Performance Evaluation of Histogram Equalization and Fuzzy image Enhancement Techniques on Low Contrast Images

Image enhancement aims at improving the information content of original image for a specific purpose. This purpose could be for visual interpretation or for effective extraction of required details. Nevertheless, some acquired images are often associated with pixels of low dynamic range and as such result in low contrast images. Enhancing the contrast therefore tends to increase the dynamic range of the gray levels in the acquired image so as to span the full intensity range. Techniques such as Histogram Equalization (HE) and fuzzy technique can be adopted for contrast enhancement. HE adjusts the contrast of an input image by modifying the intensity distribution of its histogram. It is characterized by providing a global approach to image enhancement, computationally fast and easy to implement approach but can introduce unnatural artifacts and other undesirable elements to the resulting image. Fuzzy technique on its part enhances image by mapping the image gray level intensities into a fuzzy plane using membership functions; modifying the membership functions as desired and mapping back into the gray level plane. Thus, details at desired areas can be enhanced at the expense of increase in computational cost. This paper explores the effect of the use of HE and fuzzy technique to enhance low contrast images. Their performances are evaluated using the Mean squared error (MSE), Peak to signal noise ratio (PSNR), entropy and Absolute mean brightness error (AMBE).