Synchronization analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG) could reveal the functional corticomuscular coupling (FCMC) during the motor task in human. A novel method combining Gabor wavelet and transfer entropy (Gabor-TE) is proposed to quantitatively analyze the nonlinearly synchronous corticomuscular function coupling and direction characteristics under different steady-state force. Firstly, the Gabor wavelet transform method was used to acquire the local frequency-band signals of the EEG and EMG signals recorded from nine healthy controls simultaneously during performing grip task with four different steady-state forces. Secondly, the TE of local frequency-band was calculated and the unit area index of the transfer (ATE) was defined to quantitatively analyze the synchronous corticomuscular function coupling and direction characteristics under steady-state force. Lastly, the effect of EEG and EMG signal power spectrum on Gabor-TE analysis was explored. The results showed that the coupling strength in the beta band was stronger in EEG→EMG direction than in EMG→EEG direction, and the ATE values in the beta band in EEG→EMG direction decreased with the force increasing. It is also shown that the difference in TE values of gamma band present a varying regularity as the increase of force in both directions. In addition, EMG power spectrum was significantly correlated with the result of Gabor-TE inspecific frequency band. The results of our study confirmed that Gabor-TE can quantitatively describe the nonlinearly synchronous corticomuscular function coupling in both local frequency band and information transmission. The analysis of FCMC provides basic information for exploring the motor control and the evaluation of clinical rehabilitation.
The study of neuronal activity with low frequency has shown an increasing interest for its greater stability and reliability recent years. One challenge in analyzing this kind of activity is to find similarities and differences between signals efficiently and effectively. The traditional analysis methods, such as short-time Fourier transform, are easily obscured by background noises and often involve a large number of parameters. Therefore, this paper introduces a novel time-frequency analysis method based on wavelet transformation and half-ellipsoid modeling to extract instantaneous frequency and instantaneous phase information. This method overcomes some shortcomings of conventional time-frequency analysis. In this method, wavelet transformation is used to provide high-level representations of raw signals, and parsimonious half-ellipsoid models are used to extract changes in time domain and frequency domain of neural recordings. The method was validated to local field potentials (LFPs) of olfactory bulb of anesthetized rats during three different odor stimuli. The results suggested that this method could detect odor-relevant features from olfactory signals with large variability. The Odors then were classified with support vector machine (SVM) algorithm and the classification accuracy reached 79.4%.
In order to find the most suitable algorithm of T-wave end point detection for clinical detection, we tested three methods, which are not just dependent on the threshold value of T-wave end point detection, i.e. wavelet method, cumulative point area method and trapezium area method, in PhysioNet QT database (20 records with 3 569 beats each). We analyzed and compared their detection performance. First, we used the wavelet method to locate the QRS complex and T-wave. Then we divided the T-wave into four morphologies, and we used the three algorithms mentioned above to detect T-wave end point. Finally, we proposed an adaptive selection T-wave end point detection algorithm based on T-wave morphology and tested it with experiments. The results showed that this adaptive selection method had better detection performance than that of the single T-wave end point detection algorithm. The sensitivity, positive predictive value and the average time errors were 98.93%, 99.11% and (-2.33±19.70) ms, respectively. Consequently, it can be concluded that the adaptive selection algorithm based on T-wave morphology improves the efficiency of T-wave end point detection.
Error related negativity (ERN) is generated in frontal and central cortical regions when individuals perceive errors. Because ERN has low signal-to-noise ratio and large individual difference, it is difficult for single trial ERN recognition. In current study, the optimized electroencephalograph (EEG) channels were selected based on the brain topography of ERN activity and ERN offline recognition rate, and the optimized EEG time segments were selected based on the ERN offline recognition rate, then the low frequency time domain and high frequency time-frequency domain features were analyzed based on wavelet transform, after which the ERN single detection algorithm was proposed based on the above procedures. Finally, we achieved average recognition rate of 72.0% ± 9.6% in 10 subjects by using the sample points feature in 0~3.9 Hz and the power and variance features in 3.9~15.6 Hz from the EEG segments of 200~600 ms on the selected 6 channels. Our work has the potential to help the error command real-time correction technique in the application of online brain-computer interface system.
Characteristics in pulse wave signals (PWSs) include the information of physiology and pathology of human cardiovascular system. Therefore, identification of characteristic points in PWSs plays a significant role in analyzing human cardiovascular system. Particularly, the characteristic points show personal dependent features and are easy to be affected. Acquiring a signal with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and integrity is fundamentally important to precisely identify the characteristic points. Based on the mathematical morphology theory, we design a combined filter, which can effectively suppress the baseline drift and remove the high-frequency noise simultaneously, to preprocess the PWSs. Furthermore, the characteristic points of the preprocessed signal are extracted according to its position relations with the zero-crossing points of wavelet coefficients of the signal. In addition, the differential method is adopted to calibrate the position offset of characteristic points caused by the wavelet transform. We investigated four typical PWSs reconstructed by three Gaussian functions with tunable parameters. The numerical results suggested that the proposed method could identify the characteristic points of PWSs accurately.
The purpose of this study is to compare the differences among neck muscle fatigue evaluation algorithms and to find a more effective algorithm which can provide a human factor quantitative evaluation method for neck muscle fatigue during bending over the desk. We collected surface electromyography signal of sternocleidomastoid muscle of 15 subjects using wireless physiotherapy Bio-Radio when they bent over the desk using memory pillows for 12 minutes. Five algorithms including mean power frequency, spectral moments ratio, discrete wavelet transform, fuzzy approximation entropy and the complexity algorithms were used to calculate the corresponding muscle fatigue index. The least squares method was used to calculate the corresponding coefficient of determination R2 and slope k of the linear regression of the muscle fatigue metric. The coefficient of determination R2 evaluates anti-interference ability of algorithms. The maximum vertical distance Lmax which is obtained by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for the slopes k evaluates the ability to distinguish fatigue of algorithms. The results indicate that in the aspect of anti-interference ability, the fuzzy approximation entropy has the largest R2 when using memory pillows with different heights. When the fuzzy approximate entropy is compared with average power frequency or the discrete wavelet transform, the differences are significant (P < 0.05). In terms of distinguishing the degree of fatigue, the approximate entropy is still the largest, with a maximum of 0.496 7. Fuzzy approximation entropy is superior to other algorithms in ability of anti-interference and distinguishing fatigue. Therefore, fuzzy approximation entropy can be used as a better evaluation algorithm in the evaluation of cervical muscle fatigue.
Heart rate variability time and frequency indices are widely used in functional assessment for autonomic nervous system (ANS). However, this method merely analyzes the effect of cardiac dynamics, overlooking the effect of cardio-pulmonary interplays. Given this, the present study proposes a novel cardiopulmonary coupling (CPC) algorithm based on cross-wavelet transform to quantify cardio-pulmonary interactions, and establish an assessment system for ANS aging effects using wearable electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiratory monitoring devices. To validate the superiority of the proposed method under nonstationary and low signal-to-noise ratio conditions, simulations were first conducted to demonstrate the performance strength of the proposed method to the traditional one. Next, the proposed CPC algorithm was applied to analyze cardiac and respiratory data from both elderly and young populations, revealing that young populations exhibited significantly stronger couplings in the high-frequency band compared with their elderly counterparts. Finally, a CPC assessment system was constructed by integrating wearable devices, and additional recordings from both elderly and young populations were collected by using the system, completing the validation and application of the aging effect assessment algorithm and the wearable system. In conclusion, this study may offers methodological and system support for assessing the aging effects on the ANS.
Early detection and timely intervention are very essential for autism. This paper used the wavelet transform and empirical mode decomposition (EMD) to extract the features of electroencephalogram (EEG), to compare the feature differences of EEG between the autistic children and healthy children. The experimental subjects included 25 healthy children (aged 5–10 years old) and 25 children with autism (20 boys and 5 girls aged 5–10 years old) respectively. The alpha, beta, theta and delta rhythm wave spectra of the C3, C4, F3, F4, F7, F8, FP1, FP2, O1, O2, P3, P4, T3, T4, T5 and T6 channels were extracted and decomposed by EMD decomposition to obtain the intrinsic modal functions. Finally the support vector machine (SVM) classifier was used to implement assessment of autism and normal classification. The results showed that the accuracy could reach 87% and which was nearly 20% higher than that of the model combining the wavelet transform and sample entropy in the paper. Moreover, the accuracy of delta (1–4 Hz) rhythm wave was the highest among the four kinds of rhythms. And the classification accuracy of the forehead F7 channel, left FP1 channel and T6 channel in the temporal region were all up to 90%, which expressed the characteristics of EEG signals in autistic children better.
In this work, a new method of heart sound signal preprocessing is presented. First, the heart sound signals are decomposed by using multilayer wavelet transform. And then double parameters as thresholds are used in processing each layer after decomposition for denoising. Next, reconstruction of heart sound signals could be done after processing last layer. Four methods, i.e. wavelet transform, Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT), mathematical morphology, and normalized average Shannon energy, were used to extract the envelop of the heart sound signals respectively after reconstruction of heart sounds. All methods were improved in this study. We finally in our study chose 30 cases of raw heart sound signals, which were selected randomly from a database comed from The Clinical Medicine Institute of Montreal, and processed them by using the improved methods. The results were satisfactory. It showed that the extracted envelope with the original signal has a high degree of matching, whether it is a low frequency portion or high frequency portion. Most of all information of heart sound has been maintained in the envelope.
In the present paper, wavelet transform and empirical mode decomposition (EMD) are combined to extracted the features of electroencephalogram (EEG) signal with music intervention, and to achieve a better classification accuracy rate and reliability in emotional assessment in order to provide a support for music therapy. The data were from Database for Emotion Analysis using Physiological Signals (DEAP). Based on wavelet transform α, β and θ rhythms were extracted at frontal (F3, F4), temporal (T7, T8) and central regions (C3, C4). Based on the EMD, the intrinsic mode function (IMF) was analyzed and extracted. Furthermore, average energy and amplitude difference of IMF were analyzed and obtained. The support vector machine was used to assess the state of emotion in order to support music therapy. According to this algorithm, the classification accuracy rate could reach 100% between no emotions, positive emotions and negative emotions, which made a 10% improvement between positive and negative emotion recognition. Effective evaluation result between positive and negative emotions was achieved. The states of emotion would influence the effect of music therapy, undoubtedly, the classification accuracy rate increasing of emo-tional assessment will further help improve the effect of music therapy and provide a better support to the therapy.
