CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Electroencephalogram and Epileptic Seizure

The human cerebral cortex consists of brain and has a tremendous and prosperous

spatio-temporal dynamics which are particularly unique to the human beings only.

Millions of neuron in the brain communicate to one another through chemical and

electrical signals. Nerve cell transmits information which is called Action

Potential (AP). Neuroscientists have used other words, such as a "spike" or an

"impulse" for the action potential and is defined as transient discharge (Figure

1.1).

Action Refractory
potential Period

50
Depolarization Repolarization

0
Membrane Threshold potential
Potential
(mV)
-50 Resting Potential

Resting potential Hyperpolarization

-100

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (milliseconds)
Figure 1.1: Action Potential produced in a Neuron
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Reaching threshold, Depolarization, Repolarisation, Hyper polarization

(Refractory period) and return to Resting potential are the 5 phases of AP.

Threshold potentials are essential to control and spread out the signals in the

central nervous system as well as peripheral nervous system. Depolarization

occurs within a nerve cell when the neuron undergoes an electrical change.

Repolarization refers to variation in voltage difference of electrical potential. This

phase has returned to a negative value just following the depolarization stage. It

finally returns to resting membrane potential. Since the AP travels through the

axon and brings out changes across the membrane (Polarity changes). Other

neurons are stimulated when the signal reaches the axon terminal.

The abnormal electrical disturbance is called a seizure. Epilepsy causes when the

repeated seizure occurs in the brain. The cortex is partitioned into “lobes” namely

frontalpole, frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital. The symptoms and the

characteristics of this disorder may be symptomatic or idiopathic. Different types

of seizures are mainly grouped into two classes, namely partial and generalized.

When the seizure spreads into two or more areas of the brain, it is called

generalized seizures, whereas partial seizure affects the separate area of the brain.

Tonic, Clonic, Tonic-Clonic, Atonic, Myoclonic and Absence seizures are called

generalized seizures. The electrical signals from the brain can be measured

through a device called an electroencephalography (EEG).

It records the electrical fields by amplifying voltage differences between

electrodes placed on the scalp. The scalp EEG is generally useful in clinical

practice for diagnosing the epilepsy disease. Generally silver-chloride electrodes

are used as good conductors of electrical potentials. For better contact, the
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conducting paste which covers the skin acts as an interface between scalp and

electrode. It conducts electrical potentials from the person to the EEG machine.

The combination of electrodes which is examined at the particular point of time is

called montage. There are 2116 or 1.43*1021 possible montages available with 21

electrodes and 16 channels. From the montage selector, the EEG signal goes to the

amplifier. The EEG amplifiers are compound devices which contain filters,

voltage dividers, input and output jacks and calibration devices. Montages can be

classified into referential (Monopolar) and bipolar. The difference between the

scalp electrode and reference electrode values is recorded by amplifier in common

reference derivation. The bipolar montage associates serial pairs of electrodes in

straight longitudinal or coronal lines (Figure 1.2).

Amplification by
EEG machine
Electrode 1

Electrode 2

EEG Recordings
Gnd

Fp1
F3
Fp1-F3Channel
Bipolar Derivation
of single channel

Figure 1.2: Single amplified output using two inputs

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International federation of societies for EEG and clinical neurophysiology

(IFSECN) has approved the system which is called 10-20 system of electrode

placement. This system is used for different skull size and shape to have standard

measurements. Figure 1.3 shows the array of electrodes in 10-20 system. At this

point, electrodes are placed at 20% spacing along standard lines of measurement

and electrodes at 10% positions in standard coronal lines [21]. The position of

electrode is designated in terms of 5 lobes namely the frontalpole (Fp), frontal (F),

central (C), parietal (P) and occipital (O). These lobes are marked based on the

distance connecting between the nasion and inion over the vertex. For better and

meaningful communication, the right side of the scalp is recognized with EVEN

numbered electrodes and left side by ODD numbered electrodes. The midline

electrodes are identified by the brain area with the subscript z.

Figure 1.3: 10-20 system

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These electrodes are plugged to head box or jack box through multiway input

cables. For perfect EEG recording and reporting, EEG machine uses filters to

remove unwanted signals that are produced by mechanical and biological reasons.

The noise level at high frequency filter setting at 70Hz should not exceed 2µV.

Generally, noise in the EEG is from skeletal muscle or electromyogram (EMG),

electrooculogram (EOG) and power line frequency (50 Hz or 60Hz). Blinking

causes upward movement of the eyeball and creates positive potentials in frontal

leads. Repetitive blinking may produce rhythmic slow waves. These artifacts can

be removed by holding the patient’s eyes in the closed position [33]. The patient

should be relaxed during recording. The low frequency filter of 0.1 Hz and high

frequency filter of 70 Hz are used during EEG recording. The output from this

analog processing sequence goes into the analog multiplexer and further into

analog-to-digital converter (ADC).

Figure 1.4 shows that the initial measurement starts from Fp. It is 10% of nasion -

inion distance from the nasion. The second measurement F is 20% of distance that

follows the initial point (Fp). Similarly the measurements are carried out by taking

20% of steps back from central, parietal and occipital midline points. The

midpoint of nasion and inion is central. Figure 1.5 shows that lateral

measurements. These are based on central coronal plain. Here the electrode

measurements are taken from left to right. The temporal point (T) is 10% of

distance from the pre auricular point on either side. Rest of the points from central

are marked at 20% of distance above the temporal points.

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Figure 1.4: Anterior posterior measurement in the midline

Figure 1.5: Electrode placement in central line in coronal plane

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Careful analysis of EEG provides valuable information about the brain functions

and can be useful to detect brain disorders especially for epilepsy.

Electroencephalogram includes different kinds of waveforms with various

frequencies, amplitude and spatial distribution. The types of EEG waves are

identified according to their frequency range and they are:

• Delta: Below 3.5Hz (0.1-3.5Hz)

• Theta: 4-7.5Hz

• Alpha: 8-13Hz

• Beta: 14-40Hz

• Gamma: Above 40Hz

The voltage of the EEG signal determines its amplitude and is measured peak to

peak in EEG recordings. The amplitude of alpha wave varies in different

individuals. It also varies in the same individual at different timings. In most of

the individual, alpha amplitude ranges between 20 and 60 µV.

Electrocorticographic (ECoG) and intracranial EEG (iEEG) have used to record

the electrical activity of the cerebral cortex by the electrodes which are placed

directly on the surface of the brain. Its amplitude ranges between 500 and

1500µV. An EEG wave depends upon age, consciousness and many other

physiological variables. These waves can be recognized, according to its

frequency range. The EEG may show unusual electrical discharge when some

abnormality occurs in the brain. EEG test is essential for diagnosing epilepsy

[33].
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1.2 Science of Machine Learning

New research proves that machine is capable of learning from data just like a

human brain acquires knowledge through study and facts. Data mining and

machine learning are different fields of study. The data mining explores the

unstructured data from the very large database and extracts knowledge to predict

the unknown pattern, whereas machine learning feeds the knowledge to equip the

computer to learn more. Supervised learning, unsupervised learning and

reinforcement learning are different types of learning techniques used for data

analysis. In supervised learning, the learning process acquires under the

supervision. In unsupervised or self organized learning, the process takes place

without a supervisor. To maximize the result of performance, the process in the

reinforcement learning allows software agents to learn the environment’s behavior

for feedback reward.

The main function of supervised learning is to classify the data patterns [25].

Categorical labels are assigned to the data so that the system can learn efficiently

to differentiate them. Machine learning carries out a particular task to classify the

data in two stages. Training stage is the first stage where the machine is trained

with the appropriate features and the corresponding categorical labels of the data.

While in testing stage, the machine has to examine the unknown data of similar

features which is not familiar with the machine. The classifier has to classify the

unknown data to the appropriate class. Performance evaluation of the classifier is

calculated by the percentage of the test data that are accurately classified by the

classifier. Machine learning algorithms are utilized efficiently to build a system

that can take decisions based on the inputs [53] [24]. The exact reason to develop

an expert system is to solve a particular problem, just like a human expert. The
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system extracts knowledge from an expert and encodes by using the appropriate

representation to solve a problem without human expert interruption. Machine

learning plays the major role in an expert system in such a way it creates a system

that can take decisions on its own [30] [52].

1.3 Research Objective

Epilepsy is the abnormal disorder of the brain. People with this disorder suffer

from various causes like fear, misunderstanding and loss of self confidence. The

consequences of these pathetic conditions of epileptic patients result in social

stigma and discrimination. Epilepsy forces people into darkness and they suffer

misery in their lives. The intention of this EEG signal analysis is performed to

develop a supportive system for clinical purpose, particularly to diagnose epilepsy

more qualitatively. For this, the EEG analysis has to develop a system which will

be able to distinguish the normal and seizure EEG signal features efficiently. To

differentiate the EEG pattern, this study focuses on machine learning algorithms.

Among different types of machine learning methodologies, this research

concentrates on supervised learning. To get a better solution in EEG signal

classification, the analysis has been carried out in different perspectives: 1) EEG

signals are examined in spatial domain. 2) To emphasis the importance of wavelet

decomposition, EEG signals are decomposed in the frequency domain. The main

purpose of this research is to find out appropriate features that should be provided

for the machine to have better performance. Choosing the appropriate classifier is

also essential for the EEG signal classification.

So the research is meant to extract suitable features from EEG signal and tested

with different classifiers to distinguish the EEG signals. Developing a system with

appropriate features and classifier will be supportive and helpful for clinical
 10

diagnosis. As a result, corresponding to the aforesaid statements, the research is

performed in 6 different observations. The observations are executed using the

characteristics of the EEG signals. The Bonn University, Germany database [4] is

downloaded for analyzing the EEG signal characteristics for the purpose of this

research. The information on this database is given in the Table 1.1. The segments

of these 5 datasets A to E, each contains 100 single-channel EEG signals of 23.6s

duration measured by the standardized electrode placement scheme. These

segments were chosen under visual inspection. Using an average common

reference with 128-channel amplifier most of the EEG signals were measured.

Ocak, 2009 [40] provides description about this database.

Table 1.1: Information from Bonn University Database

Datasets Description

Set A EEG data recorded using a 10-20 system when the healthy persons
were resting in the eyes open relaxation state with surface electrode
type.

Set B Using the same circumstance, EEG data recorded when the healthy
persons were resting with the eyes closed relaxation state with surface
electrode type.

Set C EEG data recorded opposite the epileptogenic zone of electrode placement
when the persons were in Interictal state (seizure free intervals)

Set D EEG data recorded within the epileptogenic zone of electrode placement
when the persons were in Interictal state (seizure free intervals)

Set E EEG data recorded within the epileptogenic zone of electrode placement
when the persons were in Ictal state (merely seizure state)
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The data dimensions were digitized using 12 bit A/D resolution at 173.61 Hz

sampling rate. Datasets A and E were taken in this analysis for the binary

classification. The sample from a single subject of EEG signals from each set (A-

E) is shown in the following Figure 1.6. The second database was collected from

Sanjeevi EEG diagnostic centre, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. EEG test had

been taken for 100 normal and 100 abnormal (only seizure) subjects in bipolar

longitudinal EEG 16 channels (Fp2-F4, F4-C4, C4-P4, P4-O2, Fp2-F8, F8-T4, T4-T6,

T6-O2, Fp1-F3, F3-C3, C3-P3, P3-O1, Fp1-F7, F7-T3, T3-T5, T5-O1) by using 10-20

system with silver or silver chloride electrodes. The recorded page on a standard

EEG acquisition was digitized with band pass filter settings of 0.53-60Hz. Since

temporal lobe is the commonest epileptogenic area, the two channels (F8-T4 and

F7-T3) has been observed for EEG signal classification process. Temporal lobe

epilepsy is common in older adolescents, young adults and middle aged persons.

The classical interictal EEG manifestations are randomly firing anterior temporal

spike or sharp waves have been recorded from F7 or F8 and T1 or T2 electrodes.

Each sample has been taken from temporal lobe channel is digitized to 5120

vectors. The sample subjects from this database have shown in the following

Figure 1.7 and Figure 1.8.

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Normal subject when eyes open

200
Set A

0
-200
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
Normal subject when eyes closed
500
Set B

0
-500
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
Abnormal Subject only seizure
2000
Set E

0
-2000
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
Abnormal subject at seizure free intervals
500
Set C

0
-500
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
Abnormal Subject in the epileptogenic zone
200
Set D

0
-200
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
Electrical activity from different montages

Figure 1.6: Five different EEG Data sets

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Temporal NormalEEG
20

Amplitude
0

-20

-40
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

Temporal AbnormalEEG
50
Amplitude

-50

-100
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
EEG Vectors

Figure 1.7: Samples of EEG signal from temporal lobe

Normal subject
100

50
Amplitude

-50

-100
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
4
x 10
Abnormal subject
200

100
Amplitude

-100

-200
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
EEG vectors 4
x 10

Figure 1.8: Samples of EEG from 16 channel

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Epilepsy occurs when the repeated seizures take place in the brain. EEG is a useful

test for measuring the electrical activity and diagnosing epilepsy [41] [57].

Generally, the well experienced neurophysiologist is trained in detecting epilepsy

by visual scanning of EEG recordings [5]. Though experts can diagnose the disease

efficiently, pointing out the quantitative value becomes difficult. Hence the

numerical analysis is essential for quality diagnosis. Visual scanning process of

EEG signals is time consuming, tedious, monotonous and error-prone [48].

Supportive system for epileptic seizure diagnosis is used in order to have better

progress in medical treatment. Focusing on automated epileptic seizure detection is

the most important process. The purpose of computerized EEG analysis has

enhanced rapidly in medical diagnosis [50]. Analyzing the EEG signals by

machine learning algorithms is the main aim of this research. Particularly the ANN

and SVM methods have used efficiently to create an expert system which is called

automated epileptic seizure detection.

1. 4 Automated Epileptic Seizure Detection Analysis

When the study is concentrated on automated detection, it is necessary that the

machine has to learn, detect and classify the EEG signal patterns into appropriate

classes. Here 4 stages have been identified in the EEG signal classification

problem they are, preprocessing the EEG signal, Extraction of features, selection

of appropriate features and classification. The workflow diagram has been depicted

in Figure 1.9. The EEG signals can provide information about the brain activities.

These signals are categorized by various frequencies. The normal and abnormality

of brain activity can be identified through the nature of the EEG signals.
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Preprocessing Feature Extraction /Selection EEG signal

classification

Classification
Digitized Results
1101000010000101 EEG Data

EEG Recordings

10-20 system

Figure 1.9: Workflow diagram

Usually, the lower frequencies (delta and theta) exhibit the abnormality of brain

events. Artifacts (Noises) in EEG recordings which are not epileptic might be

wrongly interpreted and would lead to misdiagnosis of epilepsy [58]. Eliminating

the noise with simple filtering technique would lead to information loss. Many

filtering techniques have chosen to remove the noise in EEG signal. The existing

filtering techniques such as discrete wavelet transform technique, the adaptive

filtering method using recursive least square, a combination of the adaptive

filtering and discrete wavelet transform can only eliminate either EOG signal or
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EMG signal. In this work, signal decomposition methods have been applied to

EEG signals. Since EEG signals are non-stationary, these signals are analyzed

through wavelet transform in developmental approach. To reduce the dimension of

EEG signal data, feature extraction in a unique form has been used in machine

learning for classification. Michelli-Tzanakou, 2000 [31] had indicated relevant

feature selection as the most significant task in pattern analysis. Duda et al, 2001

[11] had identified the appropriate feature extraction process which could improve

the performance of machine learning algorithm. Mean, median, mode, standard

deviation, skewness and kurtosis, the basic and standard statistical features can be

easily extracted from the signals. Apart from these, features can be extracted

through different methods like GLCM, Entropy, and Principal Component

Analysis (PCA) etc. The next step for automated seizure detection [17] is the

feature selection process. This is an important step for classification [14]. It is the

best method to feed the selected features for getting the optimum result. Redundant

features might cause difficulties with the system and can obstruct the optimum

result. Dimensionality reduction helps the algorithm to improve the performance of

the system and makes it to be a robust system [60] [54]. Thus leaving irrelevant

features and learning only with suitable features provide less complexity. The final

step of automated detection is the classification. This is a technique used in

machine learning for data analysis [62].

For EEG data analysis, normal EEG signals are assigned as ‘-1’ and seizure signals

are categorized as ‘+1’. The classifiers has to organize the categorical labels. The

machine learns in two stages. On training stage, the system has been skilled with

EEG data and their related class labels. In testing stage, the system is examined

with the unknown data for the EEG signal classification. The system performance
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is computed through the accuracy of unknown data which has been exactly

categorized by the classifier. To perform EEG signal analysis, the description of

the database elaborately defines and the procedure for seizure detection is also

explained in the above statement. Here 21 features are extracted from EEG for

classification process. They are listed as follows in the Table 1.2. Each feature is

abbreviated in order to make this research more comprehensible. Utilizing these

features, EEG signals are analyzed in 6 different studies.

Table 1.2: Extracted features for classification

S.No: Feature Name of the feature Methods

Label
1 GF1 Contrast
2 GF2 Correlation GLCM
3 GF3 Energy
4 GF4 Homogeneity
5 SF1 Mean
6 SF2 Median
7 SF3 Mode
8 SF4 Standard Deviation Statistical
9 SF5 Skewness
10 SF6 Kurtosis
11 SF7 Maximum
12 SF8 Minimum
13 ESF1 Shannon with order 1
14 ERF1 Renyi with order 0.5
15 ERF2 Renyi with order 1.5
16 ERF3 Renyi with order 2 Entropy
17 ERF4 Renyi with order 2.5
18 ETF1 Tsallis with order 0.5
19 ETF2 Tsallis with order 1.5
20 ETF3 Tsallis with order 2
21 ETF4 Tsallis with order 2.5
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In the first study, the system is designed by using GLCM features and ANN

method for classification. EEG signals are analyzed in the spatial domain and

unique texture characteristics of GLCM features are extracted for classification.

The ANN classifier with back propagation algorithm is used in this analysis for

seizure detection. The 80% of 200 samples from the EEG database is used for

training phase and 20% for the testing phase. The ANN classifier’s performance is

computed through confusion matrix. The ANN classifies the nature of normal

EEG and seizure EEG signals with 85% accuracy. The objective of this study is to

introduce GLCM features for classification using ANN classifier. In the second

analysis, the extracted GLCM features act as input for the SVM classifier. This

system achieves 90% of performance accuracy. Analyzing EEG signals in the

spatial domain and comparing the machine learning algorithms such as ANN and

SVM are the main objective of this work. The performance accuracy has obtained

by the SVM classifier for the EEG signal classification which is found to be

higher than ANN classifier. Hence the SVM method has been chosen for further

research.

In the third analysis, the EEG signal from each normal and seizure subjects is

divided into four equal segments. Comparison of different SVM kernels is mainly

focused on this study. The 8 statistical features (SF1 to SF8) and the 4 GLCM

features (GF1 to GF4) are extracted from each segment of the EEG signal. These

extracted features are analyzed and classified using two different SVM kernels.

The Linear and Radial Basis Function (RBF) kernels are utilized with SVM

classifier. The parameter sigma in RBF kernel is tuned to the value two and

compared with the default sigma value one. It appears that the accuracy is higher

in classification when the sigma value is tuned. The system performance using
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SVM kernels is compared and concluded suitable kernel for the binary

classification. The system achieves 99.95% accuracy while using linear kernel,

98.6% (RBF kernel) and 99.59% (turned RBF) with the SVM classifier. In the

fourth analysis, the EEG signals are decomposed at level 3 through different

wavelets namely Daubechies (db1, db2) and haar. This study analyzes the EEG

signal in the frequency domain. Here GLCM and statistical are combined and it

would feed as input to the SVM classifier. The binary classification process has

been carried out by using GLCM, statistical and hybrid features for the EEG

signal as well as its sub bands. Here EEG signal analysis in the frequency domain

using db2 wavelet with hybrid features in the SVM classifier yields 92.16%

accuracy.

The EEG signals are decomposed using db2 wavelet at level 4 in the fifth

analysis. The signals with different range of waveforms are calculated by

Shannon, Renyi and Tsallis entropy. Further the entropy values are used as the

input features to the classifier. The 10 fold cross validation is applied to

authenticate the inputs. The study has been analyzed by changing the order of

entropy. The relationship between normal and seizure groups in EEG signal

classification is examined by one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test. The

analysis confirms that normal and seizure sets are having different mean values.

The innovative idea of this observation is to find out the suitable entropy estimator

for the EEG signal classification. For automated seizure detection the entropy

measurements which are carried out from the EEG signals and its sub bands have

combined as the input to the SVM classifier. The analysis concludes that accuracy

rate (100%) using Renyi entropy estimation is suitable for the EEG signal

classification. In the final work, an automated seizure detection model has been
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introduced successfully. The EEG signals are decomposed into different range of

frequencies by DWT using db2 wavelet. The eight statistical features (SF1-SF8),

the four GLCM features (GF1-GF4) and Renyi entropy estimation with four

different degrees of order (ERF1-ERF4) are extracted from the EEG and its

decomposed signal. Genetic Algorithm (GA) technique is used to choose 8

relevant features from 16 dimension features. The model has been trained and

tested by using the SVM classifier. Finally the model has been validated through

the real time data effectively and achieved 90% performance accuracy.

The major contributions of this thesis in view of the existing work are as follows:

1) Two different machine learning algorithms (ANN and SVM) which are based

on two different learning methods (Error correction learning and Associative

learning) have been examined for seizure detection.

2) In comparison with existing works, the significance of this research is that the

unique sets of features have been used for EEG signal classification

3) The research concludes the level of decomposition 4 is enough to get slower

waveform (delta and theta) for EEG signal analysis. The time complexity

(testing time: 0.02 seconds) is less in this analysis. The testing time would be

increased when more features are given to classifier.

1.5 Thesis Overview

In Chapter 2, the research methodology is presented for EEG signal analysis to

detect epileptic seizure. This literature survey illustrates the inspiration to

perform the research work on EEG signal analysis. In Chapter 3, the first, second

and third analysis of the research are coined (GLCM features with ANN and

SVM classifier and EEG Signal segmentation with SVM classifier). In Chapter 4,

the fourth analysis of the research is described (Wavelet and classifier). In

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Chapter 5, the fifth analysis of the research is illustrated (Entropy measurements

with SVM classifier). In Chapter 6, the final analysis of the research is defined

obviously (Genetic algorithm with SVM classifier). The concluding remarks of

this research and ideas for future work are described in Chapter 7.