noise removal in images

I want to remove noise from an image of handwritten text. Noise includes random pen marks.

I have tried functions such as bwmorph(thin), but it only results in more noise.

Any ideas on how to go about this?

[Matt Kindig]

As a note, in general when you ask questions regarding a particular image processing exercise (such as noise removal from an image), please upload a typical image to an image sharing site and include the link in your posting. That will allow the Answers community to give recommendations that are specific to your image. Otherwise, we are just guessing as to which techniques will work best.

Answer 1

[Mark Hayworth]

Try bwareaopen().