Characterization of textile electrodes for emg measurements: impedance and signal morphology

Textile electrodes are an alternative to conventional silver-chloride electrodes in wearable systems. Their easy integration in garments and comfort provided to the user make them an interesting development of textile engineering. The potential of such electrodes to allow more unobtrusive data collection in health and sports context may enable the development of biosensing garments to be used in biomechanics. However, proper validation of the recorded signals is paramount, and few studies have yet presented consistent methodologies for textile-based electromyographic recordings. This study presents the validation of the electrical and morphological properties of electromyographic signals recorded with textile electrode, in comparison to conventional silver-chloride electrodes. Results indicate that both sets of electrodes have identical signal-to-noise ratios, but with distinct impedance frequency responses. Electromyographic envelope morphologies are also identical, although textile electrodes usually have lower amplitudes.