Towards a suitable time-scale representation of cardio-respiratory signals through Empirical Mode Decomposition algorithms: A simulation and validation tool

To what extent is Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) able to differentiate the embedded components of a cardio-respiratory (CR) signal? We intend to answer this question by providing a tool which compares the performances of the original EMD algorithm with those of a noise-assisted version (CEEMD) on simulated CR signals, depending on the frequency and amplitude ratios between their respiratory and cardiac components. A statistical Bland & Altman test checks the matching of stroke volumes calculated from the extracted cardiac signal and those from the simulated one. CEEMD turns out to be better than EMD by yielding to reliable multiscale representation of simulated CR signals on a wider domain of frequency and amplitude ratios.