Image enhancement is one of the most important issues in low-level image processing. Histograms are the basis for numerous spatial domain processing techniques. In this paper, we present a simple and effective method for image contrast enhancement based on global histogram equalization. In this method, at first input image is normalized by making the minimum gray level value to 0. Then the probability of each grey level is calculated from the available ROI grey levels. Finally, histogram equalization is performed on the input image based on the calculated probability density (or distribution) function. As a result, the mean brightness of the input image does not change significantly by the histogram equalization. Additionally, noise is prevented from being greatly amplified. Experimental results on medical images demonstrate that the proposed method can enhance the images effectively. The result is also compared with the result of image enhancement technique using local statistics.

Keywords : Histogram equalization; Global histogram equalization; Image enhancement; Local statistics.

© 2011 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved.

doi:10.3329/jsr.v3i1.5299 J. Sci. Res. 3 (1), 43-50 (2011)