Proceeding o/the 6th International Symposium on Mechatronics and its Applications (ISMA09), Sharjah, UAE, March 24-26,2009

DETECTION OF EYE BLINKS FROM EEG SIGNALS FOR HOME

LIGHTING SYSTEM ACTIVATION.
Mohd Shaifulrizal b Abd Rani

Wahidah bt. Mansor

Universiti Teknologi MARA

Faculty of Electrical Engineering
UiTM, Shah Alam 40450, Malaysia
eruz_rizal@yahoo.com

Universiti Teknologi MARA

Faculty of Electrical Engineering
UiTM, Shah Alam 40450, Malaysia
wahidah231@salam.uitm.edu.my

ABSTRACT
The improvement in the development of lighting system has not
considered eye blinking activity as a parameter to activate the
system. In addition, the use of eye blink extracted from EEG
signal has not been investigated. This study examines a suitable
eye activity for activating home lighting system and then detects
the occurrence of this activity from EEG signals. Two types of eye
activity were analysed; eye blinks and eye movements. It was
found that EEG signal obtained from voluntary eye blink
condition produces clearer signals with larger amplitude than that
obtained from eye movements. An efficient algorithm for
detecting the occurrence of eye blinks was then developed and its
performance was investigated. Using this algorithm, the required
eye blinks could be detected successfully from 85% of the
records. Results from this study show that with proper filtering
and accurate detection, the eye blinks could be used for activating
home lighting system.

1.

INTRODUCTION

Lighting system is one of the most important home appliances.

Most of the home lighting systems are activated manually using
switches. Nowadays, a lot of improvement has been made in the
development of lighting system, for example, the use of remote
control to activate the lighting system. Besides this, a
programmable controller has been introduced to control the timing
of the lighting system which will obviously make our life much
easier.
Activating home lighting systems manually using switches
may be difficult to be performed by some disable persons. Even
though a remote control to activate the lighting system is
available, but this method is not possible to be used by individuals
with motor paralysis, armless and who cannot speak. In addition,
the programmable lighting system may not be the solution to this
problem.
Various methods of controlling electronic devices without the
use of hands have been investigated by many researchers, for
ex~mples sip-and-puff: electro-oculogram (EOG signals), light
emItter and others [1-3]. In our study, the use of the EOG signals
to activate home appliances has also been studied [4]. Since EOG
signals may not be suitable to be used when a person is not facing
the system, a method that is more flexible has to be investigated.
It is believed that eye blink is one of the mechanisms that can
help disable people to do their everyday routines. The eye

blinking
activity
can
be
detected
from
EEG
(electroencephalogram) signal via a brain computer Interface
(BCI) which is a device that allows people to communicate
without using their mouths or hands [5-7]. Since 1960's, many
researchers have studied the use of brain to directly control a
machine. Most attempts ended with failure because the technology
was not matured enough at that time. Nowadays, the BCI-related
studies using various technologies have emerged. By focusing on
very specific areas of brain activity, such as motor function using
appropriate digital signal processing technique, it is possible to
extract useful information from EEG signals [6, 8].
This study analyzes EEG signals obtained from various
conditions to identify a suitable eye activity that can be used to
activate home lighting system. Once the eye activity is found, an
algorithm is developed to examine its performance in detecting
the occurrence of this activity.

2.

Eye blinks are typically characterized by peaks with relatively

strong voltages. They are often located by setting a threshold and
classifying as eye blinks for all activity exceeding the threshold
value. There is also certain variability in the amplitude of the
peaks of a specific individual, more variability between different
subjects [9]. Eye blinks can be classified as short blinks if the
duration of blink is less than 200ms or long blinks if it is greater
or equal to 200ms [5].
Eye blinks can be classified into three types: reflexive,
voluntary and spontaneous [6]. The eye blink reflexive is the
simplest response and does not require the involvement of cortical
st~c~ures. In contrast, voluntary eye blinking (Le. purposely
blInkIng due to predetermined condition) involves multiple areas
of the cerebral cortex as well as basal ganglion, brain stem and
cerebella structures [10]. Spontaneous eye blinks are those with no
external stimuli specified and they are associated with the psychophysiological state of the person [11].
Artifacts in EEG signals typically are characterized by high
amplitudes, which clearly hinder the analysis of the recordings. In
some cases, eye blinking artifacts are a nuisance, as EEG data
recorded with eyes open may be fraught with this kind of artifacts.
However, in this study the eye blinking artifacts may be useful
and required as a parameter for activating home lighting system.

ISMA09-1
978-1-4244-3481-7/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

EYE BLINKING ARTIFACTS IN EEG SIGNALS

Proceeding ofthe 6th International Symposium on Mechatronics and its Applications (ISMA09), Sharjah, UAE, March 24-26,2009

3.

METHOD

4.

The EEG signal was recorded by placing three electrodes on

subject's frontal, earlobe and occipital as shown in Figure 1. The
electrical conductivity jelly was applied to each electrode and the
subject's skin was cleaned with alcohol prep pads before placing
the electrodes. The KL-72001 main unit and KL-75004 EEG
module which was connected to a computer via a RS-232 cable
was used to record the EEG signals.
Front view

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The normal EEG signal of a relaxed patient is shown in Figure

3. The signal consists of beta waves which lie in the frequency
range of 13 to 22 Hz and spontaneous eye blinks which is below 5
Hz. The negative amplitude shows the eyelids closure and
positive value shows the opening of eyelids. The amplitude of
spontaneous eye blink is in the range of -4 V to 3 V and its
duration is less than 400 ms.
10~-----r-----r-----r-----r-------,.---~

Back view

5:-

-10~

.1

......L
511

iiD~

Il1D

2!im............

SImp1II

25:

31[
~,5~A

Side view

n
~.7~~
~ modu~

I-

10

31

25

II

Tillie

35

Figure 3. Normal EEG signal (relax condition) and its

spectrogram.

Figure 1. Connection ofelectrodes on subject

In this study, the EEG signals were recorded from 20 subjects and
four conditions were considered; relax, voluntary eye blink, eye
closure, eye movements (left, right, upward and downward) and
one eye blink. In the voluntary eye blinking case, the eyes are
closed and opened three times for every 2 seconds and 3 seconds
respectively. The EEG signals obtained from the eye activities
were compared with that obtained when the subject was in relax
condition. This was done to identify the best eye activity that can
produce clear signal with high amplitude. The effect of various
eye blinks and duration of blink on the EEG signals were also
studied. The EEG signal was sampled using a sampling frequency
of 50Hz and analyzed using Short-time Fourier transform. The
signal was then filtered using a low pass filter with a cut off
frequency of 5 Hz to remove high frequency signal.
Among all the conditions mentioned above, the voluntary eye
blink produced high amplitude EEG signals and was used through
out the study. Since the main concern of this extraction process is
to detect only the occurrence of the eye blink, a threshold value of
4J.1V was used to preserve the peak amplitude and remove the
lower amplitude of EEG signals. Figure 2 shows the process of
filtering, removing low amplitude signal and detecting the eye
blinks from EEG signals. The eye blinking information was
extracted using an algorithm written in MATLAB. This algorithm
detected three adjacent local maxima and minima within a specific
amplitude and range that can differentiate between spontaneous
eye blink.

15

Figure 4 shows the eye blinks for the voluntary eye blinking
condition. This EEG signal comprises eye blinking waveforms
(below 5 Hz) that have larger amplitude and longer duration (400
-500 ms) compared to that obtained from spontaneous eye blink. It
was also found that three continuous eye blinks (with a duration of
1.5 to 2.5 seconds between eye closure and opening) are suitable
to be used for activating lighting system as they are not present
when the subject is in relax condition (see Figure 3). The duration
between the first cycle of eye opening and closure and the second
cycle is 3 to 4.5 seconds.
15,..-----,..-----,..------..,~---,..-----,-----,

i
5

1O~

50.....
~ItIIAf'o41l ......~H""\I ...llf ~l'\fI:JOI'-tHH.,H~"I.WIIJ~JL"'IlAHIWIIlWllllfINH~I\;
m'\JWltI~"/1114~

t ,.

.10;

jn..... .... . iiin... . ... . . 1!iD

3iD......... .

2!iD

~I

o .

10

15

25

It
TII1lI

35

Figure 4. EEG signal and its spectrogram for voluntary eye

blinking condition.

Figure 2. Basic block diagram ofEEG signal processing

The EEG signal obtained when the eyes moved to the right
and left is shown in Figure 5. This signal contains a lot of artifacts

ISMA09-2

Proceeding o/the 6th International Symposium on Mechatronics and its Applications (ISMA09), Sharjah, UAE, March 24-26,2009

caused by spontaneous eye blinking and eyelids movement as the

eyeball moved. Therefore, signals obtained from these eye
movements are not suitable for home lighting system activation as
the occurrence of eye movements is difficult to detect. Similarly,
the EEG signals obtained from the upwards and downward
movements consists of noise which covers the required
information to be extracted.

Threshold Signal
I

10

10L....-----.l...--1------l....1---.........
1---.....L..1------L1------'
o
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Sam~es

Figure 7. EEG signal after applying threshold

-8

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

Desired Output SignaJ

Figure 5. EEG signal obtained when the eyes are moved to the
right and left

1.5

Figure 6 shows the EEG signal after filtering. It is obvious

that the signals above 5 Hz have been removed leaving only very
clear eye blinking signals. Other artifacts such as 50 Hz power
line interference and noise have also been eliminated using
analogue filtering provided by the EEG instrument. Figure 7 and
Figure 8 show the EEG signals after applying threshold and the
pulses obtained from eye blink detection respectively. The pulse is
generated when three continuous eye blinking (with the condition
mentioned above) occur in the EEG signal which represent the
activation of the switch whereas the zero state indicates the switch
is turned OFF.
After applying the eye blinking detection algorithm to twenty
samples of EEG signals, it was found that the eye blinks can be
detected successfully from 85% of the records. Good detection
results could not be obtained from some of the records. This is due
to noises generated from improper electrode placements and low
amplitude of EEG signals when the subject's eyes were not fully
blinked.

0.5

-0.5

-6 .........................................................................................................................

1500

2000

2500

Figure 8. Pulses obtainedfrom eye blinking detection

indicating the switching states.

5.
.

-8

1000

Sam~es

Noise FiRered Signal

10

500

CONCLUSIONS

The analysis of EEG signals obtained from four conditions; relax,

voluntary eye blink, eye closure, eye movements (left, right,
upward and downward) and one eye blink and the detection of eye
blinks have been described in this paper. The EEG signals
obtained from voluntary eye blink produced clear signals which
could be easily detected. The eye blinking technique that can be
used for activating home lighting system is by closing and
opening the eyes three times for every 2 seconds and 3 seconds
respectively. The simulation results showed that eye blinks can be
detected successfully from the EEG signals using the proposed
algorithm with the success percentage of approximately 85%.
Therefore, the proposed eye blinking technique can be
implemented to activate home lighting system.

10L....-------J.....---...L...-------L...---....l.....-------l..------l
o
1000
1500
500
2000
2500
Sam~es

Figure 6. Noise-filtered EEG signal

ISMA09-3

Proceeding ofthe 6th International Symposium on Mechatronics and its Applications (ISMA09), Sharjah, UAE, March 24-26,2009

6.

REFERENCES

[1] Ding, Q., Tong, K., Li, G., "Development of an EOG

(Electro-Oculography) Based Human-Computer Interface",
Proceedings of IEEE EMBS, Shanghai, China, 2005, pp.
6829-6831.
[2] Kumar, D. and Poole, E., "Classification of EOG for Human
Computer Interface", Proceedings of IEEE EMBSIBMES,
USA, 2002, pp 64-67.
[3] Breau, F., Marsden, B., McCluskey, 1., Ellwood, R. 1., lewis,
J., "Light Activated Position Sensing Array for Persons with
Disabilities", Proceedings ofIEEE on Bioengineering, 2004,
pp 204-205.
[4] Harun, H. and Mansor, W., "EOG Signal Detection for Home
Appliances Activation", IEEE Colloquium on Signal
Processing and Its Applications, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
2009, in-press.
[5] Manoilov, P. P.
"EEG Eye-Blinking Artifacts Power
Spectrum Analysis", Proceedings of Int. Con. on Computer
Systems and Technologies, CompSysTech '06, V. Tamovo,
Bulgaria, 15-16 June 2006, pp. IIIA.3-I-IIIA.3-5.
[6] Kr6lak, A., and Strumillo, P. "Vision-Based Eye Blink
Monitoring System for Human-Computer Interfacing",
Institute of Electronics, Technical University, Lodz, Poland.
[7] Yoo, K., Basa, T., and Lee, W. "Removal of Eye Blink
Artifacts from EEG Signals Based on Cross-Correlation",
Proceedings of IEEE Con. on Convergence Information
Technology, 2007, pp. 2005-2008.
[8] Funase, A., Vagi, T., Kuno, T., Uchikawa, T. "Prediction of
eye movements from EEG ", School of Engineering, Nagoya
University, Furo-cho, Chikusa,-ku, Nagoya 464-603, Japan.
[9] Delsanto, S., Lamberti, F., Montrucchio, B. "Automatic
Ocular Artifact Rejection based on Independent Component
Analysis and Eyeblink Detection ", Dipartimento di
Automatica e Informatica, Politecnico di Torino, Italy, March
2003.
[10] Glass, K. A., Frishkoff: G. A., Frank, R. M., Davey C., Dien,
1., Malony, A. D., Tucker, D. M. ''A Framework for
Evaluating ICA Methods of Artifact Removal from
Multichannel EEG", Institute of Electronics, Technical
University, Lodz, Poland.
[11] Hirokawa, K., Yamada, F., Dohi, I. and Miyata, Y. "Effect of
gender types on interpersonal stress measured by blink rate
and questionnaires: Focusing on stereotypically sex-typed
and androgynous types" - Social Behaviour and Personality,
2001.

ISMA09-4