Classification of auditory ERPs for ADHD detection in children

Abstract

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the children’s most common neurodevelopmental conditions. ADHD diagnosis is based on evaluating inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity symptoms that interfere with or reduce daily functioning. Although electroencephalography (EEG) tests are used for ADHD diagnosis, they are generally considered a complement to clinical evaluation. This paper proposes an approach to classify EEG records of children with ADHD and control cases. We identified and extracted relevant features from EEG signals of 47 children (22 diagnosed with ADHD and 25 controls) and evaluated machine learning techniques for classification. We used the 2-tone oddball paradigm to elicit the subjects’ auditory event-related potentials (ERP), and we recorded EEG signals with a portable headset for approximately five minutes. In the feature extraction stage, we included measures from cognitive evoked potentials, frequency bands power, chaos quantification, and bispectral analysis, in addition to the age of the children and the number of high-pitched tones the children counted during the test. The SVM and Trees algorithms obtained the best performance for 86.36% accuracy and 95.45% sensitivity. These findings demonstrate the potential of portable EEG-based systems to complement standard clinical assessments, offering an objective, time-efficient, and accessible approach to support early ADHD diagnosis. Achieving high accuracy and sensitivity in classification is critical to reducing the risk of misdiagnosis and ensuring timely intervention, ultimately improving patient outcomes.