Comparative analysis of EEG pre-processing in ASD using Hanning and Blackman Harris filters

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of two Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter designs based on the Hanning and Blackman-Harris windows for preprocessing electroencephalography (EEG) signals collected from both neurotypical individuals and those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). EEG signals were recorded using a 16-channel setup and band-pass filtered between 0.5 and 40 Hz to isolate relevant a neural activity. Subsequently, the signals were processed independently using each FIR filter type. Performance evaluation was conducted using four quantitative metrics: Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Squared Error (MSE), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), and Power Spectral Density (PSD). The Hanning window filter showed MAE values ranging from 0.079 to 0.325, MSE from 0.026 to 0.177, SNR between 7.56 and 15.86 dB, and PSD values from 5.3 to 9.08 × 10⁻³. These results demonstrate good noise attenuation while preserving signal morphology. In contrast, the Blackman-Harris window produced higher MAE (0.061–0.318) and MSE (0.019–0.172) but achieved significantly greater SNR improvements (7.77–17.4 dB) and tighter control over PSD (4.904 – 8.442 × 10⁻³), indicating superior noise suppression and reduced spectral leakage. A paired t-test confirmed that differences in all four performance metrics were statistically significant (p < 0.05) across both neurotypical and ASD subject groups. Despite the Hanning filter's computational simplicity, the Blackman-Harris filter demonstrated more robust performance, making it a more suitable choice for high-fidelity EEG signal analysis in clinical diagnostics and neuroscience research.