Analysis of facial expression parameters recorded by video on a mobile device for the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease for people living in rural and remote communities. A comparative study between people with early to mid-stage Parkinson's disease and age-matched healthy volunteers.

Analysis of facial expressions recorded via video is a non-invasive and promising diagnostic tool for the early detection of PD. This study proposes to use expression analysis recorded as a video utilising computer vision and machine learning techniques as a non-invasive method to identify Parkinson's disease. Up to eight facial feature tasks will be video recorded. The researcher will record videos in person of people with Parkinson's disease performing 8 or less facial tasks and upload the video records to Google Drive, whereas the healthy people will conduct the task themselves online and upload the videos through Google Forms. This study will accept patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease via Goulburn Valley Health, Dandenong Neurology, and the Monash Health clinic. In association with Parkinson's Australia the research team will recruit People living with PD (PLwPD) who are living in the community but not attending one of the clinics that are associated with current recruitment sites. In this case participants will either complete the facial expression tasks in a community setting or in their own home. Up to 8 of the following tests will be conducted: • the syllable “pa” as quickly as possible in a single breath (PA); • the syllable “pataka” as quickly as possible in a single breath (PATAKA); • five repetitions of pretending to blow a candle (BLOW); • five repetitions of pretending to kiss a baby (KISS); • five repetitions of maximum opening of the jaw (OPEN); • five repetitions of pretending to smile with tight lips (SPREAD), • five repetitions of making a big smile (BIGSMILE); • five repetitions of raising the eyebrows (BROW). The duration of the recording session is less than 5 minutes and, when people living with PD (PLwPD) participate in the trial from their own home, only one facial expression is required - three repetitions of making a big smile. The approximate time for completing this task is less than one minute. However, the task needs to be completed twice a day, once in the morning after taking PD medication and once in the afternoon, six or more hours after taking the PD medication. The trial continues over a 4 week period and participants are requested to complete the task every day over this period.