AbstractIntroductionDetecting arousal events during sleep is a challenging, time‐consuming, and costly process that requires neurology knowledge. Even though similar automated systems detect sleep stages exclusively, early detection of sleep events can assist in identifying neuropathology progression.MethodsAn efficient hybrid deep learning method to identify and evaluate arousal events is presented in this paper using only single‐lead electroencephalography (EEG) signals for the first time. Using the proposed architecture, which incorporates Inception‐ResNet‐v2 learning transfer models and optimized support vector machine (SVM) with the radial basis function (RBF) kernel, it is possible to classify with a minimum error level of less than 8%. In addition to maintaining accuracy, the Inception module and ResNet have led to significant reductions in computational complexity for the detection of arousal events in EEG signals. Moreover, in order to improve the classification performance of the SVM, the grey wolf algorithm (GWO) has optimized its kernel parameters.ResultsThis method has been validated using pre‐processed samples from the 2018 Challenge Physiobank sleep dataset. In addition to reducing computational complexity, the results of this method show that different parts of feature extraction and classification are effective at identifying sleep disorders. The proposed model detects sleep arousal events with an average accuracy of 93.82%. With the lead present in the identification, the method becomes less aggressive in recording people's EEG signals.ConclusionAccording to this study, the suggested strategy is effective in detecting arousals in sleep disorder clinical trials and may be used in sleep disorder detection clinics.