UNIT-II

BIOPOTENTIAL MEASUREMENTS
BIOSIGNALS:
• Bio-signals are signals from living organisms that provide information about the
biological and physiological structures and their dynamics. Here are some examples
that are useful in the context of HCI:
• Bioelectrical signals: signals that originate in nerves and muscles.
• Electrical conductance: Electrodermal activity refers to the variation of the electrical
conductivity of the skin, in particular electrodermal resistance and electrodermal
potential. Galvanic skin response (GSR) measures their combined values by measuring
the resistance on the skin.
• Bioimpedance signals: the resistance measured when applying a small alternating
current to tissue (typically μA and frequencies above 50kHz).
• Bio-acoustic signals: Sounds created by changes in the body, such as blood flow, heart
function, ventilation in the lungs, digestion, and movement, can be detected with
microphones.
• Bio-optical signals: signals that capture the change in optical properties (even if not
visible to the human eye) of an organism or a body part, for example, blood-oxygen
saturation based on reflection or pulse rate by change in skin colour.
BIOSIGNAL CHARACTERISTICS:
FREQUENCY AND AMPLITUDE RANGES:
• Amplifiers for use with other biopotentials are essentially the same.
• However, the other signal does put different biopotential covers different portions of
the spectrum.
• Some biopotentials have higher amplitudes than others.
Both these facts place gain and frequency-response constraints on the amplifiers used.

 The ranges of amplitudes of an frequencies covered by several of common biopotential

signals.
 Depending on the signal, frequencies range from DC to a out 10 kHz.
 Amplitudes can range from tens of microvolts to approximately 100mv.
  The amplifier for a particular biopotential must be design to handle that potential and
to provide on appropriate signal at its output.
 The electrodes used to obtain the biopotential place certain constraints on the amplifiers
input stage.
 To achieve the most effective signal transfer, the amplifier must be matched to the
electrodes.
 Also, the amplifier input circuit must not promote the generation of a artifact by the
electrode, as could occur with excessive bias current.
ECG- ELECTROCARDIOGRAM:
• The electrocardiograph (ECG) is an instrument, which records the electrical activity of
the heart.
• Electrical signals from the heart characteristically precede the normal mechanical
function and monitoring of these signals has great clinical significance.
• ECG provides valuable information about a wide range of cardiac disorders such as the
presence of an inactive part (infarction) or an enlargement (cardiac hypertrophy) of the
heart muscle.
• Electrocardiographs are used in catheterization laboratories, coronary care units and for
routine diagnostic applications in cardiology.
• The potentials picked up by the patient electrodes are taken to the lead selector switch.
In the lead selector, the electrodes are selected two by two according to the lead
program. By means of capacitive coupling, the signal is connected symmetrically to the
long-tail pair differential preamplifier.
 • ECG EINTHOVEN TRIANGLE:
• Two electrodes placed over different areas of the heart and connected to the
galvanometer will pick up the electrical currents resulting from the potential difference
between them.
• For example, if under one electrode a wave of 1 mV and under the second electrode a
wave of 0.2 mV occur at the same time, then the two electrodes will record the
difference between them, i.e. a wave of 0.8 mV.
• The resulting tracing of voltage difference at any two sites due to electrical activity of
the heart is called a “LEAD”

• Standard Limb Leads (Bipolar): I, IlI & III

• Augmented Limb Leads (Unipolar): aVR, aVL & aVF
• Precordial Leads: V1- V6

Bipolar Leads:
• In bipolar leads, ECG is recorded by using two electrodes such that the final trace
corresponds to the difference of electrical potentials existing between them. They are
called standard leads and have been universally adopted. They are sometimes also
referred to as Einthoven leads.
• In standard lead I, the electrodes are placed on the right and the left arm (RA and LA).
In lead II, the electrodes are placed on the right arm and the left leg and in lead Ill, they
are placed on the left arm and the left leg.
• In all lead connections, the difference of potential measured between two electrodes is
always with reference to a third point on the body.
• This reference point is conventionally taken as the “right leg”. The records are,
therefore, made by using three electrodes at a time, the right leg connection being
always present.
• The ECG measured from any of the three basic limb leads is a time-variant single-
dimensional component of the vector. He proposed that the electric field of the heart
could be represented diagrammatically as a triangle, with the heart ideally located at
the centre. The triangle, known as the “Einthoven triangle”.
Unipolar Leads (V Leads):
• The standard leads record the difference in electrical potential between two points on
the body produced by the heart’s action.
• Quite often, this voltage will show smaller changes than either of the potentials and so
better sensitivity an be obtained if the potential of a single electrode is recorded.
• Moreover, if the electrode is placed on the chest close to the heart, higher potentials can
be detected than normally available at the limbs.

Limb leads:
• In unipolar limb leads, two of the limb leads are tied together and recorded with respect
to the third limb. In the lead identified as AVR, the right arm is recorded with respect
to a reference established by joining the left arm and left leg electrodes.
• In the AVL lead, the left arm is recorded with respect to the common junction of the
right arm and left leg. In the AVF lead, the left leg is recorded with respect to the two
arm electrodes tied together.
• They are also called augmented leads or averaging leads’. The resistances inserted
between the electrodes-machine connections are known as ‘averaging resistances’.
Precordial leads:
• The second type of unipolar lead is a precordial lead. It employs an exploring electrode
to record the potential of the heart action on the chest at six different positions.
• These leads are designated by the capital letter ‘V’ followed by a subscript numeral,
which represents the position of the electrode on the pericardium.
ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPH:
• Electroencephalograph is an instrument for recording the electrical activity of the brain,
by suitably placing surface electrodes on the scalp.
• EEG, describing the general function of the brain activity, is the superimposed wave of
neuron potentials operating in a non-synchronized manner in the physical sense.
• Monitoring the electroencephalogram has proven to be an effective method of
diagnosing many neurological illnesses and diseases, such as
(i)epilepsy,
(ii)tumour,
(iii)cerebrovascular lesions,
(iv)ischemia and
(v)problems associated with trauma.
• It is also effectively used in the operating room to facilitate anaesthetics and to establish
the integrity of the anaesthetized patient’s nervous system. This has become possible
with the advent of small, computer-based EEG analyzers.
• Consequently, routine EEG monitoring in the operating room and intensive care units
is becoming popular.
• EEG may be recorded by picking up the voltage difference between an active electrode
on the scalp with respect to a reference electrode on the ear lobe or any other part of the
body.
• This type of recording is called ‘monopolar’ recording. EEG signals picked up by the
surface electrodes are usually small as compared with the ECG signals.
• They may be several hundred microvolts, but 50 microvolts peak-to-peak is the most
typical. The brain waves, unlike the electrical activity of the heart, do not represent the
same pattern over and over again.
Montages:
• A pattern of electrodes on the head and the channels they are connected to is called a
montage. Montages are always symmetrical.
• The reference electrode is generally placed on a nonactive site such as the forehead or
earlobe. EEG electrodes are arranged on the scalp according to a standard known as the
10/20 system, adopted by the American EEG Society (Barlow et al, 1974).
• Traditionally, there are 21 electrode locations in the 10/20 system. This system involves
placement of electrodes at distances of 10% and 20% of measured coronal, sagittal and
circumferential arcs between landmarks on the cranium.
• Electrodes are identified according to their position on the head:
Fp for frontal-polar,
F for frontal,
C for central,
P for parietal,
T for temporal and
O for occipital.
• Odd numbers refer to electrodes on the left side of the head and even numbers represent
those on the right while Z denotes midline electrodes.
Electrode Montage Selector:
• EEG signals are transmitted from the electrodes to the head box, which is labelled
according to the 10–20 system, and then to the montage selector.
• The montage selector on analog EEG machine is a large panel containing switches that
allow the user to select which electrode pair will have signals subtracted from each
other to create an array of channels of output called a montage.
• Each channel is created in the form of the input from one electrode minus the input
from a second electrode.
Preamplifier:
• Every channel has an individual, multistage, ac coupled, very sensitive amplifier with
differential input and adjustable gain in a wide range. Its frequency response can be
selected by single-stage passive filters.
• A calibrating signal is used for controlling and documenting the sensitivity of the
amplifier channels.
• This supplies a voltage step of adequate amplitude to the input of the channels. A
typical value of the calibration signal is 50 uV/cm.
Sensitivity Control:
• The overall sensitivity of an EEG machine is the gain of the amplifier multiplied by the
sensitivity of the writer.
• Thus, if the writer sensitivity is 1 cm/V, the amplifier must have an overall gain of
20,000 for a 50-mV signal.
• The various stages are capacitor coupled. An EEG machine has two types of gain
controls.
Filters:
• Just like in an ECG when recorded by surface electrodes, an EEG may also contain
muscle artefacts due to contraction of the scalp and neck muscles, which overlie the
brain and skull.
• The artefacts are large and sharp, in contrast to the ECG, causing great difficulty in both
clinical and automated EEG interpretation.
Paper Drive:
• This is provided by a synchronous motor. An accurate and stable paper drive
mechanism is necessary and it is normal practice to have several paper speeds available
for selection. Speeds of 15, 30 and 60 mm/s are essential.
• Some machines also provide speed values outside this range.
UNIPOLAR AND BIPOLAR EEG MEASUREMENTS:
ELECTROMYOGRAPH:
• Electromyograph is an instrument used for recording the electrical activity of the
muscles to determine whether the muscle is contracting or not; or for displaying on the
CRO and loudspeaker the action potentials spontaneously present in a muscle or those
induced by voluntary contractions as a means of detecting the nature and location of
motor unit lesions; or for recording the electrical activity evoked in a muscle by the
stimulation of its nerve.
• The instrument is useful for making a study of several aspects of neuromuscular
function, neuromuscular condition, extent of nerve lesion, reflex responses etc.
• EMG measurements are also important for the myoelectric control of prosthetic devices
(artificial limbs).
• This use involves picking up EMG signals from the muscles at the terminated nerve
endings of the remaining limb and using the signals to activate a mechanical arm.
• This is the most demanding requirement from an EMG since on it depends the working
of the prosthetic device.

UNIPOLAR AND BIPOLAR MODES FOR EMG:

• In a bipolar measurement, the potential difference between a pair of electrodes is
amplified by one amplifier channel. In a unipolar measurement the output signals are
formed by several input electrodes that are all amplified against one so called reference.
• This reference can be an electrode (the common reference electrode), or a calculated
internal reference potential consisting of two or more electrode signals.
• This is never done by one amplifier channel, but always in a multichannel set-up (with
a minimum of two channels).
• This type of recording is often used when measuring EEG or multichannel ECG. A new
field of unipolar measurements is the high-density surface EMG, where for instance
128 channels are measured using so called grid electrodes.
Preamplifier:
• The preamplifiers used for EMG are generally of differential type with a good
bandwidth.
• The input impedance of the amplifier must be greater than 2 \ 50 MW. Present day
electronic devices easily provide input impedances of the order of 1012 ohms in parallel
with 5 picofarads.
• It is preferable to mount the preamplifiers very near the subject using very
smallelectrode leads, in order to avoid the undesirable effects of stray capacitance
between connecting cables and the earth.

RECORDING OF ERG:
• The electroretinogram (ERG) is a diagnostic test that measures the electrical activity of
the retina in response to a light stimulus.
• The ERG arises from currents generated directly by retinal neurons in combination with
contributions from retinal glia.
• Importantly, the ERG is an objective measure of retinal function that can be recorded
non-invasively under physiological conditions.
• ERGs are often recorded using a thin fiber electrode that is placed in contact with the
cornea or an electrode that is embedded within a corneal contact lens. These electrodes
permit the electrical activity generated by the retina to be recorded at the corneal
surface.
PLACEMENT OF ELECTRODES:

Recording electrodes: in contact with cornea, bulbar conjunctiva, or skin below lower eyelid:

• Protect corneal surface with non-irritating ionic conductive solution (artificial tears or
contact lens solutions containing sodium chloride and no more viscous than 0.5%
methyl cellulose). Improper installation of contact lens electrodes can cause corneal
abrasions.
• Topical anaesthesia is used for contact lens electrodes, but may not be necessary for
DTL electrodes.

Reference and ground electrodes:

• Electrical activity from the corneal electrode is compared to that of a reference electrode
placed at a distant site (ear, forehead, temple are common).
• A differential amplifier is typically used to amplify the difference between two inputs
(corneal electrode and reference electrode) and reject signals that are common to both
inputs (relative to a ground electrode placed at a third site).
• Reference and ground electrodes are commonly made of a highly conductive material
that is fixed to the patient with paste. Gold cup electrodes are common, because they
can be reused; disposable adhesive skin electrodes are also available.
• Some corneal electrodes contain a reference, which obviates the need for a reference to
be placed elsewhere (e.g. BA bipolar electrodes and some skin electrodes).

Electrooculography (EOG):
• Electrooculography (EOG) is a technique for measuring the corneo-retinal standing
potential that exists between the front and the back of the human eye.
• The resulting signal is called the electrooculogram. Primary applications are
in ophthalmological diagnosis and in recording eye movements.
• Unlike the electroretinogram, the EOG does not measure response to individual visual
stimuli.To measure eye movement, pairs of electrodes are typically placed either above
and below the eye or to the left and right of the eye.
• If the eye moves from center position toward one of the two electrodes, this electrode
"sees" the positive side of the retina and the opposite electrode "sees" the negative side
of the retina. Consequently, a potential difference occurs between the electrodes.
Assuming that the resting potential is constant, the recorded potential is a measure of
the eye's position.
ELECTROGASTROGRAPHY:
• Electrogastrography (EGG) is a non-invasive method for the measurement of gastric
myoelectrical activity.
• It was first discovered in 1921 and popularized in 1990s. EGG is attractive because it
is non-invasive. However, due to its non-invasive nature, there have also been
controversies regarding validity and applications of EGG.
• The aim of this review is to discuss the methodologies, validation and applications of
EGG. Pros and cons of EGG will also be discussed in detail. First, the gastric slow wave
and its correlation with gastric motility are presented.
• It is sensitive to motion artifacts and electrical interferences from other internal organs.
Therefore, it is critically important to measure the EGG appropriately and accurately.
• Detailed information will be provided on how to prepare the abdominal skin, where to
place electrodes, how to choose filtering range (extremely important) and how to avoid
and minimize motion artifacts.