Characterization of Laplacian Surface Electromyographic Signals during Isometric Contraction in Biceps Brachii

Surface electromyography (sEMG) is a noninvasive technique for monitoring the electrical activity produced by the muscles. Usually, sEMG is performed by carrying out monopolar or bipolar recordings by means of conventional Ag/AgCl electrodes. In contrast, Laplacian recordings of sEMG could also be obtained by using coaxial ring electrodes. Laplacian recordings increase spatial resolution and attenuate other distant bioelectric interferences. Nevertheless, the spectral characteristics of this kind of recordings have been scarcely studied. The objective of this paper is to characterize the sEMG signals recorded with a Laplacian ring electrode and to compare them with traditional bipolar recordings with disc electrodes. Both kinds of signals were collected simultaneously in two healthy subjects during resting and sustained isometric voluntary contraction activities in biceps brachii. The conducted study computed the cumulative percentage of the power spectrum of sEMG so as to determine the energy bandwidth of the two kinds of recordings and the signal to noise ratio in different bands of the sEMG spectrum. Also, muscle fatigue, a condition when muscle force is reduced, was assessed using indexes from amplitude and frequency domain. The results of this study suggest that Laplacian sEMG has higher spectral bandwidth but a lower signal to noise ratio in comparison to bipolar sEMG. In addition, frequency fatigue indexes showed that Laplacian recording had better response than bipolar recording, which suggests that Laplacian electrode can be useful to study muscular fatigue due to better spatial resolution.