| Abstrakt: |
In biomedical optics, it is often of interest to statistically model the amplitude of the speckle using some distributional approximations with their parameters acting as biomarkers. In this paper, a paradigm shift is being advocated in which non-parametric approaches are used. Specifically, a range of distances, evaluated in different domains, between an empirical non-parametric distribution of the normalized speckle amplitude sample and the benchmark Rayleigh distribution, is considered. Using OCT images from phantoms, two ex-vivo experiments with porcine corneas and an in-vivo experiment with human corneas, an evidence is provided that the non-parametric approach, despite its simplicity, could lead to equivalent or better results than the parametric approaches with distributional approximations. Concluding, in practice, the non-parametric approach should be considered as the first choice to speckle modeling before a particular distributional approximation is utilized. |
