The Sound of Depression: How Digital Health Apps Are Detecting Mental Health Issues Through Vocal Biomarkers
When you call your best friend, can you tell they're feeling down just by the way they say "Hello" when they pick up the phone? That's a sign of where the digital mental health space is headed.
A recent study in Frontiers in Psychology reveals fascinating data on how mental health apps use vocal biomarkers to detect depression. These apps analyze your voice to identify potential signs of mental health issues.
The Study: Listening to Depressed People
Results: Vocal Biomarkers Correlate with Depression
Researchers found statistically significant correlation between vocal scores and clinical mental health assessments, especially depression and stress-related and trauma-related disorders.
Eight vocal features were found to have a connection to mental health:
The Future of Voice Input for Mental Health Apps
These are signs of where the digital mental health space is headed. For most people, especially when they're feeling down, voice input is more accessible and intuitive.
We'll likely see more research about the fundamental connections between how we speak, how we feel, and how it can help people with their mental health.
VP Marketing at RxOnWeb
5 个月Love this! The idea of using vocal biomarkers to detect depression through mental health apps is intriguing. Imagine how much easier it could be for people to get help!
Writing about health trends and startups. Exes: The Hustle, Trends, HubSpot
5 个月This vocal biomarker stuff is so exciting
B2B/B2C Content Marketing Writer | Behavioral Healthcare Tech | Substance Use Disorder Tech | Education
5 个月This sounds so promising, but as we’ve seen recently (such as Google’s AI rollout & reports of self-driving cars), the gap between promise & reality where advanced tech is involved can be significant. Not to mention the ethical/privacy concerns. Hate to think of the harm that a premature/unsuccessful rollout of this tech could cause. That said, this will definitely be a topic to keep an eye on - thanks so much for posting about it!