A wearable, EEG-based massage headband for anxiety alleviation

Abstract

In this work, we would like to discuss our findings obtained from the newly proposed hardware design for anxiety detection and its mitigation where a subject's state of mind is identified from the neurological data retrieved. A feedback-based network implemented for stress alleviation mainly comprises of a pair of massage motors and RGB light-emitting diode (LED) that activate during conditions of stress detected, a custom-made Electroencephalography (EEG)-sensor and a massage motor circuit both functioning on an Arduino driven platform. The skin electrodes facilitate a hassle-free retrieval of beta waves from the frontal areas that are transmitted wirelessly by a Bluetooth console to a computer post signal amplification and filtration. Rising amplitudes of beta signals that are associated to anxiety have been successfully tackled in three out of four subjects by suppressing the high values due to the massage motor therapy introduced. The motors on sensing high amplitude values exceeding the pre-set threshold limits during the three experiment trials rotate smoothly thus helping one to relax and guaranteeing a higher work performance.