The long-standing, unfulfilled need for a comprehensive, accurate, objective, and consistent pain assessment tool for individuals who are incapable of dearly communicating said pain is now met by a new, useful, and nonobvious invention. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based methods allow for automatic assessment of pain intensity based on continuous monitoring and processing of subtle changes in sensory signals, including facial expression, body movements, and crying frequency. Currently, there is a large and growing need for expanding current AI-based approaches to the assessment of postoperative pain in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In contrast to acute procedural pain in the clinic, the NICU has neonates emerging from postoperative sedation, usually intubated, and with variable energy reserves for manifesting forceful pain responses.
System design of the proposed approach for postoperative pain assessment