New technology can determine the risk of relapse in patients with depression or bipolar disorder based on their voice.
- Artificial intelligence is able to detect relapses in patients affected by mental disorders based on the intonation of their voice or the lexical field they use.
- This technology makes it possible to monitor the evolution of symptoms and to implement appropriate treatment in the event of a relapse.
- As part of the follow-up, some patients keep voice diaries while others are called regularly by a member of the medical team.
Can we spot a relapse in a patient suffering from schizophrenia or depression through the intonation of their voice or the vocabulary they use? According to Martin Denais, president of Callyope, it is entirely possible. The French company has developed artificial intelligence (AI), which makes it possible to make the link between psychiatric symptoms and voice. “To diagnose schizophrenia, we need to identify elements of disorganization of speech. In mania, it is in the fluctuation of the rate of speech, which decreases in the depressive phase, which increases in the manic phase. We will identify links that are known in research and by clinicians except that we will look for them automatically thanks to machine learning.”he explained to BFMTV Business.
Monitoring for depressive symptoms or bipolar disorder
The company has therefore developed signal processing technologies to determine the timbre of the voice as well as the intonation. The voice data is then cross-referenced with “NLP and transcription technologies” to search for the lexical richness and the structure of the patient’s sentences.
“Our goal is to follow people who are already diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, and to follow them over time, because they have a high potential for relapse,” described the president of Callyope. As part of the follow-up, some patients choose to keep a voice diary, at least once a week, while others prefer to have a member of the care team call them from time to time. “What we are able to provide are more objective markers on the evolution of symptoms so that the doctor can read them during the consultation (…) If there is a case where the patient’s condition deteriorates too significantly between two consultations, we will be able to bring forward the appointment and act before it is too late”, he completed.
An increase in mental disorders among young people
For the president of Callyope, it is essential to develop new tools that can detect the signs of a relapse, due to the increase in psychiatric disorders, particularly among young people. In 2021, 20.8% of young people aged 18-24 were affected by depression compared to 11.7% in 2017, according to a survey by Public Health Francepublished in 2023.
