When Raman Spectral Fidelity and Bacterial Classification Accuracy Diverge
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Spectral error and classification error can respond differently to the same change in a Raman spectrum. We compared three derivative errors and three versions of spectral information divergence (SID) against mean squared error (MSE) using a fixed bacterial classification task. All derivative errors were less closely aligned with classification harm than MSE. SID improved alignment gap and ordering concordance only after Gaussian smoothing at 10 cm−1. In a separate test, Gaussian broadening increased MSE throughout the tested range, while mean accuracy first rose and then fell. Including broadening among the perturbations retained Wasserstein distance’s advantage over MSE and increased peak F1’s relative disadvantage. For this classifier, closer agreement with the original spectrum did not consistently imply higher accuracy.
Source: ECSarXiv (OSF Preprints)
Author: yonghe li
Language: English
Subfield: Biophysics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7221532399