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Suppression of noise in the ECG signal using digital IIR filter

Article · January 2008

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 8th WSEAS Int. Conf. on MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS and SIGNAL PROCESSING (MUSP '08), Hangzhou, China, April 6-8, 2008

Suppression of Noise in the ECG Signal using Digital IIR Filter

MAHESH S. CHAVAN, * RA.AGARWALA, ** M.D.UPLANE

Department of Electronics engineering, PVPIT Budhagaon Sangli (MS), INDIA
* Department of Electronics, NSIT New Delhi, INDIA
** Department of Electronics, Shivaji University Kolhapur (MS), INDIA
[email protected]

Abstract:-The electrocardiogram has considerable diagnostic significance, and application of ECG monitoring
are diverse and in wide use. For diagnostic- quality ECG recordings, signal acquisition must be noise free.
The signal acquisition is susceptible to the interference from other biological and environmental sources.
This article presents the application of the digital IIR filter on the raw ECG signal. The filters utilized are
Butterworth and elliptic notch and high pass filter. Complete design of the filters is depicted in the paper. At
the end both the filter types are compared. It is found that the elliptic filter find suitable as compared to the
Butterwoth with some limitations.

Keywords: ECG, Digital Butterworth and Elliptic filter, Real time application, Noise reduction.

recording. Elimination of power-line interference

in the Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal by various
1. Introduction methods has been proposed in the past. Mitov IP
A medical topic that attracted the early has investigated the method for removing the
interest of engineers is that of the power line interference. Figure 1.a shows the
electrocardiography. It is one of the most useful typical power spectrum of the ECG signal.
noninvasive medical diagnostic tests and is in very
wide use (an estimated 200 million ECGs taken
each year). Its technological challenge is to
improve performance by increasing number of
simultaneously recorded signals, raising the signal
to noise ratio, and accomplishing these goals,
possibly, with the subject under going physical
activity. Therefore the electrocardiogram (ECG)
signal is one of the most important vital signs
monitored from cardiac patients. Cardiologist
readily interprets the ECG waveforms and
classifies them into normal and abnormal patterns. Figure 1.a: Typical power spectrum of the ECG
While acquisition of the ECG it gets corrupted due signal.
to different types of artifacts and interferences
such as Power line interference, Electrode Many researchers are working on noise
contact noise, Motion artifacts, Muscle reduction in the ECG signal specifically powerline
contraction, Base line drift, Instrumentation noise interference and baseline wander. While removing
generated by electronic devices and line interference, Mitov IP has used the sampling
Electrosurgical noise. Different researchers have rate integer multiple of the nominal power line
worked on the reduction of noise in the ECG frequency [1], his method is suitable for off line
signal. Power-line interference (either 50 Hz or 60 use than that of the real time because of the
Hz) is a significant source of noise in biomedical computational complexity. Power-line interference

ISBN: 978-960-6766-52-7 335 ISSN: 1790-5117

 8th WSEAS Int. Conf. on MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS and SIGNAL PROCESSING (MUSP '08), Hangzhou, China, April 6-8, 2008

(either 50 Hz or 60 Hz) is a significant source of The butterworth low pass filter has a
noise in biomedical recording. Elimination of magnitude response given by
power-line interference in the Electrocardiogram A
(ECG) signal by various methods has been H ( jΩ) = 0.5
proposed in the past. Despite the high common ⎡ Ω 2N ⎤
⎢1 + ( ) ⎥
mode rejection ratio of the input amplifiers of the
⎣ Ωc ⎦
Electrocardiographs, recordings are often
contaminated by power-line (mains) frequency Where A is the filter gain and Ω c is the 3 db cut-
interference [2]. The efficiency of notch filters and off frequency and N is the order of the filter. The
a subtraction procedure for power-line elliptic filter is also known as Cauer filter. This
interference cancellation in electrocardiogram filter has equiripple pas band and stop band.
(ECG) signals is assessed by the Dotsinsky I, Among the filter types discussed so far, for the
Stoyanov T [3]. Kumaravel N et.al demonstrated a given filter order, pass band and stop deviations,
novel method of integrating rule-based system elliptic filter have the minimum transition band
approach with linear FIR filter and also with Wave width. This signifies that it minimizes the
digital filter has investigated [4]. Hamilton PS in maximum error in both the bands; as opposed to
his article compared adaptive and non-adaptive the Chebyshev type I filter which exhibits
filters for reduction of power line interference in equiripple behavior in the pass band or the inverse
the ECG [5]. Ider YZ, Saki MC, Gcer HA have Chebyshev of (Type II) filter which has ripple in
developed a method for line interference the stop band.
H ( jΩ) =
reduction to be used in signal-averaged 2 1
electrocardiography[6]. Cramer E, McManus CD, ⎛Ω⎞
Neubert D has introduced a global filtering 1 + ε 2U N ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
approach. In this method two types of the digital ⎝ Ωc ⎠
filters are used. One is using lest square method Where U N (x ) is the Jacobian function of the order
and other is using special summation method [7]. N and ε is a constant related to the pass band
Different scientists have tried for removing the ripple. Generally both Butterworth and elliptic
power line interference and base line wonder filters are designed in the analog domain first and
specifically from the ECG signal [8-19]. In the the converted in to digital filter using either
present paper conventional filters are used. The bilinear transformation or impulse invariance
filters selected are Butterworth and elliptic and method. Thereafter required type of filter can be
there combination has been used. achieved using frequency transformation. In the
present work these filters are designed with the
2. Design of Digital Filter help of Mathlab FDA toolbox. It is also using
The Butterworth type filter was first bilinear transformation for the design. The basic
described by the British engineer Stephen block utilized in the proposed system is shown in
Butterworth. Butterworth filters are causal in figure. The both Butterworth and elliptic notch
nature and of various orders, the lowest order filter of the frequency 50 Hz and sampling
being the best (shortest) in the time domain, and frequency 1000Hz has been designed. Also low
the higher orders being better in the frequency pass filter of 100 Hz and high filter of 0.5Hz has
domain. Butterworth or maximally flat filters have been designed for both the Butterworth and
a monotonic amplitude frequency response which elliptic filters. Cascade combination of the filters
is maximally flat at zero frequency response and has been implemented on the ECG signal.
the amplitude frequency response decreases Basic Matlab model used for the real time filtering
logarithmically with increasing frequency. is shown in figure 1.b.

ISBN: 978-960-6766-52-7 336 ISSN: 1790-5117

 8th WSEAS Int. Conf. on MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS and SIGNAL PROCESSING (MUSP '08), Hangzhou, China, April 6-8, 2008

Figure 3: Phase response of the elliptic high pass

filter

Figure 1.b : Basic Matlab model used for the real

time filtering.

2.1 Design of the Elliptic High pass filter:

The high pass elliptic filter is designed with order
of 5 and the sampling frequency of 1000Hz. For
the design attenuation in the pass band is 1dB and
the attenuation in the stop band is 60dB. Figure 2-
Figure 4: Pole zero diagram of the Elliptic high
4 shows the responses of the elliptic high pass
pass filter
filter.
From responses of the filter following
2.2 Realization of the Elliptic High pass filter:
observations are made:
Figure 5 shows the realization of the
1. This filter provides equiripple behavior in
elliptic high pass filter of the order 5 and cutoff
the pass as well as stop band.
frequency 0.5Hz. It requires ten adder elements, 5
2. Pole zero diagram clearly shows that poles
delay elements and 11 multiplier. The filter is
and zeros are with in the circle so that the
realized in direct form II structure.
designed filter is stable.
For the elliptic high pass filter impulse response
looks like the ideal impulse response and the step
response of the filter decays with time.

Figure 2: Magnitude response of the elliptic high

pass filter Figure 5: realization of the elliptic High pass filter.

ISBN: 978-960-6766-52-7 337 ISSN: 1790-5117

 8th WSEAS Int. Conf. on MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS and SIGNAL PROCESSING (MUSP '08), Hangzhou, China, April 6-8, 2008

For the designed filter structure the numerator 2.4 Realization of the Elliptic notch filter:
coefficients are: Figure 12 shows the realization of the
0.992, -4.964, 9.92, -9.92, 4.964, -0.992 elliptic notch filter of the order 4. The realized
and the denominator coefficients are: structure is of the of direct form II structure. It
required 9 multipliers, 4 delayers and 8 adders.
2.3 Design of the Elliptic notch filter:
The filter was designed with the following
specifications.
1. Order of the filter 4.
2. Sampling frequency 1 KHz.
3. Cutoff frequency 50 Hz.
Figure 10 shows the Magnitude response
and figure 11 Pole Zero diagram of the notch
Filter. From the design and the following
responses some observations are as follows:
• Magnitude response is shows the
sharp cutoff at the frequency of 50
Hz.
• Phase response shows the nonlinear
behavior.
• Designed Chebyshev I filter is
stable as seen from the pole zero
diagram all the zeros are on the unit Figure 12: Realization of elliptic Notch filter.
circle. The zeros are located at For the designed Notch filter the numerator
± 0.314 radians. coefficients are:
0.88, -3.36, 4.975, -3.369, 0.8856.
and the denominator coefficients are:
1.00, -3.792, 5.582, -3.768, 0.9875.

2.5 Results of the implementation of the Elliptic

notch filter:
Figure 13 shows the ECG trace before
filtration. This signal consists of the low frequency
high frequency and power line interference. Figure
Figure 10 : Magnitude response of the Elliptic 14 shows the ECG signal after application of the
notch filter. elliptic notch filter. Figure 15 shows frequency
spectrum corresponds to the ECG signal before
filtration it is seen that the power of the signal
corresponds to the 50 Hz is -59.71 dB. When it is
passed trough the notch filter its power is reduced
to the –64.89dB. It is shown in the Figure 16 that
means the power line interference signal has been
reduced. It is also seen that the amplitude of the
signal after filtration is reduced.
Figure 11: Pole Zero diagram of the elliptic Notch
filter.

ISBN: 978-960-6766-52-7 338 ISSN: 1790-5117

 8th WSEAS Int. Conf. on MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS and SIGNAL PROCESSING (MUSP '08), Hangzhou, China, April 6-8, 2008

Figure 13: ECG signal before Elliptic notch

filtration Figure 16: power spectrum of the ECG after
Filtration.

3. Design of the Butterworth High pass filter:

In the design of the Butterworth high pass
filter it is required to specify the filter order and
the cutoff frequency and the sampling frequency.
In order to obtain details of the signal, the higher
sampling frequency is selected (1000Hz). In the
present design of the high pass filter the order of
Figure 14: ECG signal after Elliptic notch the filter considered is 3. Though the order of the
filtration. filter is less, it gives the satisfactory results. Figure
17 shows the magnitude response of the low pass
filter. From the magnitude response it is seen that
the response is flat in the pass and it rapidly
decreased in the stop band. Figure 18 shows the
phase response, Figure 19 shows the groups delay
of the Butterworth high pass filter. Figure 20
shows the pole zero diagram of the filter.
Figure 15: power spectrum of the ECG before
Filtration.

Figure 17 Magnitude response of the High pass

Figure 18: Phase response of the Butterworth High
Butterworth filter.
pass filter.

ISBN: 978-960-6766-52-7 339 ISSN: 1790-5117

 8th WSEAS Int. Conf. on MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS and SIGNAL PROCESSING (MUSP '08), Hangzhou, China, April 6-8, 2008

complete structures. It consists of 3 delay, 7

multipliers and 6 adders. The transfer function of
above designed filter consist of numerator
polynomials as 0.996, -2.99, 2.99, -0.996 and the
denominator polynomials are 1.00, -2.99, 2.98,
and -0.993. Figure 21 shows realization of the
filter.

Figure 19: Group delay of the Butterworth High

pass filter

Figure 20: Pole Zero diagram of the Butterworth

High pass Filter.
From the design of the filter the following
observations are made: Figure 21: Realization of the high pass
• From the magnitude response it is seen Butterworth filter.
that response is flat in the pass band and 3.2 Results of the implementation of the
decreased rapidly in the stop band. Butterworth High pass filter:
Magnitude response is also monotonic in To implement high pass Butterworth filter
the pass band. samples of the lead II of the ECG trace are used.
• From the phase response it is seen that it is Figure 22 shows the ECG trace of the lead II
approximately linear in the pass band. before filtration and frequency spectrum of the
• In the Impulse response amplitude is one ECG trace after filtration is figure 25. Figure 24
for the time t=0 and 0 for the rest of the shows the ECG trace of the lead II after
time. implementation of the filter. Figure 23 shows the
• From the pole zero diagram it is seen that frequency spectrum of the ECG waveform before
all the poles are with in the unit circle so filtration.
that the designed filter is stable.
• Filter satisfies the design specifications.
•
3.1 Realization of the Butterworth High pass
filter:
The Butterworth high pass filter of order
five is realized in direct form and it has different
sections. They are connected in cascade to get the Figure 22: ECG trace before high pass filtration

ISBN: 978-960-6766-52-7 340 ISSN: 1790-5117

 8th WSEAS Int. Conf. on MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS and SIGNAL PROCESSING (MUSP '08), Hangzhou, China, April 6-8, 2008

f s represents the sampling frequency. In present

section the Butterworth notch filter has been
design and implemented on the ECG signal
containing Power line interference.
3.4 Design of the Butterworth notch filter:
The present task is to remove the power
Figure 23: frequency spectrum of the ECG signal line interference therefore notch filter is designed
before high pass filtration with cutoff frequency of 50 Hz and sampling
frequency 1000Hz. The order of the filter was 4.
Figure 26 shows the magnitude response of the
filter. From the magnitude response it is seen that
the response is flat in the pass band and it is
gradually decreases. Figure 27 shows the phase
Figure 24: ECG trace after high pass filtration. response of the notch filter.

Figure 25: frequency spectrum of the ECG signal

after high pass filtration Figure 26: Magnitude response of the Butterworth
From the figures it is seen that baseline notch filter.
wander is successfully removed from the ECG
signal. It is also seen that the power line
interference is present in both the traces at 50Hz.
When filter is used the QRST segment of ECG is
modified which indicates that the filtering action
modifies the original signal.

3.3 Butterworth notch filter Design:

Power line interference also disturbs the
ECG signal. Power line interference is called as Figure 27: Phase response of the Butterworth
the artifacts. The simplest method to remove the notch filter.
periodic artifact is to compute the Fourier
transform of the signal, delete the undesired
component(s) from the spectrum, and then
compute the inverse Fourier transform. The
periodic signal may also be removed by notch
filters with zeros on the unit circle in the z-domain
at the specific frequencies to be rejected. If f c is
the interference frequency, the angle of the
f
(complex conjugate) zeros will be ± c (2π ) ; the
fs Figure 28 : Pole Zero diagram of the Butterworth
radius of the zeroes will be unity. In this case notch Filter

ISBN: 978-960-6766-52-7 341 ISSN: 1790-5117

 8th WSEAS Int. Conf. on MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS and SIGNAL PROCESSING (MUSP '08), Hangzhou, China, April 6-8, 2008

Figure 28 shows the pole zero diagram of the 3.6 Results of the implementation of the
notch filter in the z plane. Butterworth notch filter:
From the design of the filter the following To implement Butterworth notch filter
observations can be made: samples of the lead II of the ECG trace are used.
• The magnitude response is flat in the pass Figure 30 shows the ECG trace of the lead II
band. before filtration. Figure 31 shows the ECG trace
• Phase response is changing in the stop of the lead II after filtration. Figure 32 shows the
band. power spectral density of the ECG trace before
• The impulse response is 1 at zero sample and Figure 32 shows the power spectral density of
and for the rest of the samples it is zero. the ECG trace after filtration. From the figure 31 it
• The group delay is high at the frequency is seen that the signal power at 50 Hz is -27dB.
of 50 Hz and then is decayed rapidly. When the notch filter is utilized it is seen that
• From the poles zero diagram it is seen that signal power is reduced to the -10dB. This clearly
all the zeros are on the unit circles. It is indicates that the there is reduction in the power
seen that zeros are located at ± 0.314 line interference.
radians. This is corresponding to the notch
frequency of the filter.
• The designed Butterworth notch filter is
stable.

3.5 Realization of the Butterworth notch filter: Figure 30: Signal before notch filtration (Lead II).
Figure 29 shows the complete realization
of the notch filter for order 4 and the sampling
frequency 1000Hz.

Figure 31: power spectral density before notch

filtration (lead II).

Figure 32: Signal after notch filtration (Lead II).

Figure 29: Realization of the Butterworth notch

filter for the frequency 50Hz.
The realized model consists of the single
section. The structure required 4 delayer nine Figure 33: power spectral density after notch
multipliers and eight adder blocks. filtration (lead II).
The designed filter has numerator
coefficients 0.99, -3.77, 5.56, -3.55 and 0.99. The
4. Conclusion
denominator polynomial coefficients of the
From the results of the Butterworth filter
designed filters are 1.00, -3.78, 5.56, -3.75, and
and elliptic filters it is found that elliptic fitter
0.98.

ISBN: 978-960-6766-52-7 342 ISSN: 1790-5117

 8th WSEAS Int. Conf. on MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS and SIGNAL PROCESSING (MUSP '08), Hangzhou, China, April 6-8, 2008

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ISBN: 978-960-6766-52-7 343 ISSN: 1790-5117

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