Paralinguistic Speech Characteristics in Depression

Organizational Data

DRKS-ID:
DRKS00023670
Recruitment Status:
Recruiting complete, study complete
Date of registration in DRKS:
2021-01-19
Last update in DRKS:
2023-12-21
Registration type:
Retrospective

Acronym/abbreviation of the study

ParaSpeChaD

URL of the study

http://www.psych1.phil.uni-erlangen.de/forschung/weitere-projekte/paralinguistische-stimmcharakteristika-bei-depression.shtml

Brief summary in lay language

In this project we analyse if speech characteristics like rhythm, pitch or loudness differ between depressed and healthy individuals. Therefor we collect different speech probes and analyse them with a software. Furthermore we want to test whether these speech characteristics can also be used in psychotherapy. Participants take part in a short training, in which they are told to uplift their negative mood by using positive statements. Some of the participants additionally receive a feedback regarding their speech characteristics, in order to increase the positive effect of the statements.

Brief summary in scientific language

Major depressive disorder (MDD) continues to be one of the most challenging mental health problems of our time. Although there are established instruments to (a) diagnose and (b) predict MDD as well as effective treatments (c), alarmingly MDD is often not accurately diagnosed. To address these needs Paralinguistic Speech Characteristics (PSCs; i.e. the vocal phenomena that occur alongside the linguistic information in speech) are promising objective markers. However, little is known whether PSCs can (a) diagnose MDD, (b) predict its future course and (c) to further enhance the efficacy of evidence-based interventions against depression. This Project has three main goals. First, we will clarify to what extent depressive symptom severity can be validly assessed with the aid of PSCs (a). Second, we aim to clarify to what extent PSC-based classifiers can predict the course of depressive symptoms over time (b). Third, we will explore to what extent PSCs can be used as a therapeutic target (c). To attain these goals, voice samples will be recorded and analyzed to (a) diagnose and (b) predict DSS and we will experimentally manipulate PSCs in a short training and assess the effects of this manipulation regarding changes in depressive symptom severity.

Health condition or problem studied

ICD10:
F32 - Depressive episode
Healthy volunteers:
No Entry

Interventions, Observational Groups

Arm 1:
In a one hour training patients are trained to use self-referring reappraisal statements to uplift their negative mood. The training begins with a negative mood induction. After that patients read negative statements and react to them with positive statements repeatedly.
Arm 2:
Patients are trained to use self-referring reappraisal statements to uplift their negative mood. Additionally they receive a feedback how they can modulate their voice to sound more convincing and increase the positive effect.

Endpoints

Primary outcome:
Differences in paralinguistic speech characteristics between depressed and non-depressed individuals
Secondary outcome:
Further study goals: - Improvement of the algorithm for detection and prediction of depression using paralinguistic speech characteristics (PSCs) - Differences in PSCs in neutral vs. depression-related speech probes - Effect of reappraisal-training with (experimental group) or without (control group) PSC feedback on depressed mood Measures: - SCID - HRSD - BDI-II - PHQ-9 - BSI Study design: -t0: Interviews, questionnaires, speech probes; -mobile assessment: 2 weeks of assessment of speech probes via EMA (ecological momentary assessment) -t1: questionnaires and reappraisal-training (2 weeks after t0) -t2: 1-month follow-up -t3: 3-month follow-up -t4: 6-month follow-up

Study Design

Purpose:
Treatment
Allocation:
Randomized controlled study
Control:
  • Active control (effective treatment of control group)
Phase:
N/A
Study type:
Interventional
Mechanism of allocation concealment:
No Entry
Blinding:
Yes
Assignment:
Parallel
Sequence generation:
No Entry
Who is blinded:
  • Assessor
  • Data analyst

Recruitment

Recruitment Status:
Recruiting complete, study complete
Reason if recruiting stopped or withdrawn:
No Entry

Recruitment Locations

Recruitment countries:
  • Germany
Number of study centers:
Monocenter study
Recruitment location(s):
  • Other Lehrstuhl für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, Universität Erlangen-Nuernberg Erlangen

Recruitment period and number of participants

Planned study start date:
2021-01-25
Actual study start date:
2020-09-08
Planned study completion date:
No Entry
Actual Study Completion Date:
2023-04-17
Target Sample Size:
135
Final Sample Size:
144

Inclusion Criteria

Sex:
All
Minimum Age:
18 Years
Maximum Age:
69 Years
Additional Inclusion Criteria:
- sufficient German language skills - willingness to provide informed consent - Non-depressed: the absence of an MDD diagnosis and no significant subthreshold symptoms of depression; subthreshold: the absence of an MDD diagnosis but presence of significant subthreshold symptoms of depression; clinically depressed: the diagnosis of major depression

Exclusion Criteria

- high risk of suicide - psychosis - bipolar disorder - substance use disorder within last 6 months - already in psychotherapeutic treatment

Addresses

Primary Sponsor

Address:
Lehrstuhl für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Nägelsbachstr. 25a
91052 Erlangen
Germany
Telephone:
No Entry
Fax:
No Entry
Contact per E-Mail:
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
No Entry
Investigator Sponsored/Initiated Trial (IST/IIT):
Yes

Contact for Scientific Queries

Address:
Lehrstuhl für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, Universität Erlangen-Nuernberg
Prof. Dr. Matthias Berking
Nägelsbachstr. 25a
91052 Erlangen
Germany
Telephone:
+49/9131/8567575
Fax:
No Entry
Contact per E-Mail:
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
http://www.psych1.phil.fau.de

Contact for Public Queries

Address:
Lehrstuhl für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, Universität Erlangen-Nuernberg
Prof. Dr. Matthias Berking
Nägelsbachstr. 25a
91052 Erlangen
Germany
Telephone:
+49/9131/8567575
Fax:
No Entry
Contact per E-Mail:
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
http://www.psych1.phil.uni-erlangen.de/

Principal Investigator

Address:
Lehrstuhl für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, Universität Erlangen-Nuernberg
Prof. Dr. Matthias Berking
Nägelsbachstr. 25a
91052 Erlangen
Germany
Telephone:
+49/9131/8567575
Fax:
No Entry
Contact per E-Mail:
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
http://www.psych1.phil.fau.de

Sources of Monetary or Material Support

Public funding institutions financed by tax money/Government funding body (German Research Foundation (DFG), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), etc.)

Address:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Kennedyallee 40
53175 Bonn
Germany
Telephone:
No Entry
Fax:
No Entry
Contact per E-Mail:
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
http://www.dfg.de

Ethics Committee

Address Ethics Committee

Address:
Ethik-Kommission der Medizinischen Fakultät der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Krankenhausstr. 12
91054 Erlangen
Germany
Telephone:
+40-9131-8522270
Fax:
+49-9131-8526021
Contact per E-Mail:
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
No Entry

Vote of leading Ethics Committee

Vote of leading Ethics Committee
Date of ethics committee application:
2018-02-06
Ethics committee number:
73_18 B
Vote of the Ethics Committee:
Approved
Date of the vote:
2018-02-20

Further identification numbers

Other primary registry ID:
No Entry
EudraCT Number:
No Entry
UTN (Universal Trial Number):
No Entry
EUDAMED Number:
No Entry

IPD - Individual Participant Data

Do you plan to make participant-related data (IPD) available to other researchers in an anonymized form?:
No
IPD Sharing Plan:
No Entry

Study protocol and other study documents

Study protocols:
No Entry
Study abstract:
No Entry
Other study documents:
No Entry
Background literature:
No Entry
Related DRKS studies:
No Entry

Publication of study results

Planned publication:
No Entry
Publikationen/Studienergebnisse:
No Entry
Date of first publication of study results:
No Entry
DRKS entry published for the first time with results:
No Entry

Basic reporting

Basic Reporting / Results tables:
No Entry
Brief summary of results:
No Entry