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From the increasingly commonplace use of wearable devices that monitoring vital signs to emerging breakthroughs in early disease detection, wearable technologies have the potential to transform how people engage with their health through individualized health monitoring and diagnostic capabilities. Amongst, these innovations in wearable technologies are Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), systems that translate brain activity into actionable data. Promising applications of this type of technology range form using brainwave patterns to anticipate seizures to interpreting intended movements of individuals with impaired mobility.
However, the effectiveness of BCIs hinges on the quality of the brainwave data. Thus far, it is very difficult to collect accurate and actionable data outside of controlled clinical settings. Everyday movements, including blinking or speaking, introduce “noise” into the recordings, making it difficult to obtain usable signals. This limitation has slowed the progress of non-invasive BCI applications, including non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) headsets and headbands, in real world settings.
The Innovation
Recognizing this gap, Dr. Hossein Kassiri, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Lassonde School of Engineering, and 91ɫ alumnus Dr. Alireza Dabbaghian (PhD,’24), have developed a novel solution: An active digital EEG electrode designed to maintain high-quality brainwave recordings in everyday settings. Each electrode integrates low-noise amplification and on-electrode digitization, so the signal is converted to robust digital data directly at the scalp, greatly reducing artefacts from motion, cables, and the electrode–skin interface. Simply put, it is a sensor that turns brain signals into clean data right on your scalp, so recordings stay clear if even if you move around. Importantly, the electrode can be used for non-invasive EEG headsets and headbands.
This opens the door to transformative applications in neurorehabilitation and personalized healthcare. For example, when combined with appropriate algorithms and interfaces, BCI wearables could support stroke survivors in regaining motor function by thinking about movement or enable more reliable EEG-based seizure prediction and monitoring in epilepsy.
“Non-invasive BCIs live or die by signal quality. Our active digital EEG electrodes move the critical electronics right to the scalp, so each electrode becomes an intelligent sensor instead of a passive metal disk. That helps preserve tiny brain signals in the real world, not only in a quiet hospital room, and is essential if we want reliable BCIs in people’s homes, workplaces, and rehab settings.”
- Prof. Hossein Kassiri
The Impact
Recent market analyses placed the global electroencephalography (EEG) devices market in the range of approximately US$1.4–1.7 billion in 2024, with long-term projections indicating expansion to roughly US$3.5–4.7 billion by 2034, corresponding to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 9.5–10.2%123. Within this broader market, wearable EEG systems represent a rapidly growing sub-segment and are forecast to increase from approximately US$396 million in 2024 to nearly US$696 million by 2031, reflecting a CAGR of ~8.7%4. Beyond EEG specifically, the global brain–computer interface (BCI) market is projected to exceed US$12 billion by 2034, highlighting accelerating commercial and clinical interest in technologies that translate neural activity into actionable information across healthcare, assistive technologies, and related domains56. Collectively, these trends underscore both a substantial clinical need and a growing commercial opportunity for EEG solutions capable of delivering high-quality neural measurements in real-world, everyday environments.
While EEG has long been used in hospitals to monitor brain activity, wearable BCIs could be game changers for collecting this data more broadly, allowing for continuous, real-time monitoring in homes and small community settings. Such devices can help reduce wait times and reliance on specialist care as well as help support early intervention. They also have the potential to ease pressures on healthcare systems while empowering individuals to take a more active role in managing their health.
“If we can capture near-clinical-quality EEG outside the hospital, we open the door to much earlier and more continuous monitoring for conditions like epilepsy, stroke, and other neurological disorders. Instead of waiting months for a short hospital study, patients could be monitored over days or weeks in their usual environment, which is better for them and ultimately lighter on the health-care system.”
- Prof. Hossein Kassiri
There also broader positive implications for Canadian society and beyond. Innovations, such as this from Professor Kassiri and Dr. Dabbaghian, contribute to a growing health tech sector while improving community health outcomes.
The IP
The IP Innovation Clinic, at Osgoode Hall Law School, along with the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, at 91ɫ, aided Professor Kassiri and Dr. Dabbaghian in their commercialization journey. Through pro bono IP assistance services, the team received assistance with patent searches, market research, and patent filing strategies, helping the inventors filing for patent protection. This IP groundwork supported the team’s successful application for a $125,000 Idea to Innovation grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
“The IP Innovation Clinic and 91ɫ’s research office were instrumental in turning this from a lab prototype into protectable technology. They helped us understand the patent landscape, refine our claims, and time our filings around publications. That support let us focus on the engineering while building an IP foundation that is credible for partners, investors, and public funders.”
-Prof. Hossein Kassiri
Professor Kassiri and his team have also been connected with Ontario-based industry leaders and clinicians interested in piloting the technology. These collaborations are paving the way for real-world testing and integration of the electrode into existing medical devices.
The Next Steps...
The team has already partnered with neurologists to translate this technology into an ambulatory EEG device for epilepsy, and development of the full wearable headset is well underway. While these clinical and engineering efforts are progressing, they welcome collaborations that can strengthen validation, accelerate adoption, or extend the technology into new application areas.
They are open to:
• Clinical groups interested in outpatient or home-based EEG studies
• Industry partners developing EEG headsets or BCI systems who see value in integrating on-electrode digitization
• Strategic partners and early-stage investors aligned with scaling, regulatory planning, and manufacturing
To learn more or explore collaboration opportunities, please visit the Neuro-IC Lab website () or contact Professor Kassiri at kassiri@yorku.ca.
- Transparency Market Research,EEG Devices Market—Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2024–2034, Transparency Market Research, Wilmington, DE, USA, 2024. ↩︎
- Polaris Market Research,Electroencephalography (EEG) Devices Market: By Type, End Use, and Region—Forecast to 2034, Polaris Market Research, Pune, India, 2024.
↩︎ - Precedence Research,Electroencephalography (EEG) Devices Market Size, Share, Growth and Forecast 2024–2034, Precedence Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada, 2024. ↩︎
- The Insight Partners,Wearable EEG Device Market Forecast to 2031, The Insight Partners, New 91ɫ, NY, USA, 2024. ↩︎
- Precedence Research,Brain–Computer Interface Market Size, Share, Growth and Forecast 2024–2034, Precedence Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada, 2024. ↩︎
- Towards Healthcare,Brain–Computer Interface Market—Global Forecast to 2034, Towards Healthcare, Pune, India, 2024. ↩︎