A method implemented in a computer system for processing a digitized electromagnetic signal to identify unwanted signal features comprising generating via a particularly configured microprocessor a modified time-frequency representation of an input signal by receiving the input signal as a plurality of transform frames in a time domain in the microprocessor, wherein each transform frame includes a plurality of signal samples; transforming each transform frame of the input signal into a frequency domain using a frequency transform; the generating step further characterized by introducing a time dimension into the frequency transform to generate constant frequency and constant magnitude periodic partial waves for each frequency band of the frequency transform of the input signal for each of the transform frames to form a time-frequency representation for each transform frame; applying a smoothing filter to the time-frequency representation to introduce synchronization between the periodic partial waves of adjacent frequency bands and to generate a smoothed time-frequency representation that includes non-periodic wave packets across the frequency bands converted from the periodic partial waves by the synchronization, wherein unwanted signal features are magnified in corresponding frequency bands of the smoothed time-frequency representation for each signal sample in which the unwanted signal features occurred in the input signal in the time domain; and formulating time-frequency values from the non-periodic wave packets for each frequency band in each signal sample; and outputting for storage in a memory device couple to the microprocessor or displaying on a display device within the computer system, or both, the time-frequency values or representations thereof, or both, identifying the unwanted signal features in discrete time samples. receiving the input signal as a plurality of transform frames in a time domain in the microprocessor, wherein each transform frame includes a plurality of signal samples; transforming each transform frame of the input signal into a frequency domain using a frequency transform; the generating step further characterized by introducing a time dimension into the frequency transform to generate constant frequency and constant magnitude periodic partial waves for each frequency band of the frequency transform of the input signal for each of the transform frames to form a time-frequency representation for each transform frame; applying a smoothing filter to the time-frequency representation to introduce synchronization between the periodic partial waves of adjacent frequency bands and to generate a smoothed time-frequency representation that includes non-periodic wave packets across the frequency bands converted from the periodic partial waves by the synchronization, wherein unwanted signal features are magnified in corresponding frequency bands of the smoothed time-frequency representation for each signal sample in which the unwanted signal features occurred in the input signal in the time domain; and formulating time-frequency values from the non-periodic wave packets for each frequency band in each signal sample; and