In-Flight Automatic Detection of Vigilance States Using a Single EEG Channel

Sleepiness and fatigue can reach particularly high levels during long-haul overnight flights. Under these conditions, voluntary or even involuntary sleep periods may occur, increasing the risk of accidents. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of an in-flight automatic detection system of low-vigilance states using a single electroencephalogram channel. Fourteen healthy pilots voluntarily wore a miniaturized brain electrical activity recording device during long-haul flights (10 +/- 2.0 h, Atlantic 2 and Falcon 50 M, French naval aviation). No subject was disturbed by the equipment. Seven pilots experienced at least a period of voluntary (26.8 +/- 8.0 min, n = 4) or involuntary sleep (N1 sleep stage, 26.6 +/- 18.7 s, n = 7) during the flight. Automatic classification (wake/sleep) by the algorithm was made for 10-s epochs (O1-M2 or C3-M2 channel), based on comparison of means to detect changes in alpha, beta, and theta relative power, or ratio [(alpha + theta)/beta], or fuzzy logic fusion (alpha, beta). Pertinence and prognostic of the algorithm were determined using epoch-by-epoch comparison with visual-scoring (two blinded readers, AASM rules). The best concordance between automatic detection and visual-scoring was observed within the O1-M2 channel, using the ratio [(alpha + theta)/beta] (98.3 +/- 4.1% of good detection, K = 0.94 +/- 0.07, with a 0.04 +/- 0.04 false positive rate and a 0.87 +/- 0.10 true positive rate). Our results confirm the efficiency of a miniaturized single electroencephalographic channel recording device, associated with an automatic detection algorithm, in order to detect low-vigilance states during real flights.