You smile more when you're depressed: Pilot AI-powered apps can detect depression early via eyes and facial gestures

Researchers are developing AI-powered apps to detect depression by tracking facial gestures and eye movements.

Depression is a silent killer and a serious threat to mental wellbeing, with individuals often putting up a facade to hide their inner turmoil. It becomes essential to detect the early signs of depression so that one can receive early treatments. A study revealed it could actually be possible through the usage of smartphones. Researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology conceptualised two smartphone apps that could soon help identify depression just by analyzing your face and eyes.

Facial gestures and eye movements can tell a lot about mental wellness. (Pexels)

This is a pioneering and groundbreaking moment, led by Professor Sang Won Bae and doctoral candidate Rahul Islam. It denotes a significant advancement in early mental health detection using AI. Turning smartphones, which are widely accessible, into diagnostic tools to detect depression is a step forward in effective and convenient mental health screening and treatment. Researchers have developed two AI-powered apps to identify symptoms of depression.

 

Pupilsense- identifies depression through the eye

 

Eyes can mirror depressive episodes. (Pexels)

Pupilsense detects depression through the changes in the eye. It is done by drawing a comparison between the size of the pupil to the iris. Previous research also reiterated the association of pupillary reflexes with depressive episodes. The app works by capturing quick, 10-second snapshots of your eyes when you open or use your phone.

The study had 25 volunteers over four weeks and the app evaluated about 16,000 interactions in four weeks. The initial results of the app were encouraging as the app accurately identified depressive episodes 76% of the time. It outperformed the present smartphone-based system. It is groundbreaking as this method of detection requires no special devices or equipments.

Facepsy- analyses the facial expressions

The second app is called FacePsy, and it assesses facial muscle movements and head gestures to reveal a person's emotional state. FacePsy functions in the background, capturing images when the phone is in use. These images are immediately deleted after analysis to ensure privacy.

The results revealed surprising insights. Participants who used the app and smiled more were found to have potential signs of depression. This suggests that people struggling with mental health issues often put on a brave face, even when they are internally struggling. Certain eye and head patterns, such as side-to-side yawing movements in the morning, were linked to depressive symptoms. These notable apps are still in the initial stages of development but highlight the need to revolutionize early depression detection through everyday smartphone use.