Deep Learning Neural Networks for Emotion Classification from Text: Enhanced Leaky Rectified Linear Unit Activation and Weighted Loss

Accurate emotion classification for online reviews is vital for business organizations to gain deeper insights into markets. Although deep learning has been successfully implemented in this area, accuracy and processing time are still major problems preventing it from reaching its full potential. This paper proposes an Enhanced Leaky Rectified Linear Unit activation and Weighted Loss (ELReLUWL) algorithm for enhanced text emotion classification and faster parameter convergence speed. This algorithm includes the definition of the inflection point and the slope for inputs on the left side of the inflection point to avoid gradient saturation. It also considers the weight of samples belonging to each class to compensate for the influence of data imbalance. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) combined with the proposed algorithm to increase the classification accuracy and decrease the processing time by eliminating the gradient saturation problem and minimizing the negative effect of data imbalance, demonstrated on a binary sentiment problem. The results show that the proposed solution achieves better classification performance in different data scenarios and different review types. The proposed model takes less convergence time to achieve model optimization with seven epochs against the current convergence time of 11.5 epochs on average. The proposed solution improves accuracy and reduces the processing time of text emotion classification. The solution provides an average class accuracy of 96.63% against a current average accuracy of 91.56%. It also provides a processing time of 23.3 milliseconds compared to the current average processing time of 33.2 milliseconds. Finally, this study solves the issues of gradient saturation and data imbalance. It enhances overall average class accuracy and decreases processing time.