title: Neural network analysis of the EMG interference pattern.
abstract: This paper investigates the performance of artificial neural networks for analysing and classifying EMG signals from healthy subjects and patients with myopathic and neuropathic disorders. EMG interference patterns (IP) were recorded under maximum voluntary contraction from the right biceps of a total of 50 subjects. Parameters were obtained from the signals using recognized quantification techniques including turns analysis, small segments analysis and frequency analysis. Supervised networks examined were an improved backpropagation network (IBPN), a radial basis network (RBN), and a learning vector quantization network (INQ). Supervised networks using different combinations of parameters from turns analysis and small segments analysis gave diagnostic yields of 60-80%. Combinations using frequency analysis parameters produced similar results. The performance of unsupervised Self-Organising Feature Maps (SOFM) was generally lower than that of the supervised networks. Including personal data (sex and age) did not improve the overall performance.
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Dundee, UK.
authors.forename: E W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Abel
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Zacharia
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Forster
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Farrow
mesh_terms: D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D004576:Electromyography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted