  Any search effort for gravitational waves (GW) using interferometric
detectors like LIGO needs to be able to identify if and when noise is coupling
into the detector's output signal. The Critical Coupling Likelihood (CCL)
method has been developed to characterize potential noise coupling and in the
future aid GW search efforts. By testing two hypotheses about pairs of
channels, CCL is able to identify undesirable coupled instrumental noise from
potential GW candidates. Our preliminary results show that CCL can associate up
to $\sim 80%$ of observed artifacts with $SNR \geq 8$, to local noise sources,
while reducing the duty cycle of the instrument by $\lesssim 15%$. An approach
like CCL will become increasingly important as GW research moves into the
Advanced LIGO era, going from the first GW detection to GW astronomy.
