Corpus building for gesture recognition and music recommendation systems for children with autism

Date of Publication

2014

Document Type

Bachelor's Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

Subject Categories

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics | Computer Sciences

College

College of Computer Studies

Department/Unit

Computer Science

Thesis Adviser

Merlin Teodosia Suarez

Defense Panel Chair

Ethel C. Ong

Defense Panel Member

Rafael Cabredo
Jocelyn Cu

Abstract/Summary

This research revolves around building a corpus for 2 different systems that are beneficial to children with autism.The first system handles the influence of music to an autistic child's arousal level and discerns the relationship between music and autism. On the other hand, the second system focuses on analyzing patterns of gestures from children with autism in relation to stress. However, there are no existing corpora that are vast enough to establish the effects of music to an individual afflicted with autism and the gestures they exhibit in parallel with their stress level.

There are studies and practices on autism related to emotion, music therapy, and stress level reduction. It has been proven that children with autism are sensitive to music though effects of specific music features are yet to be established. This research focuses on the relationship of music to the electrodermal activity (EDA) of children with autism. EDA serves as a mean to monitor the mood of the subject for the reason that it can be interpreted as the arousal level of the subject, wherein a high arousal level could mean anger or excitement while a low arousal level maybe interpreted as boredom or calmness.

Music genre such as rock increases the EDA value of children aging 2-7 years with autism regardless of performance assessment and while classical music on the other hand lowers the EDA value on both subjects.

The specific music features that contribute to increasing the EDA are Beat Sum(Tempo) and Spectral Moments (Timbre). Classical Music on the other hand generally lowers EDA value for all children regardless of criteria rating or developmental stage.

There is a study on autism that discusses the relationship between the repetitive gestures and stress level of the child with autism. The study is focused on the relationship between gestures and stress level in determining the current mental state of children with autism. The goal of this research is to monitor a subject's emotions base on the gestures being repeated and the stress level reading.

Children with autism tend to have a specific gesture being repeated to express what they feel. These gestures combined with data on stress levels can help in determining if a child is calm or would lead to a tantrum state. Normally, children with autism express themselves through the movement of their hands and arms.

Abstract Format

html

Language

English

Format

Electronic

Accession Number

CDTU019255

Shelf Location

Archives, The Learning Commons, 12F, Henry Sy Sr. Hall

Physical Description

1 computer disc ; 4 3/4 in.

Keywords

Music therapy; Psychotherapy and music; Autism in children; Human activity recognition; Pattern recognition systems

Embargo Period

5-2-2021

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