EEG Shielded Rooms, Durham University

The client approached Global EMC to provide two shielded enclosures for their new electroencephalogram (EEG) room. The rooms required shielding to enable highly sensitive measurements to take place within the room without the possibility of ambient interference.
The client also required a testing environment where anyone inside the room would feel comfortable and also free from distraction. This would enable the measurements taken to be isolated from external influence.
The room was also required to be as compact as possible to fit inside the allocated host building.

The rooms where specially designed using Global EMC’s high permeability shielding to provide attenuation to magnetic fields caused by nearby electrical equipment and cabling. This gave the client a controlled and repeatable environment to perform their measurements and tests. The resultant field inside the room was <0.2µT, well within the allowable tolerance limits of the EEG equipment.
To provide a comfortable environment for the user, noise reduced air conditioning was supplied which had user control for temperature adjustment. Dimmable fibre optic lighting was installed to eliminate interference but also allow user control to create a low light level during testing.
Sound (voice and vibration) attenuation was provided using specialist sound absorbing materials and the whole chamber was mounted on anti-vibration mounts to reduce vibration noise transmitting from the floor below.
Dark blue walls and carpet was provided to give the enclosure a more “office-style” comfortable feel. Mains power outlets, data points and EEG equipment signal cable sockets where provided to make the room practicable and versatile.

The client benefited from two new bespoke shielded enclosures for EEG use. Each room was entirely separate enabling two separate tests to be carried out independent of each other.
The bespoke nature of Global EMC’s EEG-SR means that the dimensions of the room could be adjusted to maximize the available space in the host building. Global EMC worked with other contractors as part of the rooms internal fit out as a coordinated project, to make the room available before students returned for the first term after summer.
The chamber is delivered in component form to enable the shielded room to be delivered into the host building with minimum disruption. All components can pass through a standard single door of the host building and is assembled onsite.