The model is anticipated to be quite useful for speeding up the research process on sexually linked facial features, as well as lead to future applications in the fields of facial treatments and diagnostics.
Beyond displays of personalized gender expression such as hair length, jewelry, and/or the use of make-up, humans are adept at analyzing a host of facial features to assess the sex of unfamiliar individuals.
According to the scientists, despite all the measurable differences between prototypical female and male faces, the science of assessing the gender quality of faces has relied on the subjective opinion of many participants until now.
Technology can ensure efficient analysis for facial experts
The team says normally a single study to determine these measurable differences may require as many as 700 people to participate a cumbersome dataset, which then needs to be further analyzed to produce concise results.
In an effort to accelerate this research process, this multidisciplinary group of computer scientists and human anatomy experts developed a mathematical model that allows a computer to evaluate the gender of a 3D human face.
90% accuracy
The algorithm calculates how masculine and feminine a face is based up a number of different measures between major facial structures.
The computer’s assessment corresponds nearly 90% of the time with a human’s subjective evaluation of a face’s gender.
In addition, the new computer program has great potential for use in the field of cosmetic surgery where patients must be evaluated both before and after an operation.