Annotating & Anonymizing EEG Data with EDFbrowser

A Jupyter Book guide to visualizing and annotating EEG recordings using EDFbrowser.

Introduction

Welcome to this interactive guide on annotating Electroencephalography (EEG) data using EDFbrowser.

EDFbrowser is a powerful, free, open-source, and multiplatform software designed for viewing, annotating, and basic processing of various time-series data formats, including but not limited to EEG, Electromyography (EMG), Electrocardiography (ECG), and BioImpedance recordings.

This resource aims to provide practical, step-by-step tutorials to help you effectively utilize EDFbrowser for common EEG data handling tasks. Through these interactive lessons, you will learn how to:

• Install the annotating software: Get EDFbrowser set up on your system.
• Access the EEG data: Learn how to locate and prepare your EEG files.
• Anonymize the EEG data: Understand and implement techniques to protect patient privacy.
• Load EEG signals: Open and navigate EEG recordings within EDFbrowser.
• Create/save Montages: Define and save electrode configurations for visualization.
• Create/save Sessions: Manage and organize your work within EDFbrowser.
• Create/modify/delete Annotations: Add, edit, and remove event markers and notes within the EEG data.

This guide is structured as a Jupyter Book, offering an engaging and interactive learning experience. You can navigate through the different sections using the table of contents.

For more comprehensive information and advanced features of EDFbrowser, please refer to the official EDFbrowser online manual.

How to Use This Guide

This guide is built using Jupyter Book, allowing for interactive elements and code examples where relevant. You can:

• View the rendered book online: The rendered version of this guide will be available through GitHub Pages (or a similar hosting service).

Prerequisites for Local Use

• Python 3.6+
• pip (Python package installer)
• Jupyter Book: Install using pip install jupyter-book

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the developer Teunis van Beelen of EDFbrowser for creating such a valuable open-source tool for the neurophysiology community.

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Last Updated: March 18, 2025