EEG with black people's hair in mind
Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2020 4:50 pm
Good morning,
I wanted to describe an issue we run into but for that I need to give some context:
It seems like EEG equipment was made using either mainly or only white people as a model. This potentially results in difficulties when we try to collect data from black people. We are in a unique and amazing place where our research is NOT made up from 99% white college students since we have a Lab situated in the Bronx. However, whenever people have braids, big afro's, oily hair products (even after taking multiple showers at home and at our lab), dreadlocks, etc. the quality of data goes down, or we need to send people home. To argue that this is a screening issue is saying that a group of people should not be involved science to begin with (not saying that anyone says this, but I wanted to prevent this argument).
Examples of specific problems:
1) dreadlocks block a lot of channels and result in the caps not fitting the way they should, however there is often a lot of scalp area that we can reach if we move the dreads around.
2) braids can block a lot of channels, we need to wiggle the cap electrodes a bit so that they fall between the braids. This result often in over-gelling noisy channels, slightly misplaced channels, and probably more problems.
3) Gel + Oily hair product that sometimes don't leave the hair completely after washing could increase the offset if I am correct, plus I assume it could have an effect on electrical impedance
4) Afro's make that the caps, aren't in the right place anymore. This means that the frontal channels move up, and sometimes there is no way they could reach the forehead. (I am talking about hair that is maybe 2+ cm high)
My question is this: Is there specific bio-semi hardware/equipment that would help us or take these issues in consideration?
Thank you for taking the time to answer this.
Best,
Douwe Horsthuis
*I am using the term black people, since this seems to be the preferred way how black people, we spoke with, like to be addressed in this context. (Since not all black people that visit our lab are born in America and thus aren't African-American.)
I wanted to describe an issue we run into but for that I need to give some context:
It seems like EEG equipment was made using either mainly or only white people as a model. This potentially results in difficulties when we try to collect data from black people. We are in a unique and amazing place where our research is NOT made up from 99% white college students since we have a Lab situated in the Bronx. However, whenever people have braids, big afro's, oily hair products (even after taking multiple showers at home and at our lab), dreadlocks, etc. the quality of data goes down, or we need to send people home. To argue that this is a screening issue is saying that a group of people should not be involved science to begin with (not saying that anyone says this, but I wanted to prevent this argument).
Examples of specific problems:
1) dreadlocks block a lot of channels and result in the caps not fitting the way they should, however there is often a lot of scalp area that we can reach if we move the dreads around.
2) braids can block a lot of channels, we need to wiggle the cap electrodes a bit so that they fall between the braids. This result often in over-gelling noisy channels, slightly misplaced channels, and probably more problems.
3) Gel + Oily hair product that sometimes don't leave the hair completely after washing could increase the offset if I am correct, plus I assume it could have an effect on electrical impedance
4) Afro's make that the caps, aren't in the right place anymore. This means that the frontal channels move up, and sometimes there is no way they could reach the forehead. (I am talking about hair that is maybe 2+ cm high)
My question is this: Is there specific bio-semi hardware/equipment that would help us or take these issues in consideration?
Thank you for taking the time to answer this.
Best,
Douwe Horsthuis
*I am using the term black people, since this seems to be the preferred way how black people, we spoke with, like to be addressed in this context. (Since not all black people that visit our lab are born in America and thus aren't African-American.)