Smart Glasses as Bio-Interfaces: Unlocking New Possibilities with SoftPulse™ Dry Electrodes

Session details:

Smart glasses are transforming into full-body bio-interfaces, not just visual aids. Datwyler’s SoftPulse™ soft dry electrodes — flexible polymer, gel-free, low impedance — make it possible to acquire EEG, EOG, EMG, ECG signals from head, ear, and face regions with comfort and reliability for all-day wear.

Recent validation studies provide encouraging proof points:

• GAPSES: smart glasses equipped with fully dry SoftPulse-style electrodes successfully acquire EEG & EOG; validated applications include alpha waves, steady-state visual evoked potentials, motor movement classification; and EEG-based biometric subject recognition (98.9 %+ sensitivity & specificity); EOG eye-movement classification with high information transfer rates.  
• Eyewear-based ECG: a prototype with dry electrodes placed on nose pad, ear pad and frame (fingertip contact) yielded high-quality single-lead ECG; heart-rate variability metrics highly correlated (R > 0.9) with standard chest ECG in ~25 subjects.  
• Other work demonstrates dry conductive elastomer EMG electrodes achieving classification accuracies matching wet Ag/AgCl electrodes for hand/wrist movements.  

Building on these, this talk explores what becomes possible when smart glasses integrate multiple head-region biopotential sensors in addition to existing vision, motion, and environmental sensors. Use‐cases include:

• Seamless user interfaces via EOG/EMG (eye gaze, blink, facial gestures)
• Biometric authentication using EEG or ECG signals collected via glasses or ear contacts
• Real-time monitoring of cognitive states (attention, fatigue) and cardiac health via head/ear ECG
• Health & wellness tracking under motion and daily life conditions

We’ll discuss trade-offs: electrode placement (eyes, ears, hair, skin contact), channel count vs comfort, signal‐quality vs integration constraints, and power/edge processing. Finally, we present a vision of smart glasses that act as always-on biosensing hubs: interacting, securing, and monitoring — all in a comfortable form factor enabled by SoftPulse™ dry electrode technology validated today.