title: Extractions of steady-state auditory evoked fields in normal subjects and tinnitus patients using complementary ensemble empirical mode decomposition.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Auditory steady-state response (ASSR) induced by repetitive auditory stimulus is commonly used for audiometric testing. ASSR can be measured using electro-encephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG), referred to as steady-state auditory evoked potential (SSAEP) and steady-state auditory evoked field (SSAEF), respectively. However, the signal level of SSAEP and SSAEF are weak so that signal processing technique is required to increase its signal-to-noise ratio. In this study, a complementary ensemble empirical mode decomposition (CEEMD)-based approach is proposed in MEG study and the extraction of SSAEF has been demonstrated in normal subjects and tinnitus patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The CEEMD utilizes noise assisted data analysis (NADA) approach by adding positive and negative noise to decompose MEG signals into complementary intrinsic mode functions (IMF). Ten subjects (five normal and five tinnitus patients) were studied. The auditory stimulus was designed as 1 kHz carrier frequency with 37 Hz modulation frequency. Two channels in the vicinities of right and left temporal areas were chosen as channel-of-interests (COI) and decomposed into IMFs. The spatial distribution of each IMF was correlated with a pair of left- and right-hemisphere spatial templates, designed from each subject's N100m responses in pure-tone auditory stimulation. IMFs with spatial distributions highly correlated with spatial templates were identified using K-means and those SSAEF-related IMFs were used to reconstruct noise-suppressed SSAEFs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The current strengths estimated from CEEMD processed SSAEF showed neural activities greater or comparable to those processed by conventional filtering method. Both the normal and tinnitus groups showed the phenomenon of right-hemisphere dominance. The mean current strengths of auditory-induced neural activities in tinnitus group were larger than the normal group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study proposes an effective method for SSAEF extraction. The enhanced SSAEF in tinnitus group echoes the decreased inhibition in tinnitus's central auditory structures as reported in previous studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Rd., Jhongli City, Taiwan. wangkw@landseed.com.tw.|Department of Medical Imaging, Landseed Hospital, No. 77, Kuan-Tai Rd., Taoyuan, Taiwan. wangkw@landseed.com.tw.
authors.forename: Kuo-Wei
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Rd., Jhongli City, Taiwan. do154@yahoo.com.tw.|Cardiovascular Surgery Division, Surgery Department, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shipai Rd., Taipei, Taiwan. do154@yahoo.com.tw.
authors.forename: Hsiao-Huang
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Rd., Jhongli City, Taiwan. cchsu1967@hotmail.com.|Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei Medical University Hospital, No. 252, Wu-Hsing St., Taipei, Taiwan. cchsu1967@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Chuan-Chih
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Cheng-Hsin General Hospital, No. 45, Chenghsin St., Taipei, Taiwan. chenkch@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kuang-Chao
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Brain Science, National Yang-Ming University, No. 155, Sec. 2, Linong St., Taipei, Taiwan. jcbrain.hsieh@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jen-Chuen
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Cheng-Hsin General Hospital, No. 45, Chenghsin St., Taipei, Taiwan. lieber.chgh@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Lieber Po-Hung
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Rd., Jhongli City, Taiwan. pllee@ee.ncu.edu.tw.|Center for Dynamical Biomarkers and Translational Medicine, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Rd., Jhongli, Taiwan. pllee@ee.ncu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Po-Lei
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shipai Rd., Taipei, Taiwan. asshiao@vghtpe.gov.tw.
authors.forename: An-Suey
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Shiao
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*