Towards an artificial therapy assistant

TY - CHAP

T1 - Towards an artificial therapy assistant

AU - Van Der Sluis, F.

AU - Van Den Broek, E.L.

AU - Dijkstra, T.

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - The measurement of (excessive) stress is still a challenging endeavor. Most tools rely on either introspection or expert opinion and are, therefore, often less reliable or a burden on the patient. An objective method could relieve these problems and, consequently, assist diagnostics. Speech was considered an excellent candidate for an objective, unobtrusive measure of emotion. True stress was successfully induced, using two storytelling sessions performed by 25 patients suffering from a stress disorder. When reading either a happy or a sad story, different stress levels were reported using the Subjective Unit of Distress (SUD). A linear regression model consisting of the high-frequency energy, pitch, and zero crossings of the speech signal was able to explain 70% of the variance in the subjectively reported stress. The results demonstrate the feasibility of an objective measurement of stress in speech. As such, the foundation for an Artificial Therapeutic Agent is laid, capable of assisting therapists through an objective measurement of experienced stress.

AB - The measurement of (excessive) stress is still a challenging endeavor. Most tools rely on either introspection or expert opinion and are, therefore, often less reliable or a burden on the patient. An objective method could relieve these problems and, consequently, assist diagnostics. Speech was considered an excellent candidate for an objective, unobtrusive measure of emotion. True stress was successfully induced, using two storytelling sessions performed by 25 patients suffering from a stress disorder. When reading either a happy or a sad story, different stress levels were reported using the Subjective Unit of Distress (SUD). A linear regression model consisting of the high-frequency energy, pitch, and zero crossings of the speech signal was able to explain 70% of the variance in the subjectively reported stress. The results demonstrate the feasibility of an objective measurement of stress in speech. As such, the foundation for an Artificial Therapeutic Agent is laid, capable of assisting therapists through an objective measurement of experienced stress.

KW - Agent

KW - Diagnosis

KW - Model

KW - Psychiatry

KW - Speech

KW - Stress

UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/towards-artificial-therapy-assistant-measuring-excessive-stress-speech

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 9789898425348

T3 - HEALTHINF 2011 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Health Informatics

SP - 357

EP - 363

BT - HEALTHINF 2011 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Health Informatics

ER -