A Graphene-Based Sleep Mask for Comfortable Wearable Eye Tracking

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Wearable Technology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Electrooculography (EOG) is crucial for monitoring eye movements, especially during sleep studies.
• Traditional EOG monitoring often involves bulky instrumentation and uncomfortable gelled electrodes.
• There is a need for more comfortable and user-friendly EOG monitoring solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel wearable electrooculogram (EOG) monitor for comfortable eye movement measurement.
• To integrate flexible, graphene-based textile electrodes into a commercially available eye mask.
• To evaluate the performance and comfort of the developed EOG monitoring system.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of conductive and flexible graphene-based nylon textiles for sensing electrodes.
• Integration of textile electrodes into a standard eye mask with an elastic strap.
• Testing on 4 participants to quantify noise floor and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of eye movements.

Main Results:

• Successfully detected eye blinks with a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) exceeding 16 dB.
• Demonstrated the capability to detect other eye movements under low noise conditions.
• The eye mask system, secured only by an elastic strap, provided high comfort levels comparable to regular eye masks.

Conclusions:

• The developed wearable EOG monitor offers a comfortable and effective solution for eye movement tracking.
• Graphene-based textile electrodes integrated into an eye mask provide a promising alternative to conventional EOG monitoring methods.
• This technology may enhance the usability of EOG monitoring in various applications, including sleep studies and eye movement experiments.