An Arduino-Based, Portable Prototype for the Recording and Analysis of EEG Signals to Support Self-Detection and Self-Monitoring of Stress.

This article describes a portable Arduino-based prototype for the recording and analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals associated with anxiety situations. The system's main aim is to enable the user to self-detect stress and take self-regulating/relaxing actions in real time before stress escalates. The recorded EEG signals are first processed in the analog domain (including amplification and noise reduction) and then, by using an Arduino Uno board, they are converted into digital format and transmitted through either a wired or wireless connection to a computer to be depicted in both the time and the frequency domains by means of an open-source software. During the performed tests, the system successfully showed visible changes in the alpha and beta brain signals corresponding to the states of resting, induced stress, and the subsequent self-regulation/relaxation process. The proposed prototype (though non-clinical in its present form) has the merits of relatively low cost, easy self-use (outside clinical environments), and real-time EEG signal depiction, and, apart from enabling the user to self-detect and self-monitor stress, it can also be used for educational and/or research purposes.