Detecting atrial fibrillation using short single-lead ECG recordings

A device for electrocardiogram signal (ECG) processing, the device comprising:

• a single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) measurement device operable to obtain a time-domain electrocardiogram signal (ECG) from a patient;
• at least one electronic processor programmed to carry out the steps of:
• receiving a time-domain electrocardiogram signal (ECG) from the single-lead ECG measurement device;
• determining a signal quality index (SQI) of the time-domain electrocardiogram signal (ECG) over a time interval;
• generating a time-frequency representation of the time-domain electrocardiogram (ECG) signal acquired over the time interval, by converting said time-domain electrocardiogram signal (ECG) to a two-dimensional time-frequency dataset using a sliding window;
• processing the time-frequency representation using a neural network to output probabilities for rhythms of a set of rhythms including at least atrial fibrillation;
• assigning a rhythm for the time-domain electrocardiogram signal (ECG) based on the signal quality index (SQI) and probabilities for the rhythms of the set of rhythms output by the neural network, wherein assigning includes assigning a noisy recording for the time-domain electrocardiogram signal (ECG) when the determined signal quality index (SQI) is below a preselected signal quality index threshold;
• and
• controlling a display device to display the rhythm or noisy recording assigned to the time-domain electrocardiogram signal (ECG).