Long-term signal detection, segmentation and summarization using wavelets and fractal dimension: A bioacoustics application in gastrointestinal-motility monitoring

The current paper describes a wavelet-based method for long-term processing and analysis of gastrointestinal sounds (GIS). Windowing techniques are used to select sequential blocks of the prolonged multi-channel recordings and proceed to various wavelet-domain processing stages. De-noising, significant-activity detection, automated segmentation and extraction of summary curves are applied in an integrated mode, allowing for enhanced content manipulation and analysis. The proposed analysis scheme combines flexible long-term graphical representation tools, while maintaining the ability of quick browsing via visualization and auralization of the detected short-term events. This work is part of a project aiming to implement non-invasive diagnosis over gastrointestinal-motility (GIM) physiology. However, the proposed techniques might be applied to any study of long-term bioacoustics time series.