Multiple window coherence analysis of HRV power and respiratory frequency

In this paper, we evaluate the correlation estimate, based on multiple window spectrum analysis, between the respiratory center frequency and the high-frequency band of the heart- rate variability (HRV) power. One aim is to examine whether a more restricted frequency range would better capture respiratory related HR variation, especially when the HR variation is changing rapidly. The respiratory peak is detected and a narrow-banded measure of the high-frequency (HF) band of the HRV is defined as the respiratory frequency plusmn0.05 Hz. We compare the mean square error of the correlation estimate between the frequency of the respiratory peak and the power of the HRV with the power in the usual 0.12-0.4 Hz frequency band. Different multiple window spectrum techniques are used for the estimation of the respiratory frequency as well as for the power of the HRV. We compare the peak-matched multiple windows with the Welch method while evaluating the two different HF-power estimates mentioned above. The results show that using a more narrow band for the power estimation gives stronger correlation which indicates that the estimate of the power is more robust.