Development of fNIRS and ISO/IEC standard

Abstract

The first paper on Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) was published in the Science journal in 1977. Single channel NIRS was commercialized in the early 1990s. The changes in haemoglobin parameters calculated by NIRS had the potential to explain brain and muscle activity. Then the NIRS used for brain imaging was called functional NIRS (fNIRS). The ISO/IEC international standard of fNIRS was published in 2015, led by Japan. However, when compared to X-ray CT and MRI developed at about the same time, fNIRS is not so popular. In this presentation, we will look back on the benefits of fNIRS in brain imaging and summarize future issues.