Is age or culture important for the use of speech as a marker of depression?
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1
The University of Melbourne, Australia
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2
Center for Psychological Research, Training, and Consultation, United States
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3
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, United States
Speech is a marker of depression severity and treatment response. Following on from a multisite randomised control trial which demonstrated the feasibility and validity of obtaining neurophysiologically based acoustic measures of depression in 25-65 year old English speakers, we sought to determine the efficacy of the methods in related clinically important cohorts: defined by age and language.
125 adults with major depression were recruited into an 8-week, open label observational study. Four cohorts were included: two English speaking groups (‘younger’ (n= 38) (18-25 years) and ‘older’ (n=27) (60-78 years)) and two Chinese speaking groups (Mandarin (n=29) and Cantonese speakers (n=31)). Participants beginning new treatments for depression were clinically evaluated at baseline, study midpoint (4 weeks), and end-point (8 weeks). After face to face assessment, participants completed the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology - Interactive Voice Response (QIDS-IVR) version using touch-tone telephones. Speech samples were also recorded for analysis of acoustic characteristics as clinical markers of depression severity and response to treatment.
Timing-based measures of speech production, particularly during the performance of automatic speech tasks, showed the most significant correlations with overall depression severity. Specifically, associations between depression severity and total recording durations, pause times, pause variability, and speaking rates were consistent with previous studies. Few acoustic markers of speech, however, were significantly correlated with treatment response.
Speech was significantly correlated with depression severity in all groups. Altered speech production and its relationship with clinician defined clinician treatment response was not clearly demonstrated, possibility due to low treatment response rates.
Acknowledgements
We thank Tracy Reyes and Ben Barth for their support, time and effort during the study. Dr. Vogel has received research support from the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia, #10012302). The study was funded by a National Institutes of Health, Small Business Innovation Research Grant (Phase II).
References
Mundt JC, Vogel AP, Feltner DE, Lenderking WR. Vocal Acoustic Biomarkers of Depression Severity and Treatment Response. Biological Psychiatry 2012;72(7):580-587
Keywords:
Speech,
Acoustics,
Depressive Disorder, Major,
Clinical Trials as Topic,
Interactive voice response,
Voice,
assessment,
treatment outcome
Conference:
ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29 Nov - 2 Dec, 2012.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Language
Citation:
Vogel
AP and
Mundt
JC
(2012). Is age or culture important for the use of speech as a marker of depression?.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.208.00109
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Received:
25 Oct 2012;
Published Online:
07 Nov 2012.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Adam P Vogel, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia, vogela@unimelb.edu.au