Assessment of voice stress in children.

An assessment of voice stress in two children presenting for psychiatric treatment is accomplished through the use of a new instrument called the Psychological Stress Evaluator (PSE-1). It is designed to measure the audible and inaudible voice frequencies whose strengths and patterns relate inversely to the degree of psychological stress in the voice of the speaker. Stressful responses were found in 1-hour recordings of psychiatric interviews with these two children and data analysis was organized into three major categories: content of communication, responses to therapist-posed questions, and miscellaneous responses not included in the other two categories.