SonNEEM
Sonnefined neurological EEG events monitoring
Description: Due to its noninvasive and safe characteristics, continuous electroencephalography (cEEG) is used for the continuous long-term monitoring of cerebral activity in critically ill patients. To date, cEEG is mostly monitored and analyzed visually, requiring extensive expertise and time. Sonification – the use of sound to represent data – offers a promising solution. Auditory displays (ADs) can leverage the human auditory system’s superior ability to process temporal and rhythmic patterns, enabling faster and more intuitive monitoring. Previous studies have shown that sonification can help non-experts identify seizures after brief training and reduce cognitive load by supporting peripheral monitoring. However, the integration of sonification into clinical practice remains limited due to design and usability challenges.
The SonNEEM project addresses these gaps by developing AI-supported sonification tools tailored for ICU settings, focusing on the detection and monitoring of burst suppression and epileptiform patterns in EEG data in critically ill patients. More specifically, we focus on detection and quantification of burst suppression and epileptiform patterns, and tailor sonification and ADs to the unique challenges in ICU settings and the needs of ICU staff. This requires careful integration of ADs with other sources of information, such as visual monitors, and existing workflows. The sonifications will be designed to be informative without generating additional mental load or noise pollution.
While we focus on the detection of epileptiform and burst suppression patterns, the designed system should be expandable to other neurological conditions characterized by changes in rhythmic patterns on minute/hour scale. For highly specialized epileptologists, it might serve as a screening tool for analyzing long-term EEG collected over several weeks.
The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between multiple institutions. The University Hospital Zurich’s Neurocritical Care Unit (NCCU), led by Prof. Dr. Emanuela Keller, provides the clinical environment and has operated the ICU Cockpit research IT infrastructure since 2016, collecting data from numerous medical devices. The team includes Dr. Una Pale, specializing in machine learning for epileptic seizure detection, and PhD candidate Elisa Vasta, who is developing and implementing EEG detection algorithms into the ICU cockpit. The Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) contributes expertise through two institutes. The Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST), with Dr. Daniel Hug bringing extensive experience in sound design for healthcare contexts, ensures scientifically grounded auditory display solutions. The Institute for Design Research (IDR), headed by Prof. Dr. Anna Lisa Martin-Niedecken, provides human-centered design and co-creation expertise from numerous healthcare R&D projects. Practice partners include PD Dr. Marian Galovic, Head of the Epilepsy and EEG Unit at University Hospital Zurich, and PD Dr. Lukas Imbach, Medical Director of the Swiss Epilepsy Center at Klinik Lengg.
Funding: DIZH
Team: Dr. Una Pale Simon (UZH/USZ), Dr. phil. Daniel Hug (ZHdK Departement of Music), Prof. MD. Emanuela Keller (UZH/USZ), Prof. Dr. Anna Lisa Martin-Niedecken (ZHdK Departement of Design), MSc. Elisa Vaste (UZH/USZ), MSc. Jonas Fuellemann (ZHdk Departement of Music)
Practice partners: Klinik Lengg AG, Epileptologie, Universitätsspital Zürich, Klinik für Neurologie