Analysis of EEG signals for diagnosis of epileptic
seizures based on features extracted using efficient
wavelet transform
Deepti H Bagali1
Dept. of Electronics and Communication
Sapthagiri College of Engineering
Bangalore, India
Abstract -The electroencephalogram (EEG) signal plays an
important role in the diagnosis of epilepsy. Early detection of
seizures provides opportunity for early intervention and results
in improved outcomes over treatment among epilepsy patients. In
a significant number of cases, detection of the epileptic EEG
signal is carried out manually by skilled professionals, who are
small in number. Visual inspection by skilled professional is very
time consuming and may even be inaccurate. These inaccuracies
are particularly significant for long time duration EEG signals.
Therefore there is a need for an automated Bio-marker detection
and classification for epilepsy. It is required to use complex
algorithms to recognize invisible information that exist in EEG
signals and diagnose epilepsy. We propose a novel and efficient
approach for automatically detecting the presence of epileptic
seizures in EEG signals. A neural-network- based automated
epileptic EEG detection system is introduced that uses energy as
the input feature. The signal pre-processing is done using filter.
EEG waves feature extraction is carried out using the Dual- tree
complex Wavelet Transform (DTCWT). FFT of each level is
taken which gives an indication to the different frequency bands
in the signals at different levels. Corresponding energies are
calculated. The Back Propagation Neural Network is trained with
the obtained energy values for effective detection of epileptic
seizures. It is shown that the energy value vary widely for the
epileptic signal and the normal signal. This fact is utilized in early
detection of seizures.
Keywords—EEG, moving average filter, DTCWT, FFT, Neural
Network
I. INTRODUCTION
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent
attacks over long periods. The sudden abnormal discharge of
neurons in the brain leads to brain dysfunction and the onset of
epilepsy. Epileptic seizures usually last a short time and are
accompanied by involuntary twitching attacks. The most
common type of epilepsy, which affects 6 out of 10 people
with the disorder, is called idiopathic epilepsy and has no
identifiable cause. Epilepsy with a known cause is called
secondary epilepsy, or symptomatic epilepsy. Early detection
of seizures provides opportunity for early intervention and
results in improved outcomes over treatment among epilepsy
patients. In spite of recent advances, the interest in extracting
knowledge hidden in the electroencephalogram(EEG) signals
is rapidly growing, as well as their application in the
computational neuro engineering field such as mobile robot
Shobha S2
Dept. of Electronics and Communication
Sapthagiri College of Engineering
Bangalore, India
control, wheelchair control and person identification using
brainwaves. The EEG signals can be effectively used for
various applications such as emotion recognition, brain
computer interfaces (BCI) etc. One of the most important
applications of the analysis of EEG signals is its use in
neuroscience to diagnose diseases and brain disorders.
Epileptic seizures detection is typically done by the physicians
using a visual scanning of the EEG signals which is a time
consuming process and may be inaccurate. These inaccuracies
are particularly significant for long time duration EEG signals.
With advances in technology, use of artificial
intelligence, pattern matching and classification algorithms
have evolved automated methods for early detection of
epilepsy. The diagnosis of epilepsy is one of the difficult
problems faced by researchers. EEG provides a direct measure
of postsynaptic brain activity and has several orders of
magnitude greater temporal resolution than functional MRI,
allowing it to resolve neurophysiological oscillations and
dynamics on millisecond scale.
Capturing EEG signals in epilepsy patients and with
visual inspection of EEG by doctors cannot decipher epilepsy
and classify epilepsy into sub groups. It is required to use
complex algorithms to recognize invisible information that
exist in EEG signals and diagnose epilepsy. Literature reports
various methods that extract features from EEG signals in time
domain, frequency domain and from nonlinear dynamics to
appropriately detect suitable biomarker for diagnosis of
epilepsy. Recent developments in technology and use of
suitable mathematical approaches could provide solutions to
identify epilepsy biomarkers from EEG. Because EEG
measures such as spectral power, coherence, and complexity
are continuous and relate to typical development, they hold
tremendous potential for the creation of clinically meaningful
subgroups within the spectra of neuro-developmental
disorders.
II. DATABASE COLLECTION
The EEG data used were a subset of EEG data corresponding
to both normal and epileptic subjects, made available by Dr.
Ralph Andrzejak from the Epilepsy Centre at the University of
Bonn. Two EEG data sets from two different groups were
analyzed: healthy subjects with normal EEG data, epileptic
subjects during a seizure. Each data set recorded with a 128-
channel amplifier system contained 100 single-channel EEG B. Discrete wavelet transform
segments sampled at 173.61 Hz, each of 23.6 sec duration.
There are five broad spectral sub-bands of the EEG DWT chooses only a subset of scales and positions. DWT
signal which are generally of clinical interest: delta (0 - 4 Hz), works as filters where the signals are divided into two bands at
theta (4 - 8 Hz), alpha (8 - 16 Hz), beta (16 - 32 Hz) and each a specified level called approximations and details
gamma waves (32 - 64 Hz). Higher frequencies are often more signals as shown in figure 2. Each level could characterize the
common in abnormal brain states such as epilepsy (i.e. there is frequencies of the EEG data band. The algorithm of the DWT
a shift of EEG signal energy from lower to higher frequency decomposition and reconstruction can be summarized. Given a
bands before and during a seizure). These five frequency sub- signal “s” of length n, starting from s, the first step produces
bands provide more accurate information about neuronal two sets of coefficients: approximation coefficients cA1, and
activities underlying the problem and, consequently, some detail coefficients cD1.
changes in the EEG signal, which are not so obvious in the
original full-spectrum signal, can be amplified when each sub-
band is considered independently. That was the basic premise
of this research. Most of the features were extracted from each
sub-band separately, after wavelet decomposition of the full-
spectrum EEG signal, as well as reconstructed in all five sub-
bands using the inverse wavelet transform.

III. PREPROCESSING AND WAVELET TRANSFORM

A. Preprocessing

The most elementary form of an FIR filter is a moving average

filter. Moving average filters are used for smoothing signal.
Fig.3 3level decomposition using DWT
The input samples, x (n) are passed through a series of buffer
registers (labeled z–1, corresponding to the z-transform
The approximations (A) are the high-scale, low frequency
representation of a delay element). The figure 1 shows the
components of the signal. The details (D) are the low-scale,
original signal and figure 2 shows the signal after applying
high-frequency components. The samples of the signal are
moving average filter.
dividing by 2 and this is called sub-sampling, as shown in Fig
2. At every level, the sub-sampling will result in half the
number of samples. The procedure of the sub-band coding of
the EEG data can be visualized, as shown in Fig.3. In this
work, an eight-level multi-resolution decomposition using
Daubechies8 wavelets is implemented

Fig.1 Original signal

Fig.4 The tree of the multi-decomposition (multi-level) of the

signals

These vectors are obtained by convolving s with the low-pass

Fig.2 signal after filtering
filter Lo_D for approximation, and with the high-pass filter
Hi_D for detail, followed by dyadic decimation. The length of
each filter is equal to 2N. If n = length (s), the signals F and G
are of length n + 2N - 1, and then the coefficients cA1 and
cD1 are of length Floor means that the length of the
coefficients rolled to the nearest integer. The next step splits
the approximation coefficients cA1 into two parts using the
same scheme, replacing s by cA1 and producing cA2 and cD2
and so on.
C. Dual tree complex wavelet transform
On one hand, the dual-tree DWT can be viewed as an
overcomplete wavelet transform with a redundancy factor
of two. On the other hand, the dual-tree DWT is also a
complex DWT, where the first and second DWTs
represent the real and imaginary parts of a single complex
DWT. The first implementation proposed had the
constraint of linear phase, and to accomplish this, the
implementation required odd-length filters in one tree and
even-length filters in the other. Greater symmetry between
the two trees occurs if each tree uses odd and even filters
alternately from level to level, but this is not essential.
Figure 5 shows the DTCWT architecture
Fig.5 DTCWT architecture
In order to examine the shift invariance properties of a
transform, Kingsbur proposes a method based on the retention
of just one type (details or approximations), from just one
level of the decomposition tree. For example one might
choose to retain only the level-3 detail coefficients and set all
the others to zero. If the signal y reconstructed from just these
coefficients, is free of aliasing then it can be said that the
transform is shift invariant at that level. The degree of shift
invariance of two implementation schemes (one for the DT
CWT and the other for the classical DWT) is presented in fig.
3.5. In each case the input is a unit step, shifted to 16 adjacent
sampling instants in turn. Each unit step is passed through the
forward and inverse version of the chosen wavelet transform.
The figure shows the input steps and the components
of the inverse transform output signal, reconstructed from the
wavelet coefficients at each of levels 1 to 4 in turn and from
the scaling function coefficients at level 4. Summing these
components reconstructs the input steps perfectly. Good shift
invariance is shown when all the 16 output components from a
given level have the same shape, independent of shift. It is
easily observed that the DT CWT has outstanding
performances in this direction compared to the severe shift
dependence of the normal DWT.
Features of the Dual Tree Complex Wavelet Transform
(DTCWT)
1. Good shift invariance
2. Good directional selectivity in 2-D, 3-D
3. Perfect reconstruction
4. Limited redundancy – 2:1 in 1-D, 4:1 in 2-D
5. Low computation
D. Fast Fourier transform
Fourier analysis is extremely useful for data analysis, as it
breaks down a signal into constituent sinusoids of different
frequencies. For sampled vector data, Fourier analysis is
performed using the discrete Fourier transform (DFT). The
fast Fourier transform (FFT) is an efficient algorithm for
computing the DFT of a sequence; it is not a separate
transform. It is particularly used in area such as signal
processing, where its uses range from filtering and frequency
analysis to power spectrum estimation. Computation using
FFT of each level gives an indication to the corresponding
frequencies in different bands.
III. ARTIFICAL NEURAL NETWORK
In this paper, for training the EEG signals we utilize Back
propagation algorithm. One of the most commonly used
supervised ANN model is back propagation network that uses
back propagation learning algorithm. Back propagation
algorithm is appropriate for pattern recognition problems. The
back propagation neural network is essentially a network of
simple processing elements working together to produce a
complex output. These elements or nodes are arranged into
different layers: input, hidden and output layer as shown in
figure 6.
Fig.6 Network showing three layers: input, hidden and output
The advantages of Back propagation algorithm are, it is simple
and its speed is also reasonable. In a back propagation neural
network, the learning algorithm has two stages. Initially, a
training input pattern is presented to the network input layer.
The network propagates the input pattern from layer to layer
until the output pattern is produced by the output layer. If this
pattern is dissimilar from the preferred output, an error is
intended and then propagated backward through the network
from the output layer to the input layer. The weights are
customized as the error is propagated. In the proposed
approach, we primarily present the test input signal i.e. EEG
signals to the neural network, which in turn compares the
input signal with the trained signal, on the basis of the weight
factor. If the input signals (EEG signal) contain epileptic
seizure, then the trained network notifies the occurrence of the
disease. The utilization of Back propagation shows better
results in the detection of seizure from EEG signal.
IV. EXPERIMENT RESULTS
The Back Propagation Neural Network was trained with the
extracted feature from 200 EEG signals, of which 100 were
seizure affected EEG signals and others were normal EEG
signals. In the testing phase, extracted feature from EEG
signal is provided as test input for epileptic seizure detection.
The accuracy results of the proposed approach is 78%.
Table1. Accuracy
Signals Detected results
Normal(100) 84
Epileptic(100) 79
V. CONCLUSION
This paper presented an EEG data classification algorithm
which based on features extracted after wavelet transform and
statistical pattern recognition. It makes an objective decision
about the type of the EEG data processed. The main
advantages of the algorithm is feature extractions with highly
meaningful wavelet transform because hidden EEG
information can be revealed and the noise reduction. It gives
very good sensitivity and specificity as well as an overall
classification accuracy of 99%. Therefore, the conclusion is
that the proposed algorithm can be used to classify EEG
signals and detect seizures in a clinical setting.
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