A Noise reduction in the medical images using hybrid combination of filters with nature-inspired Black Widow Optimization Algorithm

Abstract

This paper proposes an image filtering method to remove the noises in medical images in a controlled manner. To achieve this goal, the optimal parameters of the conventional filters are determined using the nature-inspired black widow (BWO) optimization algorithm to remove the noise efficiently. The BWO algorithm is chosen over other optimization algorithms because it quickly explores the optimal parameter values due to its procreate and cannibalism steps. The procreate step explores new solutions, whereas the cannibalism steps remove the inappropriate solutions while exploring the optimal solution. In the proposed method, speckle and sharpening filters are considered. In the proposed method, initially, medical images are read. After that, they are enhanced using the power law method because images are either low or high contrast. In the power law method, the gamma value plays an important role. Therefore, the optimal gamma value is determined using the BWO algorithm as done for the filter values. After that, noise addition is performed on them and removed them using the speckle filter. Further, the edges of the image are filtered using the sharpening filter. The proposed method is validated on the standard dataset images downloaded from Kaggle. It is found that the proposed method enhances the image and removes the noise in a controlled manner. Besides that, it achieves better Mean Square Error (MSE) and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) in the output.