A speech-based convolutional neural network for human body posture classification

Abstract

Problem In recent years, computing and sensing advances have helped to develop efficient human posture classification systems, which assist in creating health systems that contribute to enhancing elder’s and disable’s life quality in context-aware and ambient assistive living applications. Other applications of body posture classification include the simulation of human bodies into virtual characters, security applications such as kidnapping and the body position of the kidnapper or victim, which can provide useful information to the negotiator or the rescue team, and other sports applications. Aim This work aims to propose a body posture classification system based on speech using deep learning techniques. Methods All samples pass through the preprocessing phase. The Mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) with 12 coefficients was used as features, and the best features were selected by the correlation-based feature selection method. Two supervised learning techniques called artificial hydrocarbon networks (AHN) and convolutional neural networks (CNN) were deployed to efficiently classify body postures and movements. This research aims to detect six human positions through speech, which include walking downstairs, sitting, walking upstairs, running, laying, and walking. The dataset used in this work was prepared by the authors, named the human activity speech dataset. Results The best performance gained was with the AHN classifier of 68.9% accuracy and 67.1% accuracy with the CNN. Conclusion It was concluded that the MFCC features are the most powerful features in body position classification, and the deep learning methods are powerful in classifying body positions.