Work

Acoustic Markers of Suicidal Risk in Adolescents: Task- and Vowel-Specific Variations in Voice and Speech Parameters

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: INTRODUCTION: Early detection of suicidal risk in adolescents is key to prevention. This study examines how acoustic voice and speech parameters vary based on task type (emotional vs. neutral) and vowel type, comparing adolescents with and without suicidal risk and considering sex differences. METHOD: A total of 435 adolescents were evaluated, with 393 completing all speech tasks correctly. The tasks included text reading, picture description, and personal question responses, offering conditions with varying emotional load. Over 40 acoustic parameters were extracted for each vowel instance (a, e, i, o, u), using Praat and custom Python scripts. Participants were classified by sex and suicidal risk (high vs. low), using validated clinical tools. RESULTS: Significant acoustic differences emerged based on task type and vowel. Emotionally charged tasks, especially image description, highlighted contrasts between groups. In males, first formant energy (E_F1) was prominent; in females, cepstral coefficients like MFCC7 showed key differences. Vowels /a/ and /e/ were particularly sensitive to risk-related variation. CONCLUSION: Acoustic analysis by vowel and task type can discriminate adolescents at suicidal risk. This approach shows promise as a supportive, noninvasive tool in educational and clinical environments and warrants further validation in diverse adolescent populations.

Source: Journal of Voice

DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2025.10.039