An efficient sparse code shrinkage technique for ECG denoising using empirical mode decomposition.

Abstract

Accurate denoising of Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals is essential for reliable cardiac diagnostics, but traditional methods often struggle with high-frequency noise and artifacts, leading to potential misinterpretations. It is often impeded by interference such as power line interference (PLI) and Gaussian noise. To address this challenge, we suggest a novel ECG denoising technique that combines empirical mode decomposition (EMD) with wavelet domain sparse code shrinking. Our approach first decomposes the noisy ECG signal into Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) using EMD. These IMFs are then transformed into the wavelet domain, where a sparse code shrinking function is applied to effectively reduce both Gaussian noise and PLI while preserving the integrity of the original signal. The effectiveness of the technique is assessed on the MIT-BIH database, where it shows marked improvements in Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), Mean Squared Error (MSE), and Percentage Root Mean Square Difference (PRD). The suggested approach demonstrates improved SNR and reduced MSE when compared to prior approaches, which suggests that the ECG signals are clearer and more precise. This method presents a rather effective approach to enhancing ECG analysis as it is important for diagnosis and interpretation. At 10 dB SNR, the suggested technique achieves an MSE of 0.005, which is much less than the 0.076 and 0.0025 MSEs obtained by EMD wavelet adaptive thresholding and soft thresholding correspondingly. This indicates that the proposed approach effectively eliminates noise while preserving significant signal characteristics, leading to an improved and less erroneous signal reconstruction. Furthermore, the proposed method outperformed conventional techniques and demonstrated improved noise reduction and signal clarity, achieving an SNR of 19.24 and a PRD of 20.38 at 10 dB SNR.