Psychophysical Validation of A Digital Method to Assess Ill‐Defined Visual Boundaries: An Example with Fabric Openness Factor

Abstract

Fabric openness factor (OF) is the fraction of the web area that is uncovered by yarns. OF is a critical feature regarding the end-use performance of the fabric and should be accurately assessed.However, digital OF estimates yielded by image binarization algorithms differ among them depending on the criteria used, mainly due to ill-defined boundaries, thus precluding a PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSThis work addresses the problems that arise at the moment of measuring the area of a region with illdefined boundaries without any standard to control the process of measurement. Similar problems are also found in important fields such as medical imaging. In these cases, there are usually different digital methods that give rise to estimates of the magnitude which mismatch among them. To solve these differences, a more common approach is to use estimates provided by a panel of observers and consider them to be objective, regardless of the bias between subjective responses and actual values.However, visual estimates do not show either accuracy (because they are psychophysical measures) or precision (due to the variability among observers). To overcome these difficulties, we propose a procedure to validate a digital method through visual estimates provided by a panel of observers, taking into account the psychophysical models of Fechner and Stevens.

A procedure for validating the use of photographs as surrogates for samples in sensory measurement of appearance: An example with color of cooked turkey patties

“…For sensory and consumer research, visual characteristics of products are becoming increasingly important. Recent research ranging from food to textiles to wood and personal care products has been conducted using photographs or computer generated or adapted images (de Morais & Pereira, ; Deliza, Macfie, & Hedderley, ; Dooley, Adhikari, &Chambers, ; Jensen, Edelenbos, & Thybo, 2013; Jervis, Jervis, Guthrie, & Drake, ; López Osornio et al, ; Mielby, Hopfer, Jensen, Thybo, & Heymann, ; Sun, Koppel, & Chambers, ; Tàpias, Ralló, & Escofet, ; Xue, Zeng, Keohl, & Shen, 2016). Mielby et al () specifically mentioned that the use of photographs can minimize preparation and reduce costs.…”