Key result
Thermal imaging alone successfully detected acute stress with an accuracy of 86.84%, while a combination of thermal features and autonomic nervous system correlates achieved 97.37% accuracy.
Why the study?
Does thermal imaging accurately detect acute stress compared to or in combination with peripheral autonomic correlates in volunteers?
Observational (n=25)
Does thermal imaging accurately detect acute stress compared to or in combination with peripheral autonomic correlates in volunteers?
Thermal imaging provides a viable, contactless method for detecting acute stress with high accuracy.
May support contactless acute stress monitoring; leaves open prospective validation before clinical use.
Thermal cameras capture the infrared radiation emitted from a body in a contactless manner and can provide an indirect estimation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) dynamics through the regulation of the skin temperature. This study investigates the contribution given by thermal imaging for an effective automatic stress detection with the perspective of a contactless stress recognition system. To this aim, we recorded both ANS correlates (cardiac, electrodermal, and respiratory activity) and thermal images from 25 volunteers under acute stress induced by the Stroop test. We conducted a statistical analysis on the features extracted from each signal, and we implemented subject-independent classifications based on the support vector machine model with an embedded recursive feature elimination algorithm. Particularly, we trained three classifiers using different feature sets: the full set of features, only those derived from the peripheral autonomic correlates, and only those derived from the thermal images. Classification accuracy and feature selection results confirmed the relevant contribution provided by the thermal features in the acute stress detection task. Indeed, a combination of ANS correlates and thermal features achieved 97.37% of accuracy. Moreover, using only thermal features we could still successfully detect stress with an accuracy of 86.84% in a contact-free manner.
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Gioia et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Acute stress (n=25). Thermal imaging vs. Peripheral autonomic correlates was evaluated on Classification accuracy for acute stress detection. Thermal imaging alone successfully detected acute stress with an accuracy of 86.84%, while a combination of thermal features and autonomic nervous system correlates achieved 97.37% accuracy.
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