A new type of medical care could be on the way, and it might just be driven by your voice. Medical companies like Kintsugi, Winterlight Labs, and Sonde Health have begun to fundraise and find clients for technology that they say could provide diagnoses using only a Zoom call.
By analyzing the patterns of a speaker, inferences can be made about their health and wellbeing.
Called “voice biomarkers,” a broad range of maladies can be detected by specific vocal patterns in patients. A sufferer of depression may “take more pauses” and “stop more often,” says Maria Espinola, psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Cincinatti College of Medicine in an interview with the New York Times. “Their speech is generally more monotone, flatter, and softer. They have a reduced pitch range and lower volume.”
Sonde Health in Boston, MA employs audio signal processing and machine learning to scan for signs of asthma and other lung diseases, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and even COVID-19.
In July 2021, a partnership with Qualcomm was announced which could bring the technology to smartphones or smart speakers, reaching a much broader audience.
Although initial test results for the AI are promising, the 80% success rates are reason for pause in the medical community. Skepticism and ethical questions have yet to be answered, including potential for misuse or other problems with the artificial intelligence driving the tech.
Without moving through the appropriate channels of peer review and evaluation, deploying vocal biomarker technology could result in an avalanche of false positives and overwhelm health institutions.
“These are indeed very promising as non-invasive tools for screening or triage, but in reality the safety and performance of the algorithms still needs to be confirmed,” said Guy Fagherazzi, Group Leader of the Deep Digital Phenotyping Research Unit at Luxembourg Institute of Health, in an interview with Lancet Digital Health.
With further development and review, however, it could be the next step in providing early care for patients of anxiety, depression, or various lung diseases.
WSB anchor and health reporter Sabrina Cupit contributed to reporting for this story.
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