Acquisition and analysis of electromyograms of the human masseter muscle (bruxism detection)

The electromyograms (EMGs) from the human masseter muscles of a randomly sampled population were obtained to determine if there was a signal characteristic of these EMGs which could be used to distinguish accurately among the signals generated for some related mechanical activities. A custom-designed variable-gain EMG preamplifier/signal conditioner was constructed to sense and amplify the signals, which were digitally sampled, stored, and analyzed. Various time- and frequency-domain characteristics were estimated, and equivalence tests were performed on combinations of the power spectra. Distinctions in the characteristics of different activities on the whole were not clear-cut. However, it was found that the spectra for clenching and chewing activities of the dysfunctional persons in the test group were measurably different from the average statistics of the group.<>