Classification of facial paralysis based on machine learning techniques

Facial paralysis (FP) is an inability to move facial muscles voluntarily, affecting daily activities. There is a need for quantitative assessment and severity level classification of FP to evaluate the condition. None of the available tools are widely accepted. A comprehensive FP evaluation system has been developed by the authors. The system extracts real-time facial animation units (FAUs) using the Kinect V2 sensor and includes both FP assessment and classification. This paper describes the development and testing of the FP classification phase. A dataset of 375 records from 13 unilateral FP patients and 1650 records from 50 control subjects was compiled. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning methods are used to classify seven FP categories: the normal case and three severity levels: mild, moderate, and severe for the left and right sides. For better prediction results (Accuracy = 96.8%, Sensitivity = 88.9% and Specificity = 99%), an ensemble learning classifier was developed rather than one weak classifier. The ensemble approach based on SVMs was proposed for the high-dimensional data to gather the advantages of stacking and bagging. To address the problem of an imbalanced dataset, a hybrid strategy combining three separate techniques was used. Model robustness and stability was evaluated using fivefold cross-validation. The results showed that the classifier is robust, stable and performs well for different train and test samples. The study demonstrates that FAUs acquired by the Kinect sensor can be used in classifying FP. The developed FP assessment and classification system provides a detailed quantitative report and has significant advantages over existing grading scales.