Gain of the human dura in vivo and its effects on invasive brain signal feature detection

Invasive brain signal recordings generally rely on bioelectrodes implanted on the cortex underneath the dura. Subdural recordings have strong advantages in terms of bandwidth, spatial resolution and signal quality. However, subdural electrodes also have the drawback of compromising the long-term stability of such implants and heighten the risk of infection. Epidurally implanted electrodes might provide a viable alternative to subdural electrodes, offering a compromise between signal quality and invasiveness. Determining the feasibility of epidural electrode implantation for e.g., clinical research, brain–computer interfacing (BCI) and cognitive experiments, requires the characterization of the electrical properties of the dura, and its effect on signal feature detection. In this paper we report measurements of brain signal attenuation by the human dura in vivo. In addition, we use signal detection theory to study how the presence of the dura between the sources and the recording electrodes affects signal power features in motor BCI experiments. For noise levels typical of clinical brain signal recording equipment, we observed no detrimental effects on signal feature detection due to the dura. Subdural recordings were found to be more robust with respect to increased instrumentation noise level as compared to their epidural counterpart nonetheless. Our findings suggest that epidural electrode implantation is a viable alternative to subdural implants from the feature detection viewpoint.