Can Character Embeddings Improve Cause-of-Death Classification for Verbal Autopsy Narratives?

AbstractWe present two models for combining word and character embeddings for cause-of-death classification of verbal autopsy reports using the text of the narratives. We find that for smaller datasets (500 to 1000 records), adding character information to the model improves classification, making character-based CNNs a promising method for automated verbal autopsy coding.