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Teager–Kaiser Energy Operation of Surface EMG Improves Muscle Activity Onset Detection

Annals of Biomedical Engineering volume 35, pages 1532–1538 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

This study presents a novel method for detection of the onset time of muscle activity using surface electromyogram (EMG) signals. The method takes advantage of the nonlinear properties of the Teager–Kaiser energy (TKE) operator, which simultaneously considers the amplitude and instantaneous frequency of the surface EMG, and therefore increases the prospects of muscle activity detection. To detect the onset time of muscle activity, the surface EMG signal was first processed by the TKE operator to highlight motor unit activities of the muscle. Then a robust threshold-based algorithm was developed in the TKE domain to locate the onset of muscle activity. The validity of the proposed method was illustrated using various surface EMG simulations as well as experimental surface EMG recordings.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by NIH grants HD-37141 and HD-50457.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60607-7052, USA

    Xiaoyan Li & Alexander S. Aruin

  2. Department of Physical Therapy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Alexander S. Aruin

  3. Sensory Motor Performance Program and Neural Engineering Center for Artificial Limbs, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Ping Zhou

  4. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Ping Zhou

Authors
  1. Xiaoyan Li
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  2. Ping Zhou
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  3. Alexander S. Aruin
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Correspondence to Xiaoyan Li.

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Li, X., Zhou, P. & Aruin, A.S. Teager–Kaiser Energy Operation of Surface EMG Improves Muscle Activity Onset Detection. Ann Biomed Eng 35, 1532–1538 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-007-9320-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-007-9320-z

Keywords

  • Teager–Kaiser energy operator
  • Muscle activity
  • Onset detection
  • Electromyogram