Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007
ANALYSIS OF DIASTOLIC MURMURS FOR CORONARY ARTERY
DISEASEBASED ON HILBERT HUANG TRANSFORM
ZHI-DONG ZHAO, YANG WANG
School of Communication Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
E-MAIL: zhaozd@ hdu.edu.cn
Abstract:
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is the leading disease of
heart attacks. A novel approach based on Hilbert-Huang
transform (HHT) is proposed to analyze diastolic murmurs of
CAD. HHT is composed of Empirical Mode Decomposition
(EMD) and Hilbert transform. It is a powerful method for the
analysis of nonlinear and non-stationary signal. EMD method
is very sensitive to end conditions. Firstly a new improved
strategy is proposed to restrict the end effect; then the
diastolic murmurs of normal object and CAD patient are
analyzed by improved Hilbert Huang transform. Hilbert
spectrum and marginal spectrum are studied. The results
show that the Hilbert spectrum and marginal spectrum reveal
not only the time-frequency varying characteristic of diastolic
murmurs but also more physically meaningful interpretations
of the underlying hemodynamic processes.
Keywords:
Hilbert Huang transform; Diastolic murmur; Time
frequency analysis
1. Introduction
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is a leading type of
heart disease in the world, and it is caused by the gradual
buildup in the walls of the arteries of plaque. CAD can
develop slowly and silently over years without any
symptoms. Early diagnose of CAD is one of the most
important medical research areas. Diastolic murmurs that
occur as additional components in the heart sound signal
provide clinicians with valuable diagnostic and prognostic
information about the function of heart valve. When
coronary arteries become narrowed or blocked, the
turbulence appears which is produced by blood moving
across the stenotic arteries. During the relatively quiet
diastolic period of the cardiac cycle, the murmurs are likely
to be loudest when coronary blood flow is maximal. Initial
studies show that diastolic murmurs produced by coronary
arterial stenosis contain higher frequency components
[1][2].
Diastolic murmurs are typical non-stationary signals.
1-4244-0973-X/07/$25.00 ©2007 IEEE
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Advanced signal processing methods such as Short Time
Fourier Transform, Wigner-Ville Distribution and Wavelet
Transform etc exist some limitations [3][4][5]. Short Time
Fourier Transform involves an intrinsic trade-off between
time resolution and frequency resolution. In Wigner-Vill
distribution the inherent cross-term interferences often
mask the true time-frequency information associated with
the signal of interest. The wavelet transform has received
considerable attention in recently years. It provides a
multi-resolution representation of signals, whereas, it is not
adaptive in nature; once the wavelet mother function is
given, one will have to use it to analyze all the data. In
addition, wavelet transform also underlies an uncertainty
principle. In 1998, Dr. Norden Huang proposed a novel
signal processing algorithm: Hilbert Huang Transform
(HHT) [6] [7]. It has proven to be a powerful tool to
analyze nonstationary and nonlinear signal. The key parts
of HHT are the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) and
Hilbert transform. EMD can decompose adaptively
diastolic murmurs into a finite and usually small number of
Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) that admit well-behaved
Hilbert transform. Hilbert transform of IMFs can yield
instantaneous frequency and instantaneous amplitude. The
local energy and instantaneous frequency derived from the
IMFs give the fine-resolution frequency-time distribution of
the energy that is designated as Hilbert spectrum. The
three-dimensional distribution can reflect the inherent
essential characteristic of the signal.
In this paper, we present a novel method to analyze
diastolic murmurs of CAD based on Hilbert Huang
Transform. The paper is organized as follows: section 2
introduces HHT. A new method to restrict the end effect of
EMD is proposed in section 3. In section 4, Hilbert
spectrum and marginal spectrum distributions of diastolic
murmurs are studied; Results and discussions are also
drawn. Finally, some conclusions are given in section 5.
 Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007

2. HHT method frequency.

Once the signal x(t ) is decomposed into a series of
HHT is a robust tool for time frequency analysis of IMFs, Hilbert transform can be carried out on each IMF
nonlinear and non-stationary signal. HHT comprises EMD
and Hilbert transform. EMD can adaptively decompose
c j (t ) to get a series of instantaneous frequency ω j (t )
signal into a small number of IMFs having the same and amplitude A j (t ) which constitute the time - frequency
numbers of zero-crossing and extrema and also having
symmetric envelopes defined by the local maxima and -energy distribution of signal, called as Hilbert spectrum.
minima respectively. Hilbert spectrum provides higher resolution and
The IMFs represent the local characteristic time scales concentration in time-frequency plane and avoids the false
embedded in signal. The IMFs are acquired by EMD which high frequency and energy dispersion existed in Fourier
is a numerical sifting process. The sifting process can be spectrum.
separated into following steps: Hilbert transform of each IMF component c j (t ) is:
(1) Finding all the local extrema, including maxima
1 +∞ c j (τ )
and minima; using smooth cubic splines to interpolate the
extrema, then obtaining the top envelop envup (t ) and
v j (t ) =
π ∫
t −τ
−∞
dτ (2)

c j (t ) as a real part and v j (t ) as an imaginary part

bottom envelop envlow (t ) .
(2)Obtaining the mean of the two form an analytic signal z j (t ) :
envelopes: m1(t) = (envup (t) + envlow(t))/2 . Subtracting the z j (t ) = c j (t ) + jv j (t ) (3)
mean from the original data to get the differences: With amplitude and phase defined by the expressions:
h1 (t ) = x(t ) - m1 (t ) . vj (t)
Aj (t) = c2j (t) + v2j (t) , θ j (t) = arctan( ) (4)
(3) Regarding h1 (t ) as the new data and repeating cj (t)
steps (1) and (2) until the resulting signal meets the criteria
Instantaneous frequency of c j (t ) is defined as:
of an IMF, defined as c1 (t ) . The highest frequency
components are captured firstly; the lower frequency
ω j (t ) = dθ j (t ) / dt (5)
components are extracted in the subsequent modes. The Both the amplitude A j (t ) and instantaneous
residual signal r1 (t ) is given by r1 (t ) = x (t ) - c1 (t ) .
frequency ω j (t ) of each IMF are the functions of time.
(4) Regarding r1 (t ) as new data and repeating steps The original signal can be expressed as the following form:
(1) (2) (3) until extracting all the IMFs. The sifting n

procedure is terminated until the residue rn (t ) becomes
less than a predetermined small number or the residue
becomes monotonic.
The original signal x(t ) can thus be expressed as
follows:
n as Hilbert spectrum.
x(t ) = ∑ c j (t ) + rn (t ) (1)
j =1
c1 (t ), c2 (t ),..., cn (t ) are the IMFs and rn (t ) is the
residue component. The decomposition is adaptive, local,
completely and “nearly” orthogonal. The basis function
directly comes from the signal which guarantees the
inherent characteristic of signal and avoids the diffusion
and leakage of signal energy. The sifting process eliminates
riding waves, so the IMF is more symmetrical and
guarantees obtaining meaningful results for instantaneous
x(t ) = ∑ Aj (t ) exp{i ∫ ω j (t )dt} (6)
j =1
The amplitude can also be contoured on the
time-frequency plane. {t , ω j (t ), A j (t )} form the three
dimensional time-frequency plot: H (ω , t ) , generally called
With the Hilbert spectrum defined, the marginal
spectrum h(ω ) can also be defined as:
T
h(ω ) = ∫ H (ω , t )dt (7)
0
Where T is the total data length. Marginal spectrum
offers a measure of total amplitude (or energy) contribution
from each frequency value. It represents the cumulated
amplitude over the entire data span in a probabilistic sense.

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 Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007

3. End effect of EMD
The key feature of the HHT method is EMD. EMD
method relies on the top and bottom envelope derived from
a cubic spline interpolation between local extrema. The
decomposition is very sensitive to end conditions. It is
difficult to interpolate data near the end points, where the
cubic splines have swings and estimation of top and bottom
envelopes are difficult as there are not enough data. If the
ends are left unattended, it will produce illusive oscillations
which will propagate inwards and progressively corrupt the
subsequently low frequency IMFs.
The problem has been discussed in previous papers on
the EMD. Huang had adopted a method of adding
characteristic waves at the end. Coughlin and Tung
proposed a modified method by extending both the
beginning and end of the data by the addition of typical
waves: “sinuous function” with adaptive amplitude,
frequency and phase [8]. Rilling proposed a method of
mirrorizing the extrema closet to the edge, rather than pad
restricted using the above method. The signal is
decomposed into 6 IMFs and a residue as depicted in figure
2. From figure 2 it can be easily seen that the first IMF and
the second IMF are similar with sinusoidal FM 1 signal and
sinusoidal FM 2 signal, respectively. Actually, the
sinusoid FM 1 signal and sinusoid FM 2 signal are IMFs
themselves in nature because they satisfy the IMF
conditions which have the same numbers of zero-crossing
and extrema and also are local symmetric, so only two IMF
should be extracted by sifting process. The amplitude of
other IMFs and residue are small comparing with the
original signal; they can be regarded as the approximate
errors and be discarded. Figure3 shows the real
instantaneous frequency and estimated instantaneous
frequency of the original signal. The blue solid line
represents the real instantaneous frequency and the red
dashed line represents the estimated instantaneous
frequency. The time-frequency signatures of the signal are
captured by the IMFs extracted by EMD. The results
indicate that the method we proposed is effective.
1

the time series with extra wave [9] [10]. 0.8

In this paper, we propose a novel method to restrict the 0.6

end effect and improve the precision of EMD. The key 0.4

points are to determine the values and locations of extrema 0.2

nearby end points. Supposed the length of data x is N. The 0

steps can be implemented as follows:

-0.2

-0.4

(1) Finding all the maxima and minima and -0.6

considering the beginning and end points both as maximum -0.8

and minimum, that is, max(1), min(1), max(N) and min(N) -1

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

(the subscript represents location of extrema).

(2) Taking max (1), max (N) as the mean of all Figure 1. The sum signal of two sinusoidal FM
maximum except for first and last maximum; similarly, 1

taking min (1), min (N) as the mean of all minimum except 0.5

for the first and last minimum.

0

-0.5

(3) Adaptively estimating the value of end points: If -1

max(1)< x(1) then max(1)=x(1); if max(N)< x(N) then -1.5

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

max(N)= x(N); if min(1)>x(1) then min(1)=x(1); if min(N) 1

> x(N) then min(N) = x(N). 0.5

(4) Using cubic splines interpolation to get top and 0

bottom envelopes and repeating the second step of above -0.5

sifting process to extract IMF.

-1
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Performance of the proposed method is tested by the 0.2

simulated signal. The signal is the sum of two signals with 0

sinusoidal frequency modulated (FM). For sinusoidal FM 1 -0.2

0.1
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

signal, smallest frequency: 0.0625Hz; highest frequency: 0

-0.1

0.3750Hz; period of the sinusoidal FM: 250; number of 0.05

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

points: 500; frequency at time point 250: 0.3750Hz. For

0

-0.05
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

sinusoidal FM 2 signal, smallest frequency: 0.0625Hz;

0.05

highest frequency: 0.1875Hz; period of the sinusoidal FM: -0.05

0.01
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

250; number of points: 500; frequency at time point 250: 0

0.1875Hz. Figure 1 shows the sum signal. The signal is

-0.01
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

decomposed by EMD where the end effect has been Figure 2. IMFs and residue obtained by EMD

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 Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007

0.45
can be clearly seen that the energy mainly concentrates on
lower frequency domain.
0.4
Figure 8 shows the diastolic murmurs of CAD patient,
0.35 as diagnosed by coronary artery radiography. The left
y 0.3 anterior decending artery is stenosed about 60% and the
c
n
e
u
q 0.25
right coronary artery is stenosed about 85%. Figure 9 shows
er
F
s
u
the IMFs of the murmur obtained by EMD. The diastolic
o
e
n
at
0.2
cardiac cycle can be decomposed into 6 IMFs. The Hilbert
n
at
s
nI
0.15 spectrum is illustrated in figure 10. Figure 11 shows the
0.1
marginal spectrum of diastolic murmurs. The HHT
spectrum has superior temporal and frequency resolutions.
0.05
The spectrums show precise time-frequency representation
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
of signal. The energies spread over a much wider frequency
domain. Much higher spectral energies are concentrated on
Figure 3. Real instantaneous frequency and estimated high frequency comparing with those of normal objects.
instantaneous frequency; the blue solid line represents the More energy distributes in frequency band over 200Hz and
real instantaneous frequency and the red dashed line a peak also lies around 350Hz, which often doesn’t appear
represents the estimated instantaneous frequency. in diastolic murmurs of normal objects. It can be explained
The above example shows how important adopting as follows: for CAD patient, the narrowed coronary arteries
appropriate method to restrict end effect can be in the lead to the blood flow in coronary artery changing from
procedure of EMD. The proposed method eliminates large laminar flow to turbulence flow, from simplicity to
swings near the boundary points in spline interpolation. It complexity. Coronary arterial stenosis gives rise to high
shows its power and capacity to deal with the end effect in frequencies of diastolic murmurs. The EMD method makes
performing spline interpolation and improve the precision no assumption about linearity or stationarity of signal and
of EMD. the IMFs are usually easy to interpret and relevant to the
underlying dynamic processes being studied.
4. Spectrum analysis of diastolic murmurs 0.15

0.1

Heart sounds are recorded from the chest of normal

objects and CAD patients using a specially designed high
0.05

sensitivity cardiac microphone. The ECG signals are also 0

recorded as a time reference to aid in locating the diastolic -0.05

phase. For each cycle, the central portion of diastole is

-0.1
digitized (Sample frequency equals 2.0 kHz). Isolating and
analyzing only the mid-diastolic period avoid the very loud -0.15

valve sounds. During mid-diastole phase coronary artery -0.2

0 50 100 150 200 250

blood flow is greatest and the sounds associated with

stenoses will be loudest. Figure 4. Diastolic murmurs of a normal object
Figure 4 shows the diastolic murmurs of a normal 0.1

object. Figure 5 shows the IMFs of the murmur obtained by 0

-0.1
0.05 0 50 100 150 200 250

EMD. The diastolic murmurs can be decomposed into 6 0

IMFs. The Hilbert spectrum is shown in figure 6. The -0.05

0.1 0 50 100 150 200 250

vertical bars on the right of the panel give the relative

0

-0.1
0.1 0 50 100 150 200 250

amplitude scale. Figure 6 provides more distinct 0

information on the time-frequency contents of diastolic

-0.1
0.05 0 50 100 150 200 250

murmurs which reveals clearly the dynamic characteristic -0.05

0.01
0 50 100 150 200 250

of murmurs in time-frequency plane. The Hilbert spectrum 0

-0.01

contains no energy with frequency above 350Hz. The 0 50 100 150 200 250

spectrum appears in the skeleton form and can provide the Figure 5. IMFs of diastolic murmurs from the normal object
frequency variations from one instant to the next. Figure 7
shows the marginal spectrum of the diastolic murmurs. It

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 Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007

0 1000 0

900 -0.5 900 -0.5

800 -1 800 -1
Frequency (Hz)

700 -1.5 700 -1.5

Frequency (Hz)
600 -2 600 -2

500 -2.5 500 -2.5

400 -3 400 -3

300 -3.5 300 -3.5

200 -4 200 -4

100 -4.5 100 -4.5

-5 -5
50 100 150 200 50 100 150 200

Figure 6. Hilbert spectrum of the diastolic murmurs Figure 10. Hilbert spectrum of the diastolic murmurs
8 6

5
6
4

4 3

2
2
1

0 0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Figure 7. Marginal spectrum of the diastolic murmurs Figure 11. Marginal spectrum of the diastolic murmurs

5. Conclusions
0.3

0.2

0.1
Diastolic murmurs contain the information of coronary
artery occlusions, which give the basis of CAD diagnosis.
0
Hilbert Huang Transform is an adaptive powerful method
-0.1
to analyze nonlinear and non stationary time series. In this
paper we use Hilbert Huang Transform method to analyze
-0.2
the diastolic murmurs for Coronary Artery Disease. We
0 50 100 150 200 250
firstly present a novel method to restrict the end effect of
Figure 8. Diastolic murmurs of CAD patient EMD. One example indicates that signal can be accurately
decomposed by EMD. The proposed method is simple,
0.1
powerful and effective. Then by applying EMD and Hilbert
0

-0.1
transform, we can obtain Hilbert spectrum and marginal
0.2 0 50 100 150 200 250

0 spectrum of diastolic murmurs for normal objects and CAD

patients. They provide higher resolution and energy
-0.2
0.1 0 50 100 150 200 250

-0.1
0.1 0 50 100 150 200 250
concentration in time-frequency plane. The Hilbert
-0.1
0
spectrum and marginal spectrum effectively reveal the
0.05 0
information whether the arteries are blocked and provide a
50 100 150 200 250

0
-0.05
0.02
0 50 100 150 200 250
reliable indicator of coronary artery disease. Analysis of
diastolic murmur indicates the clinical pathology
0

-0.02
0 50 100 150 200 250

significations of CAD and gives important diagnostic

Figure 9. IMFs of diastolic murmurs from patient information for the diagnosis of CAD.

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 Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Hong Kong, 19-22 August 2007
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by Scientific Project Fund of
Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Department
under Grant no. 2006C31010 and by Scientific Research
Fund of Zhejiang Provincial Education Department under
Grant no.20050482.
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