Geoffrey Branger
Our voice can already control a connected speaker or interact with our car. Soon we may even be able to know our health with just our voice. Studies on vocal biomarkers are multiplying and this could change everything in the detection and monitoring of some pathologies.
Assess your health with your voice to detect or monitor the evolution of respiratory diseases (asthma, Covid-19, etc.), neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, etc.) or even psychiatric disorders (depression, anxiety, etc. ) To be possible. Numerous studies of vocal biomarkers, or disease-specific signatures, are underway, and researchers are able to confidently state that any disease affecting the lungs, heart, brain, muscles, or even the vocal cords can lead to changes in voice.
That is why, using artificial intelligence, it is possible to identify some diseases. The research is only just beginning, but the first results are already there. “We have developed a first marker to identify depressive symptoms, exclusively from patients’ voice recordings,” notes Guy Fagherazzi, director of the department of precision medicine at the Luxembourg Institute of Health.
Follow the evolution of his pathology directly on his smartphone
This new technology could see the light in applications for the telephone, for example, which will allow patients to follow the evolution of their pathology. “We could also imagine augmented teleconsultations,” adds Guy Fagherazzi, “with real-time voice analysis so that there can be instantaneous analysis of health parameters during the conversation between the healthcare professional and the patient.”
The recovered data is still not enough today. This is why the researchers are asking as many people as possible to send them voice recordings. To participate you need to go to the site colivevoice.org. All you need is a smartphone, an internet connection and thirty minutes for free.
