A novel spectral representation of electromyographic signals

Andrade, A. O., Kyberd, P. J. and Taffler, S. D. (2003) A novel spectral representation of electromyographic signals. In: Proceedings of the 25th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Vols 1-4 - a New Beginning for Human Health. Proceedings of Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 25. IEEE, New York, pp. 2598-2601. ISBN 0780377893

Abstract/Summary

Time/frequency and temporal analyses have been widely used in biomedical signal processing. These methods represent important characteristics of a signal in both time and frequency domain. In this way, essential features of the signal can be viewed and analysed in order to understand or model the physiological system. Historically, Fourier spectral analyses have provided a general method for examining the global energy/frequency distributions. However, an assumption inherent to these methods is the stationarity of the signal. As a result, Fourier methods are not generally an appropriate approach in the investigation of signals with transient components. This work presents the application of a new signal processing technique, empirical mode decomposition and the Hilbert spectrum, in the analysis of electromyographic signals. The results show that this method may provide not only an increase in the spectral resolution but also an insight into the underlying process of the muscle contraction.