results: The approach achieves promising classification performance, outperforming a standard classifier based on random forest and graph convolutional networks in terms of accuracy and robustness over multiple sessions, but also highlighting specific connections in the fronto-temporal region. Conclusions: The results highlight the potential of GATs to provide insightful and scalable diagnostic support for epilepsy in underserved regions, paving the way for affordable and accessible neurodiagnostic tools.