A Web-Based Deep Learning Model for Automated Diagnosis of Otoscopic Images

To develop a multiclass-classifier deep learning model and website for distinguishing tympanic membrane (TM) pathologies based on otoscopic images.

An otoscopic image database developed by utilizing publicly available online images and open databases was assessed by convolutional neural network (CNN) models including ResNet-50, Inception-V3, Inception-Resnet-V2, and MobileNetV2. Training and testing were conducted with a 75:25 breakdown. Area under the curve of receiver operating characteristics (AUC-ROC), accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were used to compare different CNN models' performances in classifying TM images.

Our database included 400 images, organized into normal (n = 196) and abnormal classes (n = 204), including acute otitis media (n = 116), otitis externa (n = 44), chronic suppurative otitis media (n = 23), and cerumen impaction (n = 21). For binary classification between normal versus abnormal TM, the best performing model had average AUC-ROC of 0.902 (MobileNetV2), followed by 0.745 (Inception-Resnet-V2), 0.731 (ResNet-50), and 0.636 (Inception-V3). Accuracy ranged between 0.73-0.77, sensitivity 0.72-0.88, specificity 0.58-0.84, PPV 0.68-0.81, and NPV 0.73-0.83. Macro-AUC-ROC for MobileNetV2 based multiclass-classifier was 0.91, with accuracy of 66%. Binary and multiclass-classifier models based on MobileNetV2 were loaded onto a publicly accessible and user-friendly website (https://headneckml.com/tympanic). This allows the readership to upload TM images for real-time predictions using the developed algorithms.

Novel CNN algorithms were developed with high AUC-ROCs for differentiating between various TM pathologies. This was further deployed as a proof-of-concept publicly accessible website for real-time predictions.