EMD-based 60-Hz noise filtering of the ECG

This study used empirical mode decomposition (EMD) for filtering power line noise in electrocardiogram signals. When the signal-to-noise (SNR) is low, the power line noise is separated out as the first intrinsic mode function (IMF), but when the SNR is high, a part of the signal along with the noise is decomposed as the first IMF. To overcome this problem, we add a pseudo noise at a frequency higher than the highest frequency of the signal to filter out just the power line noise in the first IMF. The results are compared with traditional IIR-based bandstop filtering. This technique is also implemented for filtering power line noise during enhancement of stress ECG signals.