Peformance Evaluation of Various Speckle Noise Reduction Filters on Medical Images

1Reader, Punjabi University,Patiala-147002(Punjab), India, [email protected] 2Reader Punjabi University, Patiala-147002(Punjab), India E-mail:[email protected] Abstract-Today ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging are essential tools for noninvasive medical diagnosis. One of the fundamental problems in this field is speckle noise, which is a major limitation on image quality especially in ultrasound imaging. The presence of the speckle noise affects image interpretation by human and the accuracy of computer-assisted diagnostic techniques. Low image quality is an obstacle for effective feature extraction, analysis, recognition and quantitative measurements. Image variances or speckle is a granular noise that inherently exists in and degrades the quality of the medical images. Before using ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, the very first step is to reduce the effect of Speckle noise. Most of speckle reduction techniques have been studied by researchers; however, there is no comprehensive method that takes all the constraints into consideration. Filtering is one of the common methods which is used to reduce the speckle noises. This paper compares five different speckle reduction filters quantitatively using simulated imageries. The results have been presented by filtered images, statistical tables and diagrams. Finally, the best filter has been recommended based on the statistical and experimental results.