Design and Development of a 3D Printed Electrode Headset for Affordable and Reliable Electroencephalography

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test that records the electrical activity of the brain. Electrodes are placed on the scalp with a special adhesive or an elastic cap, or with a helmet with electrodes. These are connected to an instrument that amplifies brain waves and records them whether on paper or on a computer. There is digital equipment for mapping brain electrical activity that controls several EEG channels and other parameters. Currently, the supply of commercial headsets or similar devices for attaching electrodes to the scalp when performing an electroencephalogram is limited. Although there are some outstanding models on the market, they may be expensive. In this work, a headset was developed for being printed entirely in 3D. It had to be able to contain and maintain the electrodes used for an EEG in the desired position. The design had to be aesthetic, minimalist, and above all, easy to use and 3D print, without requiring additional parts. A statistical model of a human head resulting from an anthropometric study was used for the design. On it, following the guidelines of the international 10–20 system for electrode positioning, their locations were plotted, and the headset was modeled around them. Finally, a survey was conducted with volunteers to evaluate the adaptability of the helmet, as well as an electroencephalogram using it, to assess the validity of the device for performing an EEG compared to using electrodes applied to the scalp.