The octave approach to EEG analysis

Abstract

A "tonal" approach to EEG spectral analysis is presented which is compatible with the concept of physical octaves, thus providing a constant resolution of partial tones over the full frequency range inherent to human brain waves, rather than for equidistant frequency steps in the spectral domain. The specific advantages of the tonal approach, however, mainly pay off in the field of EEG sleep analysis where the interesting information is predominantly located in the lower octaves. In such cases the proposed method reveals a fine structure which displays regular maxima possessing typical properties of "overtones" within the three octaves 1-2 Hz, 2-4 Hz and 4-8 Hz. Accordingly, spectral patterns derived from tonal spectral analyses are particularly suited to measure the fine gradations of mutual differences between individual EEG sleep patterns and will therefore allow a more efficient investigation of the genetically determined proportion of sleep EEGs. On the other hand, we also tested the efficiency of tonal spectral analyses on the basis of our 5-year follow-up data of 30 healthy volunteers. It turned out that 28 persons (93.3%) could be uniquely recognized after five years by means of their EEG spectral patterns. Hence, tonal spectral analysis proved to be a powerful tool also in cases where the main EEG information is typically located in the medium octave 8-16 Hz.