Improving Neural Spike Sorting Performance Using Template Enhancement

This paper presents a novel method for improving the performance of template matching in neural spike sorting for similar shaped spikes, without increasing computational complexity. Mean templates for similar shaped spikes are enhanced to emphasise distinguishing features. Template optimisation is based on the variance of sample distributions. Improved spike sorting performance is demonstrated on simulated neural recordings with two and three neuron spike shapes. The method is designed for implementation on a Next Generation Neural Interface (NGNI) device at Imperial College London