Title: On sound-based interpretation of neonatal EEG,
Abstract: Significant training is required to visually interpret neonatal EEG signals.
This study explores alternative sound-based methods for EEG interpretation
which are designed to allow for intuitive and quick differentiation between
healthy background activity and abnormal activity such as seizures. A novel
method based on frequency and amplitude modulation (FM/AM) is presented. The
algorithm is tuned to facilitate the audio domain perception of rhythmic
activity which is specific to neonatal seizures. The method is compared with
the previously developed phase vocoder algorithm for different time compressing
factors. A survey is conducted amongst a cohort of non-EEG experts to
quantitatively and qualitatively examine the performance of sound-based methods
in comparison with the visual interpretation. It is shown that both
sonification methods perform similarly well, with a smaller inter-observer
variability in comparison with visual. A post-survey analysis of results is
performed by examining the sensitivity of the ear to frequency evolution in
audio.