Evaluating the Clinical Utility of Speech and Motor Characteristics in Psychiatry

Project IDRRG2/16009
PartnerInstitute of Mental Health
FocusPrecision Rehabilitation
Clinical PI
Dr Jimmy LEE
Senior Consultant / Chief , Dept of Psychosis / North Region
Institute of Mental Health
Technical PI
A/Prof Justin DAUWELS
Associate Professor, School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Nanyang Technological University

 

The challenge

Negative symptoms and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and depression significantly impact the daily functioning of patients.

In clinical practice today, neurocognition, social cognition and negative symptoms are not reliably and consistently assessed in either condition. Evaluations are often-time consuming and require the expertise of a trained clinician.

 

The proposed solution

The positive findings from our interim analyses pave the way for identifying speech and motor characteristics as markers for the above-mentioned three overlapping clinical constructs.

In this observational study, we aim to explore the various speech and motor features extracted from recorded video and audio as the objective measurement of negative symptoms, neurocognition and social cognition in people with schizophrenia and depression.

Upon the successful completion of this study, we envisage the development of:

  • an algorithm that might translate speech and motor characteristics into clinically meaningful information on negative symptom, functioning, cognitive and social cognitive profile
  • a software that is a convenient, efficient and objective evaluation tool to be implemented in routine clinical practice.