Wheezing sounds detection using multivariate generalized gaussian distributions

Abstract

A wheeze is a continuous, coarse, whistling sound produced in the respiratory airways during breathing, commonly experienced by persons suffering from asthma. In this paper, we present a new method for the detection of wheezing sounds in the normal breathing sounds. In our study we perform an accurate statistical analysis of breathing signals. We suggest a modeling for wheezing and normal sounds in the wavelet packet domain using generalized Gaussian distributions. Our detection method is based on a specific multimodal Markovian modeling proposed in a Bayesian framework. We cope with the multidimensional aspect of the generalized Gaussian distribution by using the theory of copulas. Experimental results are given in detail in this paper.