Heart Sound Classification Using Harmonic and Percussive Spectral Features from Phonocardiograms with a Deep ANN Approach

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a leading cause of mortality worldwide, with a particularly high burden in India. Non-invasive methods like Phonocardiogram (PCG) analysis capture the acoustic activity of the heart. This holds significant potential for the early detection and diagnosis of heart conditions. However, the complexity and variability of PCG signals pose considerable challenges for accurate classification. Traditional methods of PCG signal analysis, including time-domain, frequency-domain, and time-frequency domain techniques, often fall short in capturing the intricate details necessary for reliable diagnosis. This study introduces an innovative approach that leverages harmonic–percussive source separation (HPSS) to extract distinct harmonic and percussive spectral features from PCG signals. These features are then utilized to train a deep feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN), classifying heart conditions as normal or abnormal. The methodology involves advanced digital signal processing techniques applied to PCG recordings from the PhysioNet 2016 dataset. The feature set comprises 164 attributes, including the Chroma STFT, Chroma CENS, Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs), and statistical features. These are refined using the ROC-AUC feature selection method to ensure optimal performance. The deep feed-forward ANN model was rigorously trained and validated on a balanced dataset. Techniques such as noise reduction and outlier detection were used to improve model training. The proposed model achieved a validation accuracy of 93.40% with sensitivity and specificity rates of 82.40% and 80.60%, respectively. These results underscore the effectiveness of harmonic-based features and the robustness of the ANN in heart sound classification. This research highlights the potential for deploying such models in non-invasive cardiac diagnostics, particularly in resource-constrained settings. It also lays the groundwork for future advancements in cardiac signal analysis.