Speech Characteristics in Depression

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between speech characteristics and psychopathology throughout the course of affective disturbances. Our sample comprised 20 depressive, hospitalized patients who had been selected according to the following criteria: (1) first admission; (2) long-term patient; (3) early entry into study; (4) late entry into study; (5) low scorer; (6) high scorer, and (7) distinct retarded-depressive symptomatology. Since our principal goal was to model the course of affective disturbances in terms of speech parameters, a total of 6 repeated measurements had been carried out over a 2-week period, including 3 different psychopathological instruments and speech recordings from automatic speech as well as from reading out loud. It turned out that neither applicability nor efficiency of single-parameter models depend in any way on the given, clinically defined subgroups. On the other hand, however, no significant differences between the clinically defined subgroups showed up with regard to basic speech parameters, except for the fact that low scorers seemed to take their time when producing utterances (this in contrast to all other patients who, on the average, had a considerably shorter recording time). As to the relationship between psychopathology and speech parameters over time, we found significant correlations: (1) in 60% of cases between the apathic syndrome and energy/dynamics; (2) in 50% of cases between the retarded-depressive syndrome and energy/dynamics; (3) in 45% of cases between the apathic syndrome and mean vocal pitch, and (4) in 71 % of low scores between the somatic-depressive syndrome and time duration of pauses. All in all, single parameter models turned out to cover only specific aspects of the individual courses of affective disturbances, thus speaking against a simple approach which applies in general.

Vocal indicators of mood change in depression

“…Here, most studies have found a decrease in F0 after therapy or during positive mood states (Askenfelt & Sjoelin, 1980;Kuny & Stassen, 1993;Tolkmitt, Helfrich, Standke, & Scherer, 1982) whereas one study suggested an increase in F0 . No significant effects were found by Nilsonne (1987) and Stassen et al (1991).…”

“…In most studies, depressive speech has been found to have a rather narrow range as well as a restricted variability for F0 (Newman & Mather, 1938;Zuberbier, 1957;Ostwald, 1964;Hargreaves, Starkweather, & Blacker, 1965;Bannister, 1972). Accordingly, F0 range widens and variability increases after successful therapy and mood improvement (Kuny & Stassen, 1993;Nilsonne, 1987;Stassen et al, 1991). However, there are a few cases where the opposite effect, .…”

Analysis of acoustic space variability in speech affected by depression

“…Therefore a speaker with a breathy voice, due to reasons unrelated to depression, could present as a false positive in a classifier based purely on NAQ. Similarly errors could be introduced to a prosodic based classifier due simply due to natural variations in speaking style (Nilsonne et al, 1987;Stassen et al, 1991). However using this same set of effects (Table 2), we can infer that depression produces a wide range of alterations in speech motor control, i.e.…”

Voice acoustic measures of depression severity and treatment response collected via interactive voice response (IVR) technology

“…Darby and Hollien (1977) found listeners of speech recorded from depressed patients could perceive differences in the pitch, loudness, speaking rate, and articulation before and after treatment. Acoustical signal-processing technology available at the time was not adequate to cross-validate the subjective observations, but has been refined for analysis of depression-related speech characteristics over subsequent decades (e.g., Darby, Simmons, & Berger, 1984;Kuny & Stassen, 1993;Nilsonne, 1987Nilsonne, , 1988Scherer & Zei, 1988;Stassen, 1988;Stassen, Bomben, & Gunther, 1991). In recent years, advances in the techniques for eliciting and analyzing speech samples have been reported and validated in the literature (e.g., Alpert, Pouget, & Silva, 2001;Alpert, Shaw, Pouget, & Lim, 2002;Breznitz, 2001;France, Shiavi, Silverman, Silverman, & Wilkes, 2000;Garcia-Toro, Talavera, Saiz-Ruiz, & Gonzalez, 2000;Parsa & Jamieson, 2001;Stassen, Kuny, & Hell, 1998;Wuyts et al, 2000).…”