Accurate classification of epilepsy seizure types using wavelet packet decomposition and local detrended fluctuation analysis

Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals are widely used in diagnosis of epilepsy. Accurate classification of seizure types based on EEG signals can provide vital information for diagnosis and treatment. Since visual inspection and interpretation of seizure types are time consuming and prone to errors, a novel classification method combining wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) and local detrended fluctuation analysis (L-DFA) is proposed for the computer-aided diagnostic system. The proposed method is able to classify a wide variety of seizures automatically and accurately. As the first step towards this goal, raw EEG signals are decomposed by WPD according to intrinsic frequency bands of human brain. Then L-DFA is applied to characterise the dynamical fractal structure of sub-band signals. Finally, EEG signals are classified by support vector machine based on the combined fractal spectrum features. The experimental results on Temple University Hospital database show that the proposed method achieves a total classification accuracy of 97.80%, outperforming existing methods based on the same database.