| dc.description.abstract | In this project I propose to cast the problem of remote patient monitoring into an application available on every device that supports a web browser. The research was done with taking into account the aim of the project which was fo- cused on checking whether it is possible to detect changes in the facial functions caused by the facial paralysis. The motivation for this work was to provide algorithms for detecting geometrical and colours differences between two halves of the face for patients who suffer from facial paralysis. The features were collected during making sequence of special facial gestures. Moreover I took advantage of existing solutions to magnify local colour and motion changes. This combination may uncover new dependencies between data set and lead to conclusions that were previously undiscovered.
In my thesis, I focused on analyzing different factors that can have influence on the processes of the extracting functional and geometrical features. The research I present aims at reviewing face, eye and mouth recognition performances in function of: distance from/to a camera, hardware used to decode information, personal features, head rotation and light conditions. Moreover, I also analyze accuracy of counting distances between specific facial points and colours differences between two halves of the face for the same parameters.
Considering possible signs, symptoms and diagnose methods of facial paralysis, I present a fully functional application, which can potentially provide a faster access to medical care and help to evaluate effectiveness of the rehabilitation methods. I believe that it may be very useful, because the telemedicine allows to reduce health care costs and give medical institutions faster access to information about their patients.
Additionally, during the research the restrictions of the measurement conditions affecting the reliability and repeatability of the results were examine and the application was tested on the group of potential users. My first conclusions are the facts that following factors may have influence on implemented algorithms:
distance from the camera
rotation and slope of the head personal features
light conditions
Under preliminary studies, using different devices did not affect the results. Based on the results it can be assumed that by analyzing distances between characteristic facial features it is possible to detect changes in the facial functions caused by face paralysis in order to evaluate therapy s effectiveness or find some new abnormalities. For colours differences it is much more difficult to formulate
a clear diagnose as this parameter is influenced by measurement conditions.
In the last part of this thesis, I conclude the project and describe possibilities for future work in this area which include for example combining this application
with professional diagnosis methods. | |
