Automated wavelet denoising of photoacoustic signals for circulating melanoma cell detection and burn image reconstruction

Photoacoustic image reconstruction may involve hundreds of point measurements, each of which contributes unique information about the subsurface absorbing structures under study. For backprojection imaging, two or more point measurements of photoacoustic waves induced by irradiating a biological sample with laser light are used to produce an image of the acoustic source. Each of these measurements must undergo some signal processing, such as denoising or system deconvolution. In order to process the numerous signals, we have developed an automated wavelet algorithm for denoising signals. We appeal to the discrete wavelet transform for denoising photoacoustic signals generated in a dilute melanoma cell suspension and in thermally coagulated blood. We used 5, 9, 45 and 270 melanoma cells in the laser beam path as test concentrations. For the burn phantom, we used coagulated blood in 1.6 mm silicon tube submerged in Intralipid. Although these two targets were chosen as typical applications for photoacoustic detection and imaging, they are of independent interest. The denoising employs level-independent universal thresholding. In order to accommodate nonradix-2 signals, we considered a maximal overlap discrete wavelet transform (MODWT). For the lower melanoma cell concentrations, as the signal-to-noise ratio approached 1, denoising allowed better peak finding. For coagulated blood, the signals were denoised to yield a clean photoacoustic resulting in an improvement of 22% in the reconstructed image. The entire signal processing technique was automated so that minimal user intervention was needed to reconstruct the images. Such an algorithm may be used for image reconstruction and signal extraction for applications such as burn depth imaging, depth profiling of vascular lesions in skin and the detection of single cancer cells in blood samples.     

使用二维小波收缩法去除弹性成像蠕虫噪声

本文研究使用二维小波收缩去噪法去除弹性成像过程中产生的蠕虫噪声。先使用Sym8小波函数对含有蠕虫噪声的应变估计值矩阵进行3级二维离散小波分解,并使用Birg-éMassart算法获取二维小波变换的域值;然后分别使用硬域值函数和软域值函数对各尺度的水平方向、垂直方向、对角方向的高频系数进行量化;最后将第3层低频系数和各层被量化后的高频系数进行二维小波重构产生去噪后的弹性图像。仿真结果显示,提出的技术有效去除了弹性成像的蠕虫噪声,增强了弹性图像的信噪比(SNRe)和对比度噪声比(CNRe),提高了弹性图像与理想弹性图的相关系数(е);与二维低通滤波去噪法相比,使用二维小波收缩法产生的弹性图像有更高的SNRe和CNRe,能更清晰地显示硬物边界。同时,仿真结果也表明该技术对不同应变量的弹性图像的蠕虫噪声均能有效抑制。本研究表明二维小波收缩去噪法能有效去除弹性图像的蠕虫噪声并提高弹性图像性能。     

微波热疗凝固区域超声回波信号的小波去噪方法

目的 针对用于监测微波热疗凝固区域的超声回波信号信噪比较低,强反射点较多,难以定位凝固区域边缘的特点,研究了一种基于小波分解的去噪方法.方法 在理论分析的基础上,对超声回波信号进行小波分解,根据不同频段信号的特征,进行局部分层小波阈值去噪,再通过小波重构得到去噪后的超声回波信号.结果 对比硬阈值去噪、软阈值去噪和本文所采用方法的效果,探讨了利用本文算法进行凝固区域边缘识别的可行性.结论 局部分层小波去噪算法可有效抑制噪声,保留信号的细节特征,达到优化超声回波信号的目的.     

基于小波奇异点检测和阈值去噪的眨眼伪迹去除方法

目的眨眼伪迹是脑电中一种常见且影响严重的伪迹。本论文提出一种基于小波奇异点检测和阈值去噪的眨眼伪迹去除方法,无需眼电参考信号,做到自动去除单导脑电信号中的眨眼伪迹。方法首先利用小波奇异点检测特性以检测眨眼伪迹的峰值位置,然后只对眨眼伪迹区域进行小波阈值去噪。结果实验结果表明,本方法能够有效检测眨眼伪迹,避免了普通方法去噪时对非眨眼区域的影响。结论本方法使用的阈值和阈值函数优于典型的阈值和软、硬阈值函数,有效地去除了脑电中的眨眼伪迹。     

EMG classification using wavelet functions to determine muscle contraction

Surface electromyogram (SEMG) is a complex signal and is influenced by several external factors/artifacts. The electromyogram signal from the stump of the subject is picked up through surface electrodes. It is amplified and artifacts are removed before digitising it in a controlled manner so that minimum signal loss occurs due to processing. As removing these artifacts is not easy, feature extraction to obtain useful information hidden inside the signal becomes a different process. This paper presents methods of analysing SEMG signals using discrete wavelet Transform (DWT) for extracting accurate patterns of the signals and the performance of the used algorithms is being analysed rigorously. The obtained results suggest a root mean square difference (RMSD) value for the denoising and quality of reconstruction of the SEMG signal. The result shows that the best mother wavelets for tolerance of noise are second order of symmlets and bior6.8. Results inferred that bior6.8 suitable for the classification and analysis of SEMG signals of different arm motions results in a classification accuracy of 88.90%.     

高重叠率下弹性成像应变估计值的小波去噪研究

目的 高的数据窗重叠率是提高弹性成像轴向分辨率的必要条件,但重叠率的增加会使位移估计的相关误差急剧增长,产生所谓的"蠕虫"噪声.本研究使用小波收缩法去除高重叠率下弹性图像蠕虫噪声.方法 对每一条轴向应变A-line先进行3级离散小波分解,然后根据4种自适应阈值之一使用软阈值函数对每一层小波高频系数进行量化,最后进行小波...     

高重叠率下弹性成像应变估计值的小波去噪研究

目的 高的数据窗重叠率是提高弹性成像轴向分辨率的必要条件,但重叠率的增加会使位移估计的相关误差急剧增长,产生所谓的"蠕虫"噪声.本研究使用小波收缩法去除高重叠率下弹性图像蠕虫噪声.方法 对每一条轴向应变A-line先进行3级离散小波分解,然后根据4种自适应阈值之一使用软阈值函数对每一层小波高频系数进行量化,最后进行小波重构产生去噪后的应变A-line.结果 仿真结果表明提出的技术能有效去除蠕虫噪声,增强弹性图像的信噪比(SNRe)和对比度噪声比(CNRe);与低通滤波相比,使用小波去噪产生的弹性图像更接近于理想弹性图(有更高的相关系数);另外,仿真结果也显示小波去噪应用于应变估计值比应用于位移估计值能获得更好的图像质量参数;弹性体模实验结果也表明该技术能有效改进应变图像性能.结论 小波收缩去噪技术能有效地去除弹性图像的蠕虫噪声,在保持高的轴向分辨率的情况下提高弹性图像的性能.     

Comparative study of wavelet denoising in myoelectric control applications

Here, the wavelet analysis has been investigated to improve the quality of myoelectric signal before use in prosthetic design. Effective Surface Electromyogram (SEMG) signals were estimated by first decomposing the obtained signal using wavelet transform and then analysing the decomposed coefficients by threshold methods. With the appropriate choice of wavelet, it is possible to reduce interference noise effectively in the SEMG signal. However, the most effective wavelet for SEMG denoising is chosen by calculating the root mean square value and signal power values. The combined results of root mean square value and signal power shows that wavelet db4 performs the best denoising among the wavelets. Furthermore, time domain and frequency domain methods were applied for SEMG signal analysis to investigate the effect of muscle-force contraction on the signal. It was found that, during sustained contractions, the mean frequency (MNF) and median frequency (MDF) increase as muscle force levels increase.     

Digital Radiographic Image Denoising Via Wavelet-Based Hidden Markov Model Estimation

This paper presents a technique for denoising digital radiographic images based upon the wavelet-domain Hidden Markov tree (HMT) model. The method uses the Anscombes transformation to adjust the original image, corrupted by Poisson noise, to a Gaussian noise model. The image is then decomposed in different subbands of frequency and orientation responses using the dual-tree complex wavelet transform, and the HMT is used to model the marginal distribution of the wavelet coefficients. Two different correction functions were used to shrink the wavelet coefficients. Finally, the modified wavelet coefficients are transformed back into the original domain to get the denoised image. Fifteen radiographic images of extremities along with images of a hand, a line-pair, and contrast–detail phantoms were analyzed. Quantitative and qualitative assessment showed that the proposed algorithm outperforms the traditional Gaussian filter in terms of noise reduction, quality of details, and bone sharpness. In some images, the proposed algorithm introduced some undesirable artifacts near the edges.     

An automatic analysis method for detecting and eliminating ECG artifacts in EEG

An automated method for detecting and eliminating electrocardiograph (ECG) artifacts from electroencephalography (EEG) without an additional synchronous ECG channel is proposed in this paper. Considering the properties of wavelet filters and the relationship between wavelet basis and characteristics of ECG artifacts, the concepts for selecting a suitable wavelet basis and scales used in the process are developed. The analysis via the selected basis is without suffering time shift for decomposition and detection/elimination procedures after wavelet transformation. The detection rates, above 97.5% for MIT/BIH and NTUH recordings, show a pretty good performance in ECG artifact detection and elimination.     

Nonlinear analysis of the performance and reliability of wavelet singularity detection based denoising for Doppler ultrasound fetal heart rate signals

Many studies on the physiology of the cardiovascular system revealed that nonlinear chaotic dynamics govern the generation of the heart rate signal. This is also valid for the fetal heart rate (FHR) variability, where however the variability is affected by many more factors and is significantly more complicated than for the adult case. Recently an adaptive wavelet denoising method for the Doppler ultrasound FHR recordings has been introduced. In this paper the performance and reliability of that method is confirmed by the observation that for the wavelet denoised FHR signal, a deterministic nonlinear structure, which was concealed by the noise, becomes apparent. It provides strong evidence that the denoising process removes actual noise components and can therefore be utilized for the improvement of the signal quality. Hence by observing after denoising a significant improvement of the 'chaoticity' of the FHR signal we obtain strong evidence for the reliability and efficiency of the wavelet based denoising method. The estimation of the chaoticity of the FHR signal before and after the denoising is approached with three nonlinear analysis methods. First, the rescaled scale analysis (RSA) technique reveals that the denoising process increases the Hurst exponent parameter as happens when additive noise is removed from a chaotic signal. Second, the nonlinear prediction error evaluated with radial basis function (RBF) prediction networks is significantly lower at the denoised signal. The significant gain in predictability can be attributed to the drastic reduction of the additive noise from the signal by the denoising algorithm. Moreover, the evaluation of the correlation coefficient between actual and neural network predicted values as a function of the prediction time displays characteristics of chaos only for the denoised signal. Third, a chaotic attractor, reconstructed with the embedding dimension technique, becomes evident for the denoised signal, while it is completely obscured for the original signals. The correlation dimension of the reconstructed attractor for the denoised signal tends to reach a value independent of the embedding dimension, a sign of deterministic chaotic signal. In contrast for the original signal the correlation dimension increases steadily with the embedding dimension, a fact that indicates strong contribution of noise.     

脑电棘波识别和噪声消除的小波变换方法

研究了利用二进小波变的的模极大值识别脑电信号奇异点如棘波和消除噪声的方法，该方法在较好保留原脑电信号奇异信息的同时能有效地消除噪声，进一步讨论了信号与白噪声的奇异性指数的区别，以及小波变换模极大值沿各变换尺度传递的不同特性，并利用该特性区分信号中的奇异点和噪声，能准确识别奇异点的位置，这种奇异性识别技术在信号的特征提取和消除噪声方面有广阔的应用前景。     

Cone beam volume CT image artifacts caused by defective cells in x-ray flat panel imagers and the artifact removal using a wavelet-analysis-based algorithm

The application of x-ray flat panel imagers (FPIs) in cone beam volume CT (CBVCT) has attracted increasing attention. However, due to a deficient semiconductor array manufacturing process, defective cells unavoidably exist in x-ray FPIs. These defective cells cause their corresponding image pixels in a projection image to behave abnormally in signal gray level, and result in severe streak and ring artifacts in a CBVCT image reconstructed from the projection images. Since a three-dimensional (3-D) back-projection is involved in CBVCT, the formation of the streak and ring artifacts is different from that in the two-dimensional (2-D) fan beam CT. In this paper, a geometric analysis of the abnormality propagation in the 3D back-projection is presented, and the morphology of the streak and ring artifacts caused by the abnormality propagation is investigated through both computer simulation and phantom studies. In order to calibrate those artifacts, a 2D wavelet-analysis-based statistical approach to correct the abnormal pixels is proposed. The approach consists of three steps: (1) the location-invariant defective cells in an x-ray FPI are recognized by applying 2-D wavelet analysis on flat-field images, and a comprehensive defective cell template is acquired; (2) based upon the template, the abnormal signal gray level of the projection image pixels corresponding to the location-invariant defective cells is replaced with the interpolation of that of their normal neighbor pixels; (3) that corresponding to the isolated location-variant defective cells are corrected using a narrow-windowed median filter. The CBVCT images of a CT low-contrast phantom are employed to evaluate this proposed approach, showing that the streak and ring artifacts can be reliably eliminated. The novelty and merit of the approach are the incorporation of the wavelet analysis whose intrinsic multi-resolution analysis and localizability make the recognition algorithm robust under variable x-ray exposure levels between 30% and 70% of the dynamic range of an x-ray FPI.     

基于多分辨分析的食道动态pH监测信号去噪算法

首次提出基于多分辨分析去除食道动态ｐＨ 监测信号中常见噪声的算法。文章首先从实验入手对监测信号进行分析,然后结合分析结果依据基于离散二进小波变换的多分辨分析给出合适的去噪算法,最后通过对临床数据的处理表明本算法具有较好的去噪效果。     

Wavelet Based Filters for Artifact Elimination in Electroencephalography Signal: A Review

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a diagnostic test that records and measures the electrical activity of the human brain. Research investigating human behaviors and conditions using EEG has increased from year to year. Therefore, an efficient approach is vital to process the EEG dataset to improve the output signal quality. The wavelet is one of the well-known approaches for processing the EEG signal in time–frequency domain analysis. The wavelet is better than the traditional Fourier Transform because it has good time–frequency localized properties and multi-resolution analysis where the transient information of an EEG signal can be extracted efficiently. Thus, this review article aims to comprehensively describe the application of the wavelet method in denoising the EEG signal based on recent research. This review begins with a brief overview of the basic theory and characteristics of EEG and the wavelet transform method. Then, several wavelet-based methods commonly applied in EEG dataset denoising are described and a considerable number of the latest published EEG research works with wavelet applications are reviewed. Besides, the challenges that exist in current EEG-based wavelet method research are discussed. Finally, alternative solutions to mitigate the issues are recommended.

     

瞬态诱发耳声发射信号的小波阈值去噪

目的瞬态诱发耳声发射信号是从人的外耳检测到的微弱的音频能量,在测试过程中常混入各种随机噪声,本文尝试对瞬态诱发耳声发射信号进行去噪,以提高信号的信噪比,为进一步的临床应用(如频谱分析)奠定基础.方法小波变换阈值法.选用了sym8小波,软阈值处理方法,阈值选取规则为Minimax法.结果去噪后相关系数加大,信噪比提高.信噪比平均提高约10%.结论小波变换阈值法对TEOAE信号去噪取得了较好的效果.     

基于小波变换的脉搏波信号去噪

人体脉象信号是一种信噪比较低的非平稳随机信号,在分析脉象信号之前去噪是一项十分重要的工作。针对小波变换中的阈值法进行公式上的改进,并利用ZM—ⅢC型智能化中医脉象仪采集到的亚健康人群左关外桡动脉脉搏信号进行去噪处理,实验结果表明,改进后的阈值法可以取得更好的去噪效果。     

基于Hilbert-Huang变换的医学超声信号去噪

目的:探求一种基于Hilbert-Huang变换的医学超声信号去噪方法。方法:提出了一种基于Hilbert-Huang变换的医学超声信号去噪方法。首先对含噪超声信号进行经验模式分解,得到各阶IMF分量,然后对高频的IMF分量用阈值方法进行处理,把经过阈值处理的高频的IMF分量和低频IMF分量进行叠加,得到重构的去噪信号。结果:仿真实验表明,基于Hilbert-Huang变换的医学超声信号去噪方法可以有效地降噪。结论:Hilbert-Huang变换的医学超声信号去噪方法在自适应性和先验性方面优于基于小波的去噪方法。     

基于改进小波阈值算法的ECG肌电信号去噪研究

为了解决传统软、硬阈值算法对肌电信号去噪后心电图（ECG）信号幅值降低和存在局部异常尖峰,导致去噪效果较差的问题。通过研究小波阈值算法的去噪原理和优化规则,基于双曲正切函数构造出一种具有连续性、结构简单、灵活性较高的可调阈值函数和改进的分层阈值,并分析得到小波分解含噪ECG信号的最佳小波基函数和分解层数,提出了一种改进的小波阈值算法。将软、硬阈值算法、相关文献中的阈值算法和本文所提改进阈值算法对含有真实肌电信号噪声的ECG信号进行去噪对比研究。实验结果表明：本文改进阈值算法能较好地去除ECG信号中的肌电信号噪声,并能更好地保持ECG信号波形特征,且Pearson相关系数值大于其他阈值算法。定性和定量结果表明,本文所提改进阈值算法对ECG肌电信号噪声具有较好的去噪效果。     

Baseline drift removal and denoising of MCG data using EEMD: Role of noise amplitude and the thresholding effect

We adopt the Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) method, with an appropriate thresholding on the Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs), to denoise the magnetocardiography (MCG) signal. To this end, we discuss the two associated problems that relate to: (i) the amplitude of noise added to the observed signal in the EEMD method with a view to prevent mode mixing and (ii) the effect of direct thresholding that causes discontinuities in the reconstructed denoised signal. We then denoise the MCG signals, having various signal-to-noise ratios, by using this method and compare the results with those obtained by the standard wavelet based denoising method. We also address the problem of eliminating the high frequency baseline drift such as the sudden and discontinuous changes in the baseline of the experimentally measured MCG signal using the EEMD based method. We show that the EEMD method used for denoising and the elimination of baseline drift is superior in performance to other standard methods such as wavelet based techniques and Independent Component Analysis (ICA).