On sound-based interpretation of neonatal EEG
This addresses the problem of requiring significant training for neonatal EEG interpretation, offering an intuitive alternative for non-experts, though it is incremental as it builds on existing sonification techniques.
The study tackled the difficulty of visually interpreting neonatal EEG signals by exploring sound-based methods, showing that both sonification methods performed similarly well with smaller inter-observer variability compared to visual interpretation.
Significant training is required to visually interpret neonatal EEG signals. This study explores alternative sound-based methods for EEG interpretation which are designed to allow for intuitive and quick differentiation between healthy background activity and abnormal activity such as seizures. A novel method based on frequency and amplitude modulation (FM/AM) is presented. The algorithm is tuned to facilitate the audio domain perception of rhythmic activity which is specific to neonatal seizures. The method is compared with the previously developed phase vocoder algorithm for different time compressing factors. A survey is conducted amongst a cohort of non-EEG experts to quantitatively and qualitatively examine the performance of sound-based methods in comparison with the visual interpretation. It is shown that both sonification methods perform similarly well, with a smaller inter-observer variability in comparison with visual. A post-survey analysis of results is performed by examining the sensitivity of the ear to frequency evolution in audio.