{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]],"date-time":"2026-02-17T14:16:19Z","timestamp":1771337779781,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,26]],"date-time":"2022-10-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1666742400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Big Data"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Apparent age estimation <jats:italic>via<\/jats:italic> human face image has attracted increased attention due to its numerous real-world applications. Predicting the apparent age has been quite difficult for machines and humans. However, researchers have focused on machine estimation of \u201cage as perceived\u201d to a high level of accuracy. To further improve the performance of apparent age estimation from the facial image, researchers continue to examine different methods to enhance its results further. This paper presents a critical review of the modern approaches and techniques for the apparent age estimation task. We also present a comparative analysis of the performance of some of those approaches on the apparent facial aging benchmark. The study also highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each approach used for apparent age estimation to guide in choosing the appropriate algorithms for future work in the field. The work focuses on the most popular algorithms and those that appear to have been the most successful for apparent age estimation to improve on the existing state-of-the-art results. We based our evaluations on three facial aging datasets, including looking at people (LAP)-2015, LAP-2016, and APPA-REAL, the most popular and publicly available datasets benchmark for apparent age estimation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fdata.2022.1025806","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,26]],"date-time":"2022-10-26T11:17:45Z","timestamp":1666783065000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Apparent age prediction from faces: A survey of modern approaches"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"5","author":[{"given":"Olatunbosun","family":"Agbo-Ajala","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Serestina","family":"Viriri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mustapha","family":"Oloko-Oba","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Olufisayo","family":"Ekundayo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Reolyn","family":"Heymann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"724","DOI":"10.24996\/ijs.2018.59.2A.10","article-title":"Intelligent age estimation from facial images using machine learning techniques","volume":"59","author":"Abbas","year":"2018","journal-title":"Iraqi J. Scie"},{"key":"B2","first-page":"87","article-title":"\u201cApparent and real age estimation in still images with deep residual regressors on appa-real database,\u201d","author":"Agustsson","year":"2017","journal-title":"Proceedings - 12th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, FG 2017- 1st International Workshop on Adaptive Shot Learning for Gesture Understanding and Production, ASL4GUP 2017"},{"key":"B3","first-page":"801","article-title":"\u201cApparent age estimation from face images combining general and children-specialized deep learning models,\u201d","author":"Antipov","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1767","DOI":"10.1093\/bib\/bbaa021","article-title":"Deep learning for biological age estimation","volume":"22","author":"Ashiqur Rahman","year":"2021","journal-title":"Brief. Bioinform"},{"key":"B5","first-page":"393","article-title":"\u201cAge estimation from facial images based on hierarchical feature selection,\u201d","author":"Bouchrika","year":"2016","journal-title":"16th International Conference on Sciences and Techniques of Automatic Control and Computer Engineering, STA 2015"},{"key":"B6","first-page":"3396","article-title":"\u201cA ranking approach for human age estimation based on face images,\u201d","author":"Chang","year":"2010","journal-title":"Proceedings-International Conference on Pattern Recognition"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1262","DOI":"10.1016\/j.patcog.2010.12.005","article-title":"Age estimation using a hierarchical classifier based on global and local facial features","volume":"44","author":"Choi","year":"2011","journal-title":"Pattern Recognit"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"20369","DOI":"10.1007\/s11042-021-10739-w","article-title":"Facial age estimation using pre-trained cnn and transfer learning","volume":"80","author":"Dagher","year":"2021","journal-title":"Multimed. Tools Appl"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4597","DOI":"10.3390\/s21134597","article-title":"A multifeature learning and fusion network for facial age estimation","volume":"21","author":"Deng","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"B10","author":"Dib","year":"2010","journal-title":"Human Age Estimation Using Enhanced Bio-Inspired Features (EBIF)"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"97","DOI":"10.5194\/isprs-archives-XLII-2-W4-97-2017","article-title":"Using supervised deep learning for human age estimation problem","author":"Drobnyh","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int. Arch. Photogram. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"758","DOI":"10.1109\/TIFS.2017.2766583","article-title":"An ensemble CNN2ELM for age estimation","volume":"13","author":"Duan","year":"","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Inf. Forensics Security"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"448","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neucom.2017.08.062","article-title":"A hybrid deep learning CNN-ELM for age and gender classification","volume":"275","author":"Duan","year":"","journal-title":"Neurocomputing"},{"key":"B14","first-page":"243","article-title":"\u201cChaLearn looking at people 2015: apparent age and cultural event recognition datasets and results,\u201d","author":"Escalera","year":"2015","journal-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision, Vol. 2015"},{"key":"B15","first-page":"706","article-title":"\u201cChaLearn looking at people and faces of the world: face analysisworkshop and challenge 2016,\u201d","author":"Escalera","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"136","DOI":"10.1109\/TMM.2016.2608786","article-title":"Human facial age estimation by cost-sensitive label ranking and trace norm regularization","volume":"19","author":"Feng","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Multimedia"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1955","DOI":"10.1109\/TPAMI.2010.36","article-title":"Age synthesis and estimation via faces: a survey","volume":"32","author":"Fu","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2825","DOI":"10.1109\/TIP.2017.2689998","article-title":"Deep label distribution learning with label ambiguity","volume":"26","author":"Gao","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Image Process"},{"key":"B19","first-page":"712","article-title":"\u201cAge estimation using expectation of label distribution learning.,\u201d","author":"Gao","year":"2018","journal-title":"IJCAI International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1178","DOI":"10.1109\/TIP.2008.924280","article-title":"Image-based human age estimation by manifold learning and locally adjusted robust regression","volume":"17","author":"Guo","year":"2008","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Image Process"},{"key":"B21","first-page":"785","article-title":"\u201cKernel ELM and CNN based facial age estimation,\u201d","author":"Gurpinar","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops"},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"239","DOI":"10.1016\/j.patrec.2015.06.006","article-title":"A deep analysis on age estimation","volume":"68","author":"Huerta","year":"2015","journal-title":"Pattern Recognit. Lett"},{"key":"B23","first-page":"722","article-title":"\u201cDeep age distribution learning for apparent age estimation,\u201d","author":"Huo","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops"},{"key":"B24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.48550\/arXiv.2105.06746","article-title":"Facial age estimation using convolutional neural networks","author":"Kj\u00e6rran","year":"2021","journal-title":"arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.06746"},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"621","DOI":"10.1109\/TSMCB.2003.817091","article-title":"Comparing different classifiers for automatic age estimation","volume":"34","author":"Lanitis","year":"2004","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. B"},{"key":"B26","first-page":"34","article-title":"\u201cAge and gender classification using convolutional neural networks,\u201d","author":"Levi","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops"},{"key":"B27","first-page":"2570","article-title":"\u201cLearning ordinal discriminative features for age estimation.,\u201d","author":"Li","year":"2012","journal-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition"},{"key":"B28","first-page":"1145","article-title":"\u201cBridgenet: a continuity-aware probabilistic network for age estimation,\u201d","author":"Li","year":"2019","journal-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition"},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.5772\/52862","article-title":"Automatic age estimation system for face images","volume":"9","author":"Lin","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. J. Adv. Robot. Syst"},{"key":"B30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"157","DOI":"10.1109\/FG.2017.28","article-title":"\u201cOrdinal deep feature learning for facial age estimation,\u201d","author":"Liu","year":"2017","journal-title":"Proceedings-12th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, FG 2017"},{"key":"B31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"486","DOI":"10.1109\/TCSVT.2017.2782709","article-title":"Ordinal deep learning for facial age estimation","volume":"29","author":"Liu","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Circ. Syst. Video Technol"},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/1757-899X\/428\/1\/012043","article-title":"Age classification using convolutional neural networks with the multi-class focal loss","author":"Liu","year":"2018","journal-title":"IOP Conf. Ser. Mater. Sci. Eng"},{"key":"B33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"11","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neucom.2016.12.038","article-title":"A survey of deep neural network architectures and their applications","volume":"234","author":"Liu","year":"2017","journal-title":"Neurocomputing"},{"key":"B34","first-page":"258","article-title":"\u201cAgeNet: deeply learned regressor and classifier for robust apparent age estimation,\u201d","author":"Liu","year":"2015","journal-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision"},{"key":"B35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1049\/cit2.12084","article-title":"\u201cAge estimation from facial images based on gabor feature fusion and the ciaso-sa algorithm,\u201d","author":"Lu","year":"2022","journal-title":"CAAI Transactions on Intelligence Technology"},{"key":"B36","first-page":"714","article-title":"\u201cApparent age estimation using ensemble of deep learning models,\u201d","author":"Malli","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops"},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"720","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-10593-2_47","article-title":"Face detection without bells and whistles","volume":"8692","author":"Mathias","year":"2014","journal-title":"Lecture Notes Comput. Sci"},{"key":"B38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.5815\/ijmecs.2015.12.03","article-title":"A review on the suitability of machine learning approaches to facial age estimation","volume":"7","author":"Onifade","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Modern Educ. Comput. Sci"},{"key":"B39","first-page":"63","article-title":"A GW ranking approach for facial age estimation","volume":"38","author":"Onifade","year":"2014","journal-title":"Egypt. Comput. Sci. J"},{"key":"B40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1927","DOI":"10.21275\/v4i12.NOV152411","article-title":"Estimation of age from face images","volume":"4","author":"Padme","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Sci. Res"},{"key":"B41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105","DOI":"10.32604\/iasc.2022.025608","article-title":"Gender-specific facial age group classification using deep learning","volume":"34","author":"Raman","year":"2022","journal-title":"Intell. Autom. Soft Comput"},{"key":"B42","first-page":"17","article-title":"\u201cAn all-in-one convolutional neural network for face analysis,\u201d","author":"Ranjan","year":"2017","journal-title":"Proceedings-12th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, FG 2017-1st International Workshop on Adaptive Shot Learning for Gesture Understanding and Production, ASL4GUP 2017"},{"key":"B43","first-page":"351","article-title":"\u201cUnconstrained age estimation with deep convolutional neural networks,\u201d","author":"Ranjan","year":"2015","journal-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision"},{"key":"B44","first-page":"252","article-title":"\u201cDEX: deep expectation of apparent age from a single image,\u201d","author":"Rothe","year":"2015","journal-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision, Vol. 2015"},{"key":"B45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"144","DOI":"10.1007\/s11263-016-0940-3","article-title":"Deep expectation of real and apparent age from a single image without facial landmarks","volume":"126","author":"Rothe","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. J. Comput. Vis"},{"key":"B46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1155\/2009\/184617","article-title":"Recognition of faces in unconstrained environments: a comparative study","volume":"2009","author":"Ruiz-Del-Solar","year":"2009","journal-title":"EURASIP J. Adv. Signal Process"},{"key":"B47","first-page":"2304","article-title":"\u201cDeep regression forests for age estimation,\u201d","author":"Shen","year":"2018","journal-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition"},{"key":"B48","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"265","DOI":"10.1037\/a0025065","article-title":"Let me guess how old you are: effects of age, gender, and facial expression on perceptions of age","volume":"27","author":"Voelkle","year":"2012","journal-title":"Psychol. Aging"},{"key":"B49","first-page":"2622","article-title":"\u201cMulti-task warped Gaussian process for personalized age estimation,\u201d","author":"Zhang","year":"2010","journal-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition"},{"key":"B50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/ICME52920.2022.9859703","article-title":"Adaptive mean-residue loss for robust facial age estimation","author":"Zhao","year":"2022","journal-title":"arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.17156"},{"key":"B51","first-page":"267","article-title":"\u201cA study on apparent age estimation,\u201d","author":"Zhu","year":"2015","journal-title":"Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Big Data"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fdata.2022.1025806\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,26]],"date-time":"2022-10-26T11:18:36Z","timestamp":1666783116000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fdata.2022.1025806\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,26]]},"references-count":51,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fdata.2022.1025806"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fdata.2022.1025806","relation":{},"ISSN":["2624-909X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2624-909X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,26]]},"article-number":"1025806"}}