Novel Virtual Moving Sound-based Spatial Auditory Brain-Computer Interface Paradigm

Abstract: This paper reports on a study in which a novel virtual moving sound-based spatial auditory brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigm is developed. Classic auditory BCIs rely on spatially static stimuli, which are often boring and difficult to perceive when subjects have non-uniform spatial hearing perception characteristics. The concept of moving sound proposed and tested in the paper allows for the creation of a P300 oddball paradigm of necessary target and non-target auditory stimuli, which are more interesting and easier to distinguish. We present a report of our study of seven healthy subjects, which proves the concept of moving sound stimuli usability for a novel BCI. We compare online BCI classification results in static and moving sound paradigms yielding similar accuracy results. The subject preference reports suggest that the proposed moving sound protocol is more comfortable and easier to discriminate with the online BCI.