Validating the Correct Wearing of Protection Mask by Taking a Selfie: Design of a Mobile Application “CheckYourMask” to Limit the Spread of COVID-19
- Karim Hammoudi1,2,*, Adnane Cabani3, Halim Benhabiles4, Mahmoud Melkemi1,2
1 Department of Computer Science, Université de Haute-Alsace, IRIMAS, Mulhouse, F-68100, France
2 Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 67081, France
3 Normandie Univ, UNIROUEN, ESIGELEC, IRSEEM, Rouen, 76000, France
4 Univ. Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, Univ. Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, Yncrea Hauts-de-France, UMR 8520-IEMN, Lille F-59000, France
* Corresponding Author: Karim Hammoudi. Email:
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Computer Modelling of Transmission, Spread, Control and Diagnosis of COVID-19)
2 Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 67081, France
3 Normandie Univ, UNIROUEN, ESIGELEC, IRSEEM, Rouen, 76000, France
4 Univ. Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, Univ. Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, Yncrea Hauts-de-France, UMR 8520-IEMN, Lille F-59000, France
* Corresponding Author: Karim Hammoudi. Email:
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Computer Modelling of Transmission, Spread, Control and Diagnosis of COVID-19)
Received 22 May 2020; Accepted 21 July 2020; Issue published 21 August 2020
Abstract
In a context of a virus that is transmissive by sputtering, wearing masks
appear necessary to protect the wearer and to limit the propagation of the disease.
Currently, we are facing the 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease with first symptoms similar to the
flu. The symptom of COVID-19 was reported first in China and very quickly
spreads to the rest of the world. The COVID-19 contagiousness is known to be
high by comparison with the flu. In this paper, we propose a design of a mobile
application for permitting everyone having a smartphone and being able to take a
picture to verify that his/her protection mask is correctly positioned on his/her
face. Such application can be particularly useful for people using face protection
mask for the first time and notably for children and old people. The designed
method exploits Haar-like feature descriptors to detect key features of the face
and a decision-making algorithm is applied. Experimental results show the potential of this method in the validation of the correct mask wearing. To the best of our
knowledge, our work is the only one that currently proposes a mobile application
design “CheckYourMask” for validating the correct wearing of protection mask.
Keywords
Face protection masks; public health support; health education; COVID-19; coronavirus; e-health; m-health; mobile health; public health system; epidemic prevention and control
Cite This Article
Hammoudi, K., Cabani, A., Benhabiles, H., Melkemi, M. (2020). Validating the Correct Wearing of Protection Mask by Taking a Selfie: Design of a Mobile Application “CheckYourMask” to Limit the Spread of COVID-19. CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, 124(3), 1049–1059.
