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Automatic Discrimination of Laughter Using Distributed sEMG

Cosentino, S; Sessa, S; Kong, W; Zhang, D; Zecca, M; Bianchi-Berthouze, NL; (2015) Automatic Discrimination of Laughter Using Distributed sEMG. In: 2015 International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII). (pp. pp. 691-697). IEEE: Xi'an, China. Green open access

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Abstract

Laughter is a very interesting non-verbal human vocalization. It is classified as a semi voluntary behavior despite being a direct form of social interaction, and can be elicited by a variety of very different stimuli, both cognitive and physical. Automatic laughter detection, analysis and classification will boost progress in affective computing, leading to the development of more natural human-machine communication interfaces. Surface Electromyography (sEMG) on abdominal muscles or invasive EMG on the larynx show potential in this direction, but these kinds of EMG-based sensing systems cannot be used in ecological settings due to their size, lack of reusability and uncomfortable setup. For this reason, they cannot be easily used for natural detection and measurement of a volatile social behavior like laughter in a variety of different situations. We propose the use of miniaturized, wireless, dry-electrode sEMG sensors on the neck for the detection and analysis of laughter. Even if with this solution the activation of specific larynx muscles cannot be precisely measured, it is possible to detect different EMG patterns related to larynx function. In addition, integrating sEMG analysis on a multisensory compact system positioned on the neck would improve the overall robustness of the whole sensing system, enabling the synchronized measure of different characteristics of laughter, like vocal production, head movement or facial expression; being at the same time less intrusive, as the neck is normally more accessible than abdominal muscles. In this paper, we report laughter discrimination rate obtained with our system depending on different conditions.

Type: Proceedings paper
Title: Automatic Discrimination of Laughter Using Distributed sEMG
Event: 2015 International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII)
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1109/ACII.2015.7344644
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ACII.2015.7344644
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
Keywords: Electromyography, Muscles, Electrodes, Sensors, Larynx, Neck, Position measurement,laughter computing, laughter, EMG, electromyography, affective computing
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > UCL Interaction Centre
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1476179
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