https://www.mdu.se/

Speech emotion recognition (SER) is considered a pivotal area of research that holds significant importance in a variety of real-time applications, such as assessing human behavior and analyzing the emotional states of speakers in emergency situations. This paper assesses the capabilities of deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in this context. Both CNNs and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) based deep neural networks are evaluated for voice emotion identification. In our empirical evaluation, we utilize the Toronto Emotional Speech Set (TESS) database, which comprises speech samples from both young and old individuals, encompassing seven distinct emotions: anger, happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust, and neutrality. To augment the dataset, variations in voice are introduced along with the addition of white noise. The empirical findings indicate that the CNN model outperforms existing studies on SER using the TESS corpus, yielding a noteworthy 21% improvement in average recognition accuracy. This work underscores SER’s significance and highlights the transformative potential of deep CNNs for enhancing its effectiveness in real-time applications, particularly in high-stakes emergency situations.

Introduction: Exercise physiology investigates the complex and multifaceted human body responses to physical activity (PA). The integration of electrical bioimpedance (EBI) has emerged as a valuable tool for deepening our understanding of muscle activity during exercise.

Method: In this study, we investigate the potential of using the EBI technique for human motion recognition. We analyze EBI signals from the quadriceps muscle and extensor digitorum longus muscle acquired when healthy participants in the range 20–30 years of age performed four lower body PAs, namely squats, lunges, balance walk, and short jumps.

Results: The characteristics of EBI signals are promising for analyzing PAs. Each evaluated PA exhibited unique EBI signal characteristics.

Discussion: The variability in how PAs are executed leads to variations in the EBI signal characteristics, which, in turn, can provide insights into individual differences in how a person executes a specific PA.

Photoplethysmography (PPG) signals offer a non-invasive and cost-effective mean sfor monitoring cardiovascular health. However, extracting clinically relevant information from these signals in real-time poses significant challenges. This paper presents a novel biosignal processingunit that utilizes the PPGFeat MATLAB toolbox to perform real-time signal processing and feature extraction from PPG signals, enabling continuous cardiovascular disease (CVD) monitoring andanalysis. We propose a system that interfaces with PPG sensors to acquire raw signals in real-time.The PPGFeat toolbox provides an interactive user interface, it identifies high-quality signals basedon their signal quality indices (SQIs) and performs segmentation The segmented PPG signals are then preprocessed by PPGFeat to remove noise and artifacts, smooth the waveforms, and correc tbaseline drift using a Chebyshev type II 4th order, 20 dB filter with a frequency range of 0.4–8 Hz.After preprocessing, a novel algorithm within PPGFeat is employed to accurately extract key fiducial points from the filtered PPG signals and their first and second derivatives. These includes ystolic peaks, diastolic peaks, onsets, and dicrotic notches, as well as inflection points, maxima, and minima on the derivative waveforms. Utilizing these extracted points, PPGFeat computes a comprehensive set of features, including pulse transit time, augmentation index, stiffness index,various magnitudes, and time intervals. These features characterize the PPG signal's morphology,timing intervals, and other relevant characteristics. These features are continuously streamed as output, providing a real-time stream of biomarkers and indicators for CVD analysis and monitoring.The resulting biomarkers and features can be fed into machine learning models or rule-based systems for real-time CVD identification, risk stratification, and monitoring applications. By utilizing PPGFeat's robust algorithms and proven accuracy, the proposed biosignal processing unit enables efficient real-time extraction of clinically relevant information from PPG signals, paving the way for improved cardiovascular health monitoring and personalized healthcare solutions.

Development in the field of smart wearable products for monitoring daily life health status is beginning to spread in society. Textile electronic methods are improving and facilitating the manufacturing of sensorized garments. This paper evaluates a newly developed t-shirt incorporating electronic sensing and interconnecting elements integrated into the T-shirt with textile-friendly techniques sensorized with a Movesense device for monitoring ECG and HR and activity. The measurement results obtained from the t-shirt are entirely in agreement with the measurements obtained with other textile garments and encourage us for a near future where wearable sensors are just textile garments sensorized seamlessly without suboptimal textile-electronic integrated elements.

In recent years, the field of prosthetics has made significant progress towards creating prosthetic devices that are more functional, comfortable, and user-friendly. However, achieving intuitive control over prosthetic hand movements remains a significant challenge, especially for individuals with limb loss who rely on prosthetics for independent daily activities. To address this challenge, researchers have explored the potential of non-invasive techniques as electromyography (EMG) for prosthetic control. This paper aims to investigate the potential of using EMG and the electrical impedance myography (EIMG) techniques jointly for the measurement of hand movements. The study involved recording and comparing EMG and EIMG signals from a cohort of healthy individuals. These signals were captured during four distinct hand gestures: opening and closing the hand, as well as extending and flexing it, under varying time conditions, allowing for categorization into low and high-intensity movements. Data collection employed the Open BCI and ZRPI devices. The analysis of these signal waveforms revealed compelling results. Brachioradialis activity in EMG 2 exhibited an increase during open hand (0.015mV) and extension hand (0.009mV in low and 0.013mV in high intensity) gestures, accompanied by increased EIMG activity (56mV and 52mV respectively). Additionally, close hand (0.0018mV in low and 0.05mV in high intensity) and flexion hand (0.0075 in low intensity and 0.002 in high intensity) gestures exhibited heightened flexor carpi ulnaris activity with raised EIMG activity (57mV and 45mV respectively). These results proved to be consistent, acceptable, and aligned with existing literature. The findings of this paper indicate that both EMG and EIMG techniques could be used together to control custom-made hand prosthetics, demonstrating a significant development that could lead to more intuitive and easier-to-control prosthetics. Also, the results obtained could be valuable to researchers and engineers working in the prosthetics field, as it provides insights into the potential of non-invasive techniques for prosthetic control.

Non-invasive monitoring of cardiovascular health through photoplethysmography (PPG) waveforms has emerged as a crucial area of research. The Windkessel 4-Element (WK4) model is a mathematical approach used to estimate key physiological parameters related to cardiovascular health, including arterial compliance, peripheral resistance, inertance, and total arterial resistance. This study aimed to evaluate key physiological parameters associated with cardiovascular health using the WK4 model, leveraging real-life PPG waveform data obtained from volunteers across three distinct age groups. To achieve this, an algorithm was developed to automatically determine optimal parameter values for each volunteer. The results revealed a mean correlation coefficient of 0.96 between the automatically generated waveforms by the algorithm and the actual real-life PPG waveforms, indicating robust agreement. Notably, only the total arterial resistance parameter exhibited significant differences among the age groups, suggesting that the algorithm holds promise for detecting agerelated changes in cardiovascular health. These findings emphasize the potential for the development of a non-invasive tool to assess cardiovascular health status and enhance healthcare outcomes. Furthermore, they underscore the capability of the developed algorithm as a non-invasive means to evaluate various aspects of cardiovascular physiology. Additionally, the versatility of this algorithm opens doors for its application in educational settings, promoting knowledge advancement, empowering research endeavors, and facilitating advancements in the field.

Accurate bladder monitoring is critical in the management of conditions such as urinary incontinence, voiding dysfunction, and spinal cord injuries. Electrical bioimpedance (EBI) has emerged as a cost-effective and non-invasive approach to monitoring bladder activity in daily life, with particular relevance to patient groups who require measurement of bladder urine volume (BUV) to prevent urinary leakage. However, the impact of activities in daily living (ADLs) on EBI measurements remains incompletely characterized. In this study, we investigated the impact of normal ADLs such as sitting, standing, and walking on EBI measurements using the MAX30009evkit system with four electrodes placed on the lower abdominal area. We developed an algorithm to identify artifacts caused by the different activities from the EBI signals. Our findings demonstrate that various physical activities clearly affected the EBI measurements, indicating the necessity of considering them during bladder monitoring with EBI technology performed during physical activity (or normal ADLs). We also observed that several specific activities could be distinguished based on their impedance values and waveform shapes. Thus, our results provide a better understanding of the impact of physical activity on EBI measurements and highlight the importance of considering such physical activities during EBI measurements in order to enhance the reliability and effectiveness of EBI technology for bladder monitoring.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a leading cause of death worldwide, and hypertension is a major risk factor for acquiring CVDs. Early detection and treatment of hypertension can significantly reduce the risk of developing CVDs and related complications. In this study, a linear SVM machine learning model was used to classify subjects as normal or at different stages of hypertension. The features combined statistical parameters derived from the acceleration plethysmography waveforms and clinical parameters extracted from a publicly available dataset. The model achieved an overall accuracy of 87.50% on the validation dataset and 95.35% on the test dataset. The model's true positive rate and positive predictivity was high in all classes, indicating a high accuracy, and precision. This study represents the first attempt to classify cardiovascular conditions using a combination of acceleration photoplethysmogram (APG) features and clinical parameters The study demonstrates the potential of APG analysis as a valuable tool for early detection of hypertension.

Photoplethysmography is a non-invasive technique used for measuring several vital signs and for the identification of individuals with an increased disease risk. Its principle of work is based on detecting changes in blood volume in the microvasculature of the skin through the absorption of light. The extraction of relevant features from the photoplethysmography signal for estimating certain physiological parameters is a challenging task, where various feature extraction methods have been proposed in the literature. In this work, we present PPGFeat, a novel MATLAB toolbox supporting the analysis of raw photoplethysmography waveform data. PPGFeat allows for the application of various preprocessing techniques, such as filtering, smoothing, and removal of baseline drift; the calculation of photoplethysmography derivatives; and the implementation of algorithms for detecting and highlighting photoplethysmography fiducial points. PPGFeat includes a graphical user interface allowing users to perform various operations on photoplethysmography signals and to identify, and if required also adjust, the fiducial points. Evaluating the PPGFeat’s performance in identifying the fiducial points present in the publicly available PPG-BP dataset, resulted in an overall accuracy of 99% and 3038/3066 fiducial points were correctly identified. PPGFeat significantly reduces the risk of errors in identifying inaccurate fiducial points. Thereby, it is providing a valuable new resource for researchers for the analysis of photoplethysmography signals.