Assessing the Impact of Environment and Electrode Configuration on P300 Speller Performance and EEG Signal Quality

Recent years have seen extensive use of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) using electroencephalography (EEG). A critical element in BCI research is electrode selection, which influences performance, experiment duration, resource utilization, and consequently, cost. Electrode choice is partly dictated by the study location, as environmental electrical noise can impact EEG signal quality. This study evaluates the performance of a P300 speller and EEG signal quality using 4-, 6-, 8-, and 16-electrode configurations in two different office environments. Ten healthy adults participated in a single session, using a P300 speller to spell three words with each electrode set. Participants were split between two locations, with five individuals in each. Significant performance disparities were observed between the locations. Notably, within each location, the performance differences among 4-, 6-, and 8-electrode sets were minimal; only the 16-electrode set outperformed the others in both settings. The location associated with poorer performances also exhibited lower P300 amplitudes and higher levels of mains electricity noise.