Fast Learning Network Algorithm for Voice Pathology Detection and Classification

The utilisation of ML (Machine Learning) techniques in the detection of the VP (Voice Pathology) has recently gained a lot of consideration. However, these efforts still have several drawbacks such as: I) the accuracy rates of most previous works are still not promising and need more improvement. II) The majority of the previous works have concentrated on the task of VP detection only and disregarded the task of VP classification. III) Most of the previous works have been assessed based on a single voice data only like the vowel /a/, and the other vowels (/i/, and /u/) and sentences were disregarded. IV) The majority of the previous works performance were assessed utilising a limited evaluation metrics. Recently, one of the utmost effective ML techniques is FLN (Fast Learning Network), it is an efficient technique for data classification. However, the FLN classifier has not been implemented to the problem of VP detection and classification. Therefore, this research proposes the FLN classifier with MFCC (Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficient) features in order to enhance the accuracy of the VP detection and classification. The FLN classifier has the ability to a) solve both binary and multiclass classification issues, b) eliminate overfitting, as well as c) operate akin to a NN (Neural Network) structure while employing the principles of a kernel-based SVM (Support Vector Machine). In this research, the SVD (Saarbrucken Voice Database) dataset was utilised to assess the FLN classifier performance in the VP detection and classification. The assessment of the proposed FLN classifier was conducted based on two phases: the first phase includes all the voice samples of the SVD dataset with the sentences and vowels (i.e., /a/, /i/, and /u/) which are pronounced in neutral, high, and low pitches. While the second phase uses the voice samples of the utmost common 3 pathology types (i.e., paralysis, polyp, and cyst) based on the vowel /a/ that is pronounced in neutral pitch. The experiments outcomes have revealed that the proposed FLN classifier was capable to accomplished the highest results with 84.64% accuracy, 97.39% precision, 86.05% recall, 86.80% F-measure, 86.81% G-mean, and 88.24% specificity. This indicates that the FLN can be considered a dependable classifier for detecting and classifying the VP, potentially offering valuable solutions for various healthcare sector applications.