A Preliminary Study of the Reliability of Anatomical Facial Landmarks Used in Facial Comparison

Anatomical landmarks are considered the most objective indicators for use in forensic facial comparisons. Therefore, accurately identifying and locating these landmarks is the beginning of reliable facial comparison. This study evaluated the accuracy with which facial landmarks are located and exami...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of forensic sciences 2019-03, Vol.64 (2), p.519-527
Main Authors: Lee, Won‐Joon, Kim, Dong‐Min, Lee, U‐Young, Cho, Jin‐Hyoung, Kim, Min‐Su, Hong, Jong‐Ha, Hwang, Young‐Il
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
accuracy
comparison
Face
facial image
forensic science
Forensic sciences
Head
head posture
Image quality
Indicators
landmark
Reliability
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Summary:Anatomical landmarks are considered the most objective indicators for use in forensic facial comparisons. Therefore, accurately identifying and locating these landmarks is the beginning of reliable facial comparison. This study evaluated the accuracy with which facial landmarks are located and examined their reliability according to type of landmark, head posture, and image quality. Nine operators located a series of landmarks on prepared facial images used to produce comparison images. Then, the average distances between the reciprocal landmarks (ADRL) on the reference and the comparison images were measured as indicators of landmark reliability. We found that a set of landmarks had higher or lower reliability as a function of the head angle and image quality. More reliable landmarks were associated with certain head postures and degrees of image quality. These should be used for facial comparison analysis depending on various head and image conditions.
ISSN:0022-1198
1556-4029
DOI:10.1111/1556-4029.13873