A Comprehensive Survey of Masked Faces: Recognition, Detection, and Unmasking

Masked face recognition (MFR) has emerged as a critical domain in biometric identification, especially with the global COVID-19 pandemic, which introduced widespread face masks. This survey paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and advancements in recognizing and detecting indivi...

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Main Authors: Mohamed Mahmoud, Mahmoud SalahEldin Kasem, Hyun-Soo Kang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-09-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/19/8781
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author Mohamed Mahmoud
Mahmoud SalahEldin Kasem
Hyun-Soo Kang
author_facet Mohamed Mahmoud
Mahmoud SalahEldin Kasem
Hyun-Soo Kang
author_sort Mohamed Mahmoud
collection DOAJ
description Masked face recognition (MFR) has emerged as a critical domain in biometric identification, especially with the global COVID-19 pandemic, which introduced widespread face masks. This survey paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and advancements in recognizing and detecting individuals with masked faces, which has seen innovative shifts due to the necessity of adapting to new societal norms. Advanced through deep learning techniques, MFR, along with face mask recognition (FMR) and face unmasking (FU), represents significant areas of focus. These methods address unique challenges posed by obscured facial features, from fully to partially covered faces. Our comprehensive review explores the various deep learning-based methodologies developed for MFR, FMR, and FU, highlighting their distinctive challenges and the solutions proposed to overcome them. Additionally, we explore benchmark datasets and evaluation metrics specifically tailored for assessing performance in MFR research. The survey also discusses the substantial obstacles still facing researchers in this field and proposes future directions for the ongoing development of more robust and effective masked face recognition systems. This paper serves as an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners, offering insights into the evolving landscape of face recognition technologies in the face of global health crises and beyond.
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spelling doaj-art-74bdcb7d12cb4fe2a14af2c338defbc52025-08-20T01:47:44ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172024-09-011419878110.3390/app14198781A Comprehensive Survey of Masked Faces: Recognition, Detection, and UnmaskingMohamed Mahmoud0Mahmoud SalahEldin Kasem1Hyun-Soo Kang2Department of Information and Communication Engineering, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju-si 28644, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Information and Communication Engineering, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju-si 28644, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Information and Communication Engineering, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju-si 28644, Republic of KoreaMasked face recognition (MFR) has emerged as a critical domain in biometric identification, especially with the global COVID-19 pandemic, which introduced widespread face masks. This survey paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and advancements in recognizing and detecting individuals with masked faces, which has seen innovative shifts due to the necessity of adapting to new societal norms. Advanced through deep learning techniques, MFR, along with face mask recognition (FMR) and face unmasking (FU), represents significant areas of focus. These methods address unique challenges posed by obscured facial features, from fully to partially covered faces. Our comprehensive review explores the various deep learning-based methodologies developed for MFR, FMR, and FU, highlighting their distinctive challenges and the solutions proposed to overcome them. Additionally, we explore benchmark datasets and evaluation metrics specifically tailored for assessing performance in MFR research. The survey also discusses the substantial obstacles still facing researchers in this field and proposes future directions for the ongoing development of more robust and effective masked face recognition systems. This paper serves as an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners, offering insights into the evolving landscape of face recognition technologies in the face of global health crises and beyond.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/19/8781masked face recognitionmasked face identificationmasked face verificationface mask removalface unmaskingface mask recognition
spellingShingle Mohamed Mahmoud
Mahmoud SalahEldin Kasem
Hyun-Soo Kang
A Comprehensive Survey of Masked Faces: Recognition, Detection, and Unmasking
Applied Sciences
masked face recognition
masked face identification
masked face verification
face mask removal
face unmasking
face mask recognition
title A Comprehensive Survey of Masked Faces: Recognition, Detection, and Unmasking
title_full A Comprehensive Survey of Masked Faces: Recognition, Detection, and Unmasking
title_fullStr A Comprehensive Survey of Masked Faces: Recognition, Detection, and Unmasking
title_full_unstemmed A Comprehensive Survey of Masked Faces: Recognition, Detection, and Unmasking
title_short A Comprehensive Survey of Masked Faces: Recognition, Detection, and Unmasking
title_sort comprehensive survey of masked faces recognition detection and unmasking
topic masked face recognition
masked face identification
masked face verification
face mask removal
face unmasking
face mask recognition
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/19/8781
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