A methodology for time-frequency image processing applied to the classification of nonstationary multichannel signals using instantaneous frequency descriptors with application to newborn EEG signals

This article presents a general methodology for processing non-stationary signals for the purpose of classification and localization. The methodology combines methods adapted from three complementary areas: time-frequency signal analysis, multichannel signal analysis and image processing. The latter three combine in a new methodology referred to as multichannel time-frequency image processing which is applied to the problem of classifying electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities in both adults and newborns. A combination of signal related features and image related features are used by merging key instantaneous frequency descriptors which characterize the signal non-stationarities. The results obtained show that, firstly, the features based on time-frequency image processing techniques such as image segmentation, improve the performance of EEG abnormalities detection in the classification systems based on multi-SVM and neural network classifiers. Secondly, these discriminating features are able to better detect the correlation between newborn EEG signals in a multichannel-based newborn EEG seizure detection for the purpose of localizing EEG abnormalities on the scalp.