App uses voice analysis, AI to track wellness of people with mental illness

In this study, patients didn’t need a smartphone[PM1] . It could be simple and low tech on the patient end, and high tech on the backend.”Researchers hope that artificial intelligence that can analyze data collected from apps such as My Coach Connect will enable more proactive and personalized care for individuals. The application, for example, may help improve treatment by intervening early when someone is experiencing more symptoms.“Artificial intelligence allowed us to illuminate the various clinically meaningful dimensions of language use and vocal patterns of the patients over time and personalized at each individual level,” said senior author Dr. Shri Narayanan, the Niki and Max Nikias Chair in Engineering and directo r of SAIL at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.Some participants were interviewed after the study ended, and said they found the system easy and enjoyable to use, Arevian said.“They said speaking to a computer-generated voice allowed them to speak more freely,” Arevian said. “They also said it helped them feel less lonely because they knew that someone would be listening to it, and to them that meant that someone cared.”MyCoachConnect was developed and hosted on the  Chorus platform, which was developed by Arevian at UCLA and allows people to visually create mobile and other computer applications without computer programming in as little as a few minutes.Clinical sites that are interested in using the app with their patients maycont...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news