Anybody aware of/use this very inexpensive 14-channel EEG from Emotiv?

I thought I'd run this by the people here who have some interest in the subject of neurofeedback. The EPOC Emotiv EEG is a 14-channel, saline electrode device that costs about $700 including software. Here is the page

http://www.emotiv.com/eeg/features.php

The 22-channel EEG I have in the lab costs about $15,000 with software. At first blush, a $700 14-channel unit sounds like fiction, but it really may not be. About 33 years ago while I was a grad student I built a 2-channel EEG acquisition system around a KIM-1 computer with a Kimsi S-100 bus adapter with 48KB of memory. The whole thing cost less than $1000, and most of that was the KIM-1. It only acquired data with 8-bit precision, but I built it for averaging sensory brain potentials. So, if I remember correctly, it was probably sampling at around 2KHz (which is roughly 4 times the speed of most modern clinical or research EEGs). Anyway, the point is that USB-2 is plenty fast for supporting data rates that would allow simultaneous acquisition of 48 channels at ridiculously high throughputs (i.e., consider the plethora of multichannel audio interfaces that are available for under $1K that sample at up to 96KHz with 24-bit accuracy, and the Auria DAW app for iPad that will sample 48 channels at 48KHz with 24-bit depth for $49.99). So, it wouldn't be hard to conceptualize a a USB based EEG unit (as the EPOC is) that costs what the EPOC costs.

At $700, these units would be inexpensive enough for me to dole out to subjects who could monitor themselves in various locations using the EPOC and a laptop. I might even be able to get the thing to work with an iPad.

So, anybody ever see or use one?

John

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Originally Posted by mosspa

I thought I'd run this by the people here who have some interest in the subject of neurofeedback. The EPOC Emotiv EEG is a 14-channel, saline electrode device that costs about $700 including software. Here is the page

http://www.emotiv.com/eeg/features.php

The 22-channel EEG I have in the lab costs about $15,000 with software. At first blush, a $700 14-channel unit sounds like fiction, but it really may not be. About 33 years ago while I was a grad student I built a 2-channel EEG acquisition system around a KIM-1 computer with a Kimsi S-100 bus adapter with 48KB of memory. The whole thing cost less than $1000, and most of that was the KIM-1. It only acquired data with 8-bit precision, but I built it for averaging sensory brain potentials. So, if I remember correctly, it was probably sampling at around 2KHz (which is roughly 4 times the speed of most modern clinical or research EEGs). Anyway, the point is that USB-2 is plenty fast for supporting data rates that would allow simultaneous acquisition of 48 channels at ridiculously high throughputs (i.e., consider the plethora of multichannel audio interfaces that are available for under $1K that sample at up to 96KHz with 24-bit accuracy, and the Auria DAW app for iPad that will sample 48 channels at 48KHz with 24-bit depth for $49.99). So, it wouldn't be hard to conceptualize a a USB based EEG unit (as the EPOC is) that costs what the EPOC costs.

At $700, these units would be inexpensive enough for me to dole out to subjects who could monitor themselves in various locations using the EPOC and a laptop. I might even be able to get the thing to work with an iPad.

So, anybody ever see or use one?

John

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I have been using one for a couple of years. If you don't need raw EEG data or are using applications developed with their development package, the $299 Epoc is all that is needed. I use the Emotive 3D Brain Map, and Transparent software, both of which only require the $299 Epoc. Emotiv is developing a sleeker headset that uses dry sensors, but that will not be released anytime soon. http://emotivinsight.com/EmotivInsig...duct-Sheet.pdf

I'm a neuroscientist, and it's the eed capability I'm excited about. I did a PubMed search last night and found eight published research studies that used the EPOC. The results of those studies are very promising. A $700 portable EEG system would be an outstanding find.