Detection of bursts of microneurographic activity and estimation of burst parameters

Microneurograms are used to study the neural control of the autonomic nervous system. We developed a technique for automatically detecting the times of occurrence of bursts of microneurographic activity and their durations. It involves cross-correlating a rectified and smoothed microneurogram with a triangular shaped waveform as the signal template. Parameters of the derivative of this cross-correlation indicate the times of occurrence and the durations of the bursts of activity. The accuracy of the technique was assessed by comparing its results with those of four experienced investigators and showed significant agreement between the automated technique and the investigators.