Multilingual markers of depression in remotely collected speech samples: a preliminary analysis
Background
Speech contains neuromuscular, physiological and cognitive components, and so is a potential biomarker of mental disorders. Previous studies indicate that speaking rate and pausing are associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, results are inconclusive as many studies are small and underpowered and do not include clinical samples. These studies have also been unilingual and use speech collected in controlled settings. If speech markers are to help understand the onset and progress of MDD, we need to uncover markers that are robust to language and establish the strength of associations in real-world data.
Methods
We collected speech data in 585 participants with a history of MDD in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Netherlands as part of the RADAR-MDD study. Participants recorded their speech via smartphones every two weeks for 18 months. Linear mixed models were used to estimate the strength of specific markers of depression from a set of 28 speech features.
Results
Increased depressive symptoms were associated with speech rate, articulation rate and intensity of speech elicited from a scripted task. These features had consistently stronger effect sizes than pauses.
Limitations
Our findings are derived at the cohort level so may have limited impact on identifying intra-individual speech changes associated with changes in symptom severity. The analysis of features averaged over the entire recording may have underestimated the importance of some features.
Conclusions
Participants with more severe depressive symptoms spoke more slowly and quietly. Our findings are from a real-world, multilingual, clinical dataset so represent a step-change in the usefulness of speech as a digital phenotype of MDD.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
J Affect DisordISSN
0165-0327Publisher
Elsevier BVPublisher URL
External DOI
Volume
341Page range
128-136Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes