Hariton N. COSTIN, Cristian ROTARIU
Automatic Handwriting Analysis – a Tool for Objective Evaluation of Neuro-Motor Disorder

Abstract.
The relative great occurrence of neurological diseases that imply a neuro-motor disorder, like Parkinson or Parkinson-like syndromes, as well as their related risk factors, have determined us to introduce a method for objective assessment of the stage of that illness. Another reason for this study is that early diagnosis of many diseases assures in most cases therapeutic success. Our method is based on the automatic processing and analysis of the image of the handwritten script belonging to a candidate of that disease. The method separates handwritten text into various segments delimited by endpoints and intersection points. Different geometric features, like size, shape and orientation, belonging to clinical Parkinsonians and control (healthy) subjects, are then statistically estimated and analyzed. The result is expressed as a prognostic (risk degree to contact that illness).

Keywords: Parkinson disease, image processing and analysis, feature. extraction, handwriting analysis.