An efficient detail-preserving approach for removing impulse noise in images

In this letter, we present a new efficient algorithm for the removal of impulse noise from corrupted images while preserving image details. The algorithm is based on the alpha-trimmed mean, which is a special case of the order-statistics filter. However, unlike some of the previous techniques involving order-statistics filters, the proposed method uses the alpha-trimmed mean only in impulse noise detection instead of pixel value estimation. Once a noisy pixel is identified, its value is replaced by a linear combination of its original value and the median of its local window. Extensive computer simulations indicate that our algorithm provides a significant improvement over many other existing techniques.