Adaptive Stepwise Feature Selection Approach for EEG-Based Epileptic Seizure Classification

Recent advancements in feature selection (FS) optimization algorithms have influenced the field of epileptic seizure classification. However, integrating these optimization algorithms into machine learning (ML) models often creates time complexity, limiting their clinical deployment. To address this issue, we propose an innovative adaptive stepwise FS method tailored for epileptic seizure detection (ESD). First, a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) was applied to the preprocessed signal to get three levels of the db4 wavelet family within the frequency range pertinent to epileptic seizure classification. Linear and nonlinear features are then extracted from each level of the DWT. The selected features are initially ranked using the minimum relevance, maximum redundancy (mRMR) FS technique. After that, a stepwise FS approach was applied to the ranked features to optimize the performance of Random Forest (RF), K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers. The experiment was performed on a publicly accessible CHB-MIT dataset in a patient-independent approach. The model's performance was assessed using accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. The results show an improved performance of the ML models with the integration of stepwise algorithm into the mRMR technique. Among the classifiers, RF exhibited superior performance with accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 87.69%, 91.53%, and 83.86%, respectively, when 12 features were selected. Our proposed stepwise feature selection method (PSFS) performs similarly to generalize forward feature selection (GFFS), with an average accuracy of 88.37% and 88.57%, respectively across selected features with less computation. This makes PSFS a very efficient and effective FS in epileptic seizure classification.