Research project: Biomedical Signal Processing

Clinical investigations are increasingly based upon the analysis of signals and images measured in response to some stimulus or activity or, in some cases, under normal, resting conditions. The group is involved in many novel areas of research in biomedical signal processing but is focussed towards the strengths of the ISVR in sound, vibration, audiology and ultrasonics, despite the clinical problem sometimes lying outside our traditional interests. An example of this work is our collaboration with the Department of Anaesthetics, Southampton General Hospital, and our Audiology group, to investigate conscious awareness during anaesthesia. It is essential that a patient is adequately anaesthetised for surgery, but not too deeply. The depth of anaesthesia is frequently changed during surgical procedures but, currently, no objective measure of depth of available. We are looking at the response of the auditory system to sound since, by presenting a click stimulus through an earphone, we can measure the response on the scalp and track changes in depth of anaesthesia through changes in the response characteristics. Such techniques also have important applications in hearing tests and in audiological research, and our collaboration with audiology ensures that problems are addressed from the patient perspective.