Effectiveness of a Biofeedback Intervention Targeting Mental and Physical Health Among College Students Through Speech and Physiology as Biomarkers Using Machine Learning: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2024 Jan 2. doi: 10.1007/s10484-023-09612-3. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBiofeedback therapy is mainly based on the analysis of physiological features to improve an individual's affective state. There are insufficient objective indicators to assess symptom improvement after biofeedback. In addition to psychological and physiological features, speech features can precisely convey information about emotions. The use of speech features can improve the objectivity of psychiatric assessments. Therefore, biofeedback based on subjective symptom scales, objective speech, and physiological features to evaluate efficacy provides a new approach for early screening and treatment of emotional problems in college students. A 4-week, randomized, controlled, parallel biofeedback therapy study was conducted with college students with symptoms of anxiety or depression. Speech samples, physiological samples, and clinical symptoms were collected at baseline and at the end of treatment, and the extracted speech features and physiological features were used for between-group comparisons and correlation analyses between the biofeedback and wait-list groups. Based on the speech features with differences between the biofeedback intervention and wait-list groups, an artificial neural network was used to predict the therapeutic effect and response after biofeedback therapy. Through biofeedback therapy, improvements in depression (p = 0.001), anxiety (p = 0.001), insomn...
Source: Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Source Type: research