A Smart Flexible Sleep-Aid Eye Mask Based on Acupoint Electric Pulse Stimulation Combined Bioelectrical Signal Feedback

More and more people around the world suffer from insomnia, hence sleep-aid methods are very important and urgent. In this article, a flexible sleep-aid eye mask based on acupoint electric pulse stimulation (AEPS) combined bioelectrical signal feedback is proposed. Besides, the massage sleep-aid principle of Yintang and Anmian acupoints is described. Afterwards, AEPS circuit, bioelectrical signal acquisition (BSA) circuit, and a smart flexible sleep-aid eye mask are put forward. The sleep-aid effect evaluation methods based on the key features of EEG and ECG signals, as well as the real-time sleep-aid control method, are presented in detail. Experimental results demonstrate that the BSA circuit and feature extraction method with discrete wavelet transform (DWT) analysis are effective. After four kinds of experimental tests with ten subjects, compared with the results of no stimulation (NS), the values of HRMEAN and
$E_{\mathrm{ betam}}$
of AEPS of Yintang acupoint (AEPS-Y), AEPS of Anmian acupoint (AEPS-A), and AEPS of Yintang and Anmian acupoints (AEPS-YA) decrease, while the values of RRMEAN, SDNN, RMSSD, LF, HF, RLH,
$E_{\mathrm{ alpham}}$
, and RAB of AEPS-Y, AEPS-A, and AEPS-YA increase, which verifies that the sleep-aid controls of AEPS-Y, AEPS-A, and AEPS-YA are all effective. In addition, the sleep-aid effect of AEPS-Y is better than that of AEPS-A or AEPS-YA. Compared with that without AEPS-Y, the median sleep latency with AEPS-Y of the flexible eye mask is reduced by about 43.08%. To sum up, this flexible eye mask can be widely used for sleep-aid control at home, which is low cost and comfortable.