Adaptive Filtering of ocular artifacts from human EEG.

-K.Jagadish
-B.Hemaraju

Abstract:

In this paper the removal of ocular

artifacts from the human EEG is discussed .The EEG, like all
biomedical signals is very susceptible to a variety of large
signal contaminations or artifacts which reduce its clinical
usefulness. Ocular artifacts are a major source of difficulty in
distinguishing the normal brain activities from abnormal ones.
The similarity between the OAs and signals of clinical interest
also makes it difficult to automate the analysis of the EEG by
computer. In general neurological disorders often manifest
themselves in the EEG as slow waves which unfortunately not
only appear similar to OAs but share the same frequency
bands as OAs. In this paper, ocular artifacts are removed by
employing adaptive filter which implements UD factorization
algorithm. Using adaptive filter, the estimates of OAs are
obtained by scaling the EOGs. The OA estimates are then
subtracted from the contaminated EEGs to yield ‘artefact-free’
EEg signals.

Introduction:
This paper is concerned with the
discussion of the on-line removal of ocular artifacts from the
human (EEG).Ocular activity creates significant artifacts in
EEG. In some cases, for example brain-damaged babies and
patients with some frontal tumors, it is difficult to automate
the analysis of the EEG by computer. .The similarity between
OAs and signals of interest also make it difficult to automate
the analysis of EEG by computer. Hence a system is to be
designed which removes OA from EEG so that the true EEG
record can be analyzed. Epochs contaminated by ocular
artifacts can be manually excised, but at the cost of intensive
human labor and substantial data loss. Alternatively,
correction procedures can distinguish brain electrical activity
from ocular potentials. One such procedure is regression-
based adaptive filtering. In this paper, the system employs the
numerically stable UD factorization algorithm which allows
the continuous adaptive OA removal .The description of the
hardware and software of the OAR is done in the later
sections.
EEG:
The human electroencephalogram
(EEG) is the electrical activity of the brain and gives a coarse
view of neural activity and has been used to non-invasively
study cognitive processes and physiology of the brain. Normal
EEG signals are measured from electrodes placed on the scalp
and are often very small in amplitude of order of 20micro
volts. Required band width for adequately handling the EEG
signal is from below 1HZ to over 100HZ.
The electrode placement on the
scalp is governed by the international 10-20 electrode
placement system which is as shown in the figure 1.
 Fig 1: 10-20 EEG electrode configurations.

In addition to the electrodes, the measurement of the

electroencephalogram requires a read out or recording device
and sufficient amplification to drive the read out from the
microvolt level signals obtained from the electrodes.

EOG:
The Electrooculogram (EOG), from a series of
electrodes recording voltage changes close to the eyes, is the
most widely used measurement tool for dealing with the eye-
movement artifact in the EEG. Various components of eye- Fig 3: (a) Measured EOG signal, (b) Corresponding
movement artifact in the EEG can be recorded with three contaminated EEG signal, (c) EEG signal corrected for
orthogonal EOG derivations, vertical, horizontal and radial. artifact.
For vertical eye movements vertical EOG (VEOG) is used
which gives the difference between voltages recorded above
and below the eye or eyes. Similarly horizontal eye
movements can be tracked by using horizontal EOG (HEOG)
which gives the difference of voltages at the left and right
outer acanthi of eyes. The electrodes placement for measuring
EOG artifacts is as shown in the figure Methods for the removal and control of ocular
artifacts:
As stated earlier, the removal of
OAs from EEG is a complicated process. All the techniques to
achieve the objective are based on the principle that OA is
additive to the background EEG. This in discrete form can be
represented as follows:

Fig 2: EOG Placements n

Y (i) = Σ wj xj(i) + e(i) = XT(i) W + e(i)
j

Both the EEG and EOG signals are represented as shown Where
in the figure 3: X T (i) =[ x1(i) x2(i) -------- ------- xn(i)]

W= [w1 w2 ------------- ---- wn] T

Y (i) represents the samples of measured
EEG,xj(i) represents the samples of measured EOGs,e(i)
represents the true EEG ,Wj represents the constant of
proportionality called the ocular artifact parameter also called
the transmission coefficients and represents the number of
parameters in the model.
XT(i) represents the vectors of EOGs and W
represents the vector of ocular artifact parameter. General
block diagram representation of the ocular artifact removal is
as shown in the figure 4:

Fig 5: Adaptive ocular artifact filter.

The various EOG subtraction techniques differ primarily in

the way wj are estimated, in the number of EOG signals that
are used and the way these are measured.

EOG subtraction methods are both on-line and

Fig 4: Block diagram for artifact removal
^ ^
e (i)=y(i)- Σ wj x j(i) ,i=1,2,--------m.
^ ^
wj represents the estimates of wj ,e(i) represents of the
e(i) and m represents the number of estimates.
Necessity for using adaptive filtering:
For a given type of
^ ^
ocular movement, wj is fairly constant but differ significantly
^
between the different types of OAs, although wj varies very
slowly for a given type of OA. As it is not possible to know
the type of OA at a given time and because more than one type
of OA that will occur at a given time,
^ On-Line removal algorithm used in the OAR
wj cannot be assumed constant. Hence wj has to be estimated
adaptively. Hence using adaptive filtering all the OA
parameters is estimated and hence OA removal is adjusted
automatically to the changes in OA. One such adaptive filter
is shown in the figure 5 below:
off-line. The main advantage of the off-line methods over the
reported on-line methods is that more sophisticated removal
techniques can be employed. However, in applications
requiring real-time processing and analysis the delay involved
when off-line methods are employed is unacceptable. As the
trend in EEG signal processing is clearly towards real-time
processing on-line artifact removal is widely used.
In off-line methods estimates of w are obtained
by minimizing J, the sum of the squares of error i.e.
m
J= Σ e2(i)
i=1
This minimum leads to
Wm =[ XmT Xm]-1 XmT Ym
Hence all the off-line methods employ least squares
algorithm.
system:
A typical on-line method is depicted in figure 6
which is shown below.

Fig 6: Connection to the EEG machine
In this method an initial calibration is made
by using potentiometers while the subject moved his eyes
respectively in the horizontal or vertical plane until there is a
minimum amount of OA in the EEG traced. The device is then
left at this setting during recording.
UD Factorization Algorithm:
The algorithm employed in OA removal is the
factorization UD algorithm. This UD algorithm
P(m+1) =U(m+1) D(m+1) UT(m+1)-----(1)
Where U(m+1) is a unit upper triangular matrix,UT(m+1) is
it’s transpose and D(m+1) is a diagnol matrix, thus instead of
updating P, it’s factors U and D are updated.
P(m+1)=(1/r) (U(m)[D(m)-(1/a )v vT]UT(m)----(2)
Where v=D(m) UT(m) X(m+1) and r is the forgetting
factor whose value lies between 0.98 and 1.
If the term in the square brackets is factored in to an upper
triangular and diagonal matrices such that
_ _ _ implemented on one system, and the models used in any
U(m) D(m) UT(m) = D(m)-(1/a)v vT --------(3)
Where
a=r+XT(m+1) P(m) X(m+1)
Where the – is used to distinguish the U and D factors of
D(m)-(1/a) v vT from those of P, then
_ _ _ on..
P(m+1)=(1/r) U(m) U(m) D(m) UT(m) UT(m) ----(4)
Comparing equations (1) and (4) and noting that the
product of upper triangular matrix is itself upper triangular
and symmetry in equation (4) then
_
U(m+1) = U(m) U(m)
_
D(m+1)= (1/r) D(m)
Thus the problem of updating U(m+1) and D(m+1)
depends on finding appropriate recursive formulae for U(m)
and D(m).
Bierman has given an algorithm for updating U(m+1) and
D(m+1) recursively for the kalman filter , which uses the
variance of the error e(i) but not r. this algorithm has been
trivially modified for the OA problem to incorporate r instead
as has the propagation given above.
Hardware for the online ocular artifact removal
system:
In this section the online ocular artifact removal (OAR)
system which uses the UD algorithm is described.
The OAR system was designed keeping in view the following
requirements
(1) Compatibility with standard EEG machines
(2) Ability to provide continuous real time OA removal
in multi channel EEG signals.
(3) Ability to output the corrected EEGs and EOGs to the
EEG machine to allow instant comparison of the
corrected and non-corrected EEGs.
(4) Ability to avoid saturation which reduces the
collector’s effectiveness and the system should have
some auto ranging facility.
(5) The instrument should be suitable for used by
unskilled persons.
These requirements can be met by a suitable
microprocessor based system that implements the UD
algorithm. The use of a microprocessor based instrument also
offers the following advantages.
(1) Software controlled design yields a very flexible system.
Several OAR algorithms and models can be
application specified by the user.
(2) New models or ideas can be investigated by mere
software modifications, with out having to build a new
instrument.
(3) A programmed instrument allows the provision of house
keeping routines for self checking, automatic
calibration, and reduction in over-load problems and so
Fig 7: Micro-processor based ocular artifact removal
system.
The block diagram of the micro processor based ocular artifact
removal system is shown in the figure 7.
Each EEG /EOG signal from auxiliary output of
the EEG machine is first amplified and then band limited to
30HZ by a low pass filter which feeds a sample and hold
circuit. The EEG /EOG signals are then simultaneously
sampled at the positive transition of the sampling signal fs.
Simultaneous sampling is employed to avoid the introduction
of delays between corresponding time points. The negative
transition of the signal fs then interrupts the processor and
signals the beginning of a cycle during which the 20 samples
are sequentially selected by the MUX and digitized by the
analog to digital converter under the control of the micro-
processor.
Software for the on-line ocular artifact removal
system:
The OAR system software consists of data
acquisition and distribution routines, an on-line OA removal
routine, software floating point arithmetic routines, and a
supervising main program.
The flow charts for both the main program and the
interrupt service routine for ocular artifact removal system
software are as shown in the figure 8 below.

The programmable gain amplifier (PGA) and the

window detector are used to extend the dynamic range of
ADC to avoid over-loading. ADC over-load is a problem in
the OA work. And may lead to false parameter estimates. To
avoid this it is common practice to utilize only a fraction of
the dynamic range of the ADC so that over-loading is in-
frequent and to discard all data in the region where over-load
occurred but this can lead to wastage of data. The use of the
PGA and window detector allows the gain to change
dynamically. Thus when the output of the PGA exceeds a
predefined window limit, the gain of the PGA is set to a lower
value which automatically halves the sample value and brings
it to with in the dynamic range of the ADC and thus avoids
saturation. Account is taken of this before the digitized sample
is saved in the memory.

The digitized samples are then processed by the

OAR algorithm to obtain the corrected EEGs. The corrected
EEG samples together with the raw EEGs /EOGs if desired
are output to the auxiliary inputs of the EEG machine via a
digital to analog converter and the associated network.
The multiplexers and de-multiplexers are required
to allow resource sharing by the input and output channels. An
alternative approach would be to provide separate ADC and
DAC for each channel. This approach reduces the system
noise due to cross talk between channels to a minimum but
was considered rather too expensive.
Fig 8: Ocular artifact removal system software
These flow charts can be explained follows.
The OA system is interrupt driven .The interrupt
signal is derived from the programmable timer module (PTM)
on board, the system controller, and has a frequency of 128
HZ. On interrupt the OAR system software is used to acquire
the EOG EEG data, remove OAs from the EEG samples using
the UD algorithm and output the corrected EEGs, and / or the
raw data, to the EEG machine so that a paper chart record can
be produced .

Each channel has a separate output sample and
hold with a separating sampling signal line .The sample and
hold is used to hold the analog samples until the next sample
is obtained. This stretches the sample pulses and increases the
signal power but introduces aperture distortion which is
considered small in this case.
The inputs to the program are number of EEG
channels to be corrected for artifacts, the number of model
parameters and hence the model that should be used in the
removal algorithm and the number of corrected EEG and / or
raw EEG signal output to the EEG machine. Some EOG
signals and parameter estimates may also be the output to the
EEG machine. These constants are checked and, if valid, are
used for initializing the system. A default value is used for any
constant that is in-valid. After initialization the program loops
around endlessly until the valid data is available. This
procedure applies only for prototype OAR system. In future
OAR system the user will not require a VDU, any selections
would be made by push buttons, and the back-ground program
would be replaced by a more useful house keeping routine.. A
flag is set in the interrupt service routine each time the
interrupt occurs, and this is the indication to the main program
that valid data is now available. After the data has been
acquired, the elements of the UD algorithm are updated, the
OAs are removed from the EEGs ,and the corrected EEGs and
/ or raw data are output to the EEG machine finally the data
flag is cleared t indicate that the current data samples have
been successfully processed.
An error message is output to the VDU
and the program halted if an interrupt occurs before the
previous one has been serviced. This will normally occur if
more parameters and / or EEG channels are specified than the
software can process with in the sampling interval of 8 m sec,
it prevents the accumulation of unserviceable interrupts and
the eventual system failure.
References:
(1) Berg. P., 1991b. Dipole modeling of eye activity and its
application to the removal of eye artifacts from the EEG
and MEG. Clinical Physics and Physiology Measurement
12 (Suppl .A), 49-54.
(2) Elbert, T., Lutzenberger, W., Rockstroh, B., Biraumber,
N., 1985. Removal of ocular artifacts from the
EEG –a biophysical approach to the EOG.
Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology
60,455-463.
(3) Emmanuel C. Ifeachor, Barrie W. Jervis. Digital Signal
Processing – A Practical approach, 2nd edition.
(4) Leslie Cromwell, Fred J. Weibell, Erich A. Pfeiffer.
Biomedical Instrumentation and Measurements, 2nd
edition.

Arithmetic operations in the OAR

system are performed using the floating point format to take
advantage of the increase in the dynamic range of the numbers
that it affords, and to avoid the scaling problem associated
with the fixed point approach.

Conclusion:
From the paper it can be concluded that
use of the UD factorization algorithm and a software
controlled system enables to overcome the disadvantages of
the on-line OA removal methods and OAR system gives
satisfactory OA removal for blinks, vertical and horizontal eye
movements and a bipolar EEG electrode montage. Thus the
OAR system is able to deal with multiple artifacts, does not
need the cooperation of the subjects in a preliminary
calibration and bases the removal criterion on a purely
objective method.