Functional near infrared spectroscopy can measure hemodynamic signals, and the results are similar to functional magnetic resonance imaging of blood-oxygen-level-dependent signals. Thus, functional near infrared spectroscopy can be employed to investigate brain activity by measuring the absorption of near infrared light through an intact skull. Recently, a general linear model, which is a standard method for functional magnetic resonance imaging, was applied to functional near infrared spectroscopy imaging analysis. However, the general linear model fails when functional near infrared spectroscopy signals retain noise, such as that caused by the subject's movement during measurement. Although wavelet-based denoising and hemodynamic response function smoothing are popular denoising methods for functional near infrared spectroscopy signals, these methods do not exhibit impressive performances for very noisy environments and a specific class of noise. Thus, this paper proposes a new denoising algorithm that uses multiple wavelet shrinkage and a multiple threshold function based on a hemodynamic response model. Through the experiments, the performance of the proposed algorithm is verified using graphic results and objective indexes, and it is compared with existing denoising algorithms.
Hemodynamic response to visual stimulation in newborn infants using functional near-infrared spectroscopy
