Enhanced Assessment of Auditory Perception Function in Disorders of Consciousness Using a Minimalist Wearable Brain-Computer Interface

The Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) is a clinical behavioral method for assessing the levels of consciousness and perceptual abilities in patients with Disorders of Consciousness (DOC). However, due to severe impairment of motor functions in DOC patients and subjective factors of clinical evaluators, the misdiagnosis rate of the CRS-R is very high. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can directly detect patients’ brain activity in response to external stimuli, independent of patients’ behavioral representation, thereby achieving a more objective assessment. In this study, we introduced a minimalist wearable BCI system grounded in the auditory oddball paradigm to enhance assessment of auditory perception function in DOC patients. In the experiments, sinusoidal tones and the complex sound of clapping were selected as standard stimuli occurring frequently and occasional deviant stimuli, respectively. The specific event-related potentials evoked by the auditory stimuli facilitated the assessment of auditory perceptual function. The experimental results indicate that the DOC patients with auditory perception functions can also be detected by the BCI system. As a result, the BCI could serve as a valuable adjunct tool in clinical practice of the CRS-R.