Exact confidence intervals for channelized Hotelling observer performance

Task-based assessments of image quality constitute a rigorous, principled approach to the evaluation of imaging system performance. To conduct such assessments, it has been recognized that mathematical model observers are very useful, particularly for purposes of imaging system development and optimization. One type of model observer that has been widely applied in the medical imaging community is the channelized Hotelling observer (CHO). In the present work, we address the need for reliable confidence interval estimators of CHO performance. Specifically, we observe that a procedure proposed by Reiser for interval estimation of the Mahalanobis distance can be applied to obtain confidence intervals for CHO performance. In addition, we find that these intervals are well-defined with theoretically-exact coverage probabilities, which is a new result not proved by Reiser. The confidence intervals are tested with Monte Carlo simulation and demonstrated with an example comparing x-ray CT reconstruction strategies.

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