Validating the efficacy and value proposition of mental fitness vocal biomarkers in a psychiatric population: prospective cohort study.

Background: The utility of vocal biomarkers for mental health assessment has gained increasing attention. This study aims to further this line of research by introducing a novel vocal scoring system designed to provide mental fitness tracking insights to users in real-world settings.

Methods: A prospective cohort study with 104 outpatient psychiatric participants was conducted to validate the "Mental Fitness Vocal Biomarker" (MFVB) score.

Acoustic Voice and Speech Biomarkers of Treatment Status during Hospitalization for Acute Decompensated Heart Failure.

This study investigates acoustic voice and speech features as biomarkers for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF), a serious escalation of heart failure symptoms including breathlessness and fatigue. ADHF-related systemic fluid accumulation in the lungs and laryngeal tissues is hypothesized to affect phonation and respiration for speech. A set of daily spoken recordings from 52 patients undergoing inpatient ADHF treatment was analyzed to identify voice and speech biomarkers for ADHF and to examine the trajectory of biomarkers during treatment.

Acoustic Measures of Dysphonia in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Purpose: Identifying efficacious measures to characterize dysphonia in complex neurodegenerative diseases is key to optimal assessment and intervention. This study evaluates the validity and sensitivity of acoustic features of phonatory disruption in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Method: Forty-nine individuals with ALS (40-79 years old) were audio-recorded while producing a sustained vowel and continuous speech.

The Impact of Tonsillectomy on the Adult Singing Voice: Acoustic and Aerodynamic Measures.

Objective: Singers undergoing tonsillectomy are understandably concerned about possible sequelae to their voice. The surgical risks of laryngeal damage from intubation and upper airway scarring are valid reasons for singers to carefully consider their options for treatment of tonsil-related symptoms. No prior studies have statistically assessed objective voice outcomes in a group of adult singers undergoing tonsillectomy.

Cepstral Peak Prominence Values for Clinical Voice Evaluation.

Purpose The goal of this study was to employ frequently used analysis methods and tasks to identify values for cepstral peak prominence (CPP) that can aid clinical voice evaluation. Experiment 1 identified CPP values to distinguish speakers with and without voice disorders. Experiment 2 was an initial attempt to estimate auditory-perceptual ratings of overall dysphonia severity using CPP values.

Identifying a creak probability threshold for an irregular pitch period detection algorithm.

Irregular pitch periods (IPPs) are associated with grammatically, pragmatically, and clinically significant types of nonmodal phonation, but are challenging to identify. Automatic detection of IPPs is desirable because accurately hand-identifying IPPs is time-consuming and requires training. The authors evaluated an algorithm developed for creaky voice analysis to automatically identify IPPs in recordings of American English conversational speech.

Acoustic speech analysis of patients with decompensated heart failure: A pilot study.

This pilot study used acoustic speech analysis to monitor patients with heart failure (HF), which is characterized by increased intracardiac filling pressures and peripheral edema. HF-related edema in the vocal folds and lungs is hypothesized to affect phonation and speech respiration. Acoustic measures of vocal perturbation and speech breathing characteristics were computed from sustained vowels and speech passages recorded daily from ten patients with HF undergoing inpatient diuretic treatment.