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In our research, we focus on the problem of classification for silent speech recognition to develop a brain– computer interface (BCI) based on electroencephalographic (EEG) data, which will be capable of assisting people with mental and physical disabilities and expanding human capabilities in everyday life. Our previous research has shown that the silent pronouncing of some words results in almost identical distributions of electroencephalographic signal data. Such a phenomenon has a suppressive impact on the quality of neural network model behavior. This paper proposes a data processing technique that distinguishes between statistically remote and inseparable classes in the dataset. Applying the proposed approach helps us reach the goal of maximizing the semantic load of the dictionary used in BCI.

Furthermore, we propose the existence of a statistical predictive criterion for the accuracy of binary classification of the words in a dictionary. Such a criterion aims to estimate the lower and the upper bounds of classifiers’ behavior only by measuring quantitative statistical properties of the data (in particular, using the Kolmogorov – Smirnov method). We show that higher levels of classification accuracy can be achieved by means of applying the proposed predictive criterion, making it possible to form an optimized dictionary in terms of semantic load for the EEG-based BCIs. Furthermore, using such a dictionary as a training dataset for classification problems grants the statistical remoteness of the classes by taking into account the semantic and phonetic properties of the corresponding words and improves the classification behavior of silent speech recognition models.

We found a predominance of α-rhythm patterns in the left hemisphere in healthy people compared to people with COVID-19 history. Moreover, we observe a significant decrease in the left hemisphere contribution to the speech center area in people who have undergone COVID-19 when performing speech tasks.

Our findings show that the signal in healthy subjects is more spatially localized and synchronized between hemispheres when performing tasks compared to people who recovered from COVID-19. We also observed a decrease in low frequencies in both hemispheres after COVID-19.

EEG-patterns of COVID-19 are detectable in an unusual frequency domain. What is usually considered noise in electroencephalographic (EEG) data carries information that can be used to determine whether or not a person has had COVID-19. These patterns can be interpreted as signs of hemispheric desynchronization, premature brain ageing, and more significant brain strain when performing simple tasks compared to people who did not have COVID-19.

In our work, we have shown the applicability of neural networks in helping to detect the long-term effects of COVID-19 on EEG-data. Furthermore, our data following other studies supported the hypothesis of the severity of the long-term effects of COVID-19 detected on the EEG-data of EEG-based BCI. The presented findings of functional activity of the brain– computer interface make it possible to use machine learning methods on simple, non-invasive brain–computer interfaces to detect post-COVID syndrome and develop progress in neurorehabilitation.