Automatic detection and measurement of EMG silent periods in masticatory muscles during chewing in man

Silent periods are transient stops of muscle activity that are induced by mechanical or electrical stimulus. The current report describes a new algorithm which enables automatic detection and measurement of silent periods that occur in the EMG of human masticatory muscles during chewing efforts together with jaw positions in space at the occurrence of the silent periods. The EMG signal for detection of the silent period is modeled based on the observation of the EMG records induced from the jaw-closing muscles during chewing efforts in seven volunteer subjects. The algorithm for automatic detection and measurement of the EMG silent period has been applied successfully to real EMG data and the performance of the software was confirmed to be sufficiently reliable. The results of the analysis are stored in a biosignal database for possible clinical use.