A CNN-LSTM Hybrid Model for Parkinson's Disease Detection from Handwritten Spirals using Transfer Learning

Shreya Shankar*
KJ Somaiya School of Engineering, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Periodicity:April - June'2025
DOI : https://doi.org/10.26634/jip.12.2.21905

Abstract

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder that significantly affects motor skills, typically altering a person's handwriting. This work investigates deep learning-based approaches for classifying Parkinson's Disease using images of handwritten spiral drawings. The study began with a transfer learning approach using EfficientNet, as well as a CNN-LSTM architecture that combines convolutional and recurrent layers for spatial- temporal feature modeling. However, both approaches individually yielded suboptimal results, each achieving only 50% classification accuracy. To overcome these limitations, a hybrid model is proposed that integrates MobileNet, a lightweight and efficient convolutional neural network, with a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) layer to capture both spatial and temporal dynamics in handwriting patterns. This MobileNet+LSTM architecture demonstrated significant performance gains, achieving 87% accuracy on the publicly available Parkinson's Drawings Dataset. These results suggest that combining transfer learning with temporal sequence modeling is a highly effective strategy for handwriting-based Parkinson's diagnosis, offering a non-invasive and scalable solution for early detection.

Keywords

Parkinson's Disease, Deep Learning, Handwriting Analysis, MobileNet, LSTM, Spiral Drawings.

How to Cite this Article?

Shankar, S. (2025). A CNN-LSTM Hybrid Model for Parkinson's Disease Detection from Handwritten Spirals using Transfer Learning. i-manager’s Journal on Image Processing, 12(2), 16-27. https://doi.org/10.26634/jip.12.2.21905

References

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