Analysis of Influence of Coil Gradient System on Vibration Properties and Acoustic Noise Level Generated by the Low Field MRI Device

Abstract

The paper focuses on investigation of influence of the volume inserted in the scanning area of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device working with a low magnetic field generated by a pair of permanent magnets on vibration and acoustic noise. In addition, its aim is to evaluate the influence of different types of used scan sequences, different settings of slice orientation and scan parameters on the energy and spectral properties of vibration and noise generated by the gradient coil system of the MRI device. Two basic measurements were performed within this work: mapping of sound pressure levels in the MRI device vicinity and parallel acquisition of vibration signals by sensors mounted on the lower and upper parts of the MRI gradient system. The paper next analyzes changes in properties of the vibration signals for the examined person lying in the scanning area compared with the situation of using only the testing phantom. Spectral characteristics of the recorded vibration signals are then analyzed statistically, and compared visually and numerically. The obtained results of the detailed analysis will be used for improvement of noise suppression algorithms applied to a speech signal recorded simultaneously with scanning of the human vocal tract for its 3D modeling.

Keywords

• Vibration and acoustic noise measurement
• magnetic resonance imaging
• signal processing
• statistical analysis