Graph-based Group Modelling for Backchannel Detection

Garima Sharma, Kalin Stefanov, Abhinav Dhall, Jianfei Cai

Abstract: The brief responses given by listeners in group conversations are known as backchannels rendering the task of backchannel detection an essential facet of group interaction analysis. Most of the current backchannel detection studies explore various audio-visual cues for individuals. However, analysing all group members is of utmost importance for backchannel detection, like any group interaction. This study uses a graph neural network to model group interaction through all members' implicit and explicit behaviours. The proposed method achieves the best and second best performance on agreement estimation and backchannel detection tasks, respectively, of the 2022 MultiMediate: Multi-modal Group Behaviour Analysis for Artificial Mediation challenge.