Wavelet-based compression of ECG signals

Abstract

Compression of digital Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals is desirable for two reasons: economic use of storage space for databases and reduction of the data for transmission on telephone lines. This paper deals with waveletbased compression method. This method of ECG data compression leads to substantial amount of ECG reduction with less amount of the data loss. The wavelet functions can be used to decompose the ECG signal and upon reconstruction, the signal can be presented without loss of signal morphology. The analysis and synthesis filters play a very important role in this process. The analysis filter decomposes the signal using a pair of low-pass and high-pass filters, whereas the synthesis filter reconstructs the decomposed part. There is a faithful reconstruction on applying the synthesis filter to the ECG signal which is acceptable to the cardiologists. The performance parameters can support the technique of data compression. It is observed that even for higher Compression Ratio (CR) fidelity can be maintained and is verified by Cross-Correlation Coefficient (CCC).