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Automated Speech-Based Approach for Enhancing Suicide Risk Assessment in Emergency Medicine


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A non-invasive, speech-based approach for automatic suicide risk assessment can achieve high accuracy when combined with patient metadata.
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The article presents a novel speech-based approach for automatic suicide risk assessment in emergency medicine. The researchers collected a dataset of speech recordings from 20 patients undergoing emergency admission, including picture descriptions, reading of neutral texts, and isolated vowel productions.

The key highlights and insights are:

  1. The researchers extracted three sets of audio features - interpretable speech and acoustic features, deep learning-based spectral representations, and embeddings from pre-trained audio Transformers.

  2. Using a leave-one-subject-out validation scheme, the best speech-only model achieved a balanced accuracy of 66.2% in classifying high vs. low suicide risk.

  3. Integrating the speech features with patient metadata, such as history of suicide attempts and access to firearms, significantly improved the performance, reaching a balanced accuracy of 94.4%.

  4. The metadata integration, especially including information about suicide attempts, was found to be the most discriminative feature for suicide risk assessment.

  5. Recordings of picture descriptions, which require higher cognitive effort, were observed to be more informative for suicide risk prediction compared to neutral text readings or isolated vowel productions.

The study demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed speech-based approach combined with patient metadata for automatic suicide risk assessment in emergency medicine settings, where timely intervention is critical.

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Statistieken
The annual economic cost of suicide in the United States is estimated to exceed $93 billion. Over 90% of people committing suicide suffer from at least one mental disorder. The dataset contains 2,340 speech segments from 20 patients, with an average duration of 5.70 seconds per segment.
Citaten
"With more than 700,000 deaths and an estimated 25 million non-fatal suicide attempts per year [1], suicide has become a widespread issue in our time." "To this end, machine learning (ML) based approaches and their use for the diagnostic assessment of mental illness by medical professionals have been explored, offering a helpful addition in clinical emergency settings." "Contrary to the audio-only results, adding features extracted from recordings of vowel productions generally leads to worse results than adding the same features extracted from picture descriptions and neutral texts."

Diepere vragen

How can the proposed approach be extended to incorporate longitudinal data and track changes in speech patterns and risk factors over time?

To incorporate longitudinal data and track changes over time, the proposed approach can implement a system for continuous monitoring of patients' speech patterns and risk factors. This would involve regular recording and analysis of speech samples at different intervals to observe any evolving patterns that may indicate changes in suicidal tendencies. By collecting data over time, the model can detect subtle shifts in speech features or metadata that could signal an increased risk of suicide. Additionally, the model can be designed to adapt and update its predictions based on new data points, allowing for dynamic risk assessment. By integrating a feedback loop mechanism, the system can continuously learn from new information and adjust its risk assessments accordingly. This adaptive approach would enable the model to provide more personalized and accurate predictions as it gathers more longitudinal data on each patient.

How can the speech-based models be integrated into clinical workflows to provide real-time decision support for emergency care providers in assessing and managing suicide risk?

Integrating speech-based models into clinical workflows for real-time decision support involves several key steps: Data Collection: Implement a system for capturing speech samples from patients during emergency assessments. This could be done through voice recording devices or integrated into existing electronic health record systems. Speech Analysis: Develop algorithms that can analyze speech features in real-time to assess suicide risk. These algorithms should be able to process and interpret speech patterns, acoustic cues, and linguistic markers associated with suicidal tendencies. Risk Assessment: Use the speech-based models to generate real-time risk assessments for each patient. These assessments can provide emergency care providers with immediate insights into the patient's likelihood of suicidal behavior. Decision Support: Integrate the risk assessment results into the clinical workflow to support decision-making by healthcare professionals. This could involve displaying risk scores, alerts, or recommendations based on the model's predictions. Follow-up Actions: Provide guidance on appropriate interventions or actions based on the risk assessment results. This could include referrals to mental health specialists, increased monitoring, or immediate interventions to ensure patient safety. By seamlessly integrating speech-based models into the clinical workflow, emergency care providers can receive timely and valuable insights to assist in assessing and managing suicide risk effectively.

What other types of metadata, such as social media activity or lifestyle habits, could be leveraged to further enhance the accuracy of the suicide risk assessment models?

In addition to the existing metadata collected, leveraging other types of data can further enhance the accuracy of suicide risk assessment models: Social Media Activity: Analyzing social media posts, interactions, and sentiment can provide valuable insights into a patient's emotional state, social connections, and potential risk factors for suicide. Natural language processing algorithms can be used to extract relevant information from social media data. Lifestyle Habits: Information on lifestyle habits such as sleep patterns, exercise routines, diet, and substance use can offer valuable context for assessing suicide risk. Monitoring changes in these habits over time can help identify potential warning signs. Biometric Data: Integrating biometric data like heart rate variability, skin conductance, or movement patterns can provide physiological indicators of stress, anxiety, or emotional distress, complementing the speech-based analysis. Environmental Factors: Considering environmental factors such as living conditions, social support networks, and access to mental health resources can offer a more comprehensive understanding of the patient's risk profile. By incorporating a diverse range of metadata sources, including social media activity and lifestyle habits, the suicide risk assessment models can capture a more holistic view of the patient's well-being and enhance the accuracy of predictions.
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