Statistics over features of ECG signals

This paper presented the usage of statistics over the set of the features representing the electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. Since classification is more accurate when the pattern is simplified through representation by important features, feature extraction and selection play an important role in classifying systems such as neural networks. Multilayer perceptron neural network (MLPNN) architectures were formulated and used as basis for detection of variabilities of the ECG signals. Four types of ECG beats (normal beat, congestive heart failure beat, ventricular tachyarrhythmia beat, atrial fibrillation beat) obtained from the Physiobank database were classified. The selected Lyapunov exponents, wavelet coefficients and the power levels of power spectral density (PSD) values obtained by eigenvector methods of the ECG signals were used as inputs of the MLPNN trained with Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm. The classification results confirmed that the proposed MLPNN has potential in detecting the variabilities of the ECG signals.