Abstract: A system and method for determining engagement of members of an audience during a lecture. Speech by the lecturer is detected to initiate image processing, which is performed by first capturing the audience in multiple image frames using a video camera; performing edge detection on an image frame to generate a digital edge map of the frame; detecting an approximate facial region skeletal image candidate in the image frame including circular and elliptical shapes for iris, eye and face; extracting location information for a candidate face in the image frame, including eyes and irises in the skeletal image to generate approximate facial region location information; and determining, from the location information, whether required spatial relationships exist within a candidate, for that candidate to be considered as a face of one of the members. When an iris is essentially circular, the member with a corresponding face is considered to be engaged.