Publication: An Explainable Transformer Model for Pain Intensity Assessment Using Multi-Modal Facial Sequential Images
Authors: Xian Du, Meysam Safarzadeh, Maoqin Zhu, Shishir Prasad, Sudeshna Das, Joohyun Chung Abstract Pain monitoring and assessment traditionally rely on subjective methods such as self-reports and caregiver evaluations, which can be costly and often inaccurate due to their inherent subjectivity and reliance on the individual's communication skills. Many objective methods have been introduced to address these issues, primarily utilizing single or multiple wearable sensor modalities. However, these approaches face challenges in home care settings, particularly concerning continuous wearability and discomfort, especially among elderly users. An alternative solution is using patient monitoring tools such as various imaging modalities to detect pain-related facial expressions. In this paper, we developed a new transformer model to extract pain-related features from facial expressions captured through three imaging modalities—RGB, thermal, and depth across sequential images. This method can leverage the…