Image denoising in acoustic microscopy using block-matching and 4D filter

Scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) is a label-free imaging technique used in biomedical imaging, non-destructive testing, and material research to visualize surface and sub-surface structures. In ultrasonic imaging, noises in images can reduce contrast, edge and texture details, and resolution, negatively impacting post-processing algorithms. To reduce the noises in the scanned image, we have employed a 4D block-matching (BM4D) filter that can be used to denoise acoustic volumetric signals. BM4D filter utilizes the transform domain filtering technique with hard thresholding and Wiener filtering stages. The proposed algorithm produces the most suitable denoised output compared to other conventional filtering methods (Gaussian filter, median filter, and Wiener filter) when applied to noisy images. The output from the BM4D-filtered images was compared to the noise level with different conventional filters. Filtered images were qualitatively analyzed using metrics such as structural similarity index matrix (SSIM) and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR). The combined qualitative and quantitative analysis demonstrates that the BM4D technique is the most suitable method for denoising acoustic imaging from the SAM. The proposed block matching filter opens a new avenue in the field of acoustic or photoacoustic image denoising, particularly in scenarios with poor signal-to-noise ratios.