Mental status assessment of disaster relief personnel by vocal affect display based on voice emotion recognition

BACKGROUND: Disaster relief personnel tend to be exposed to excessive stress, which can be a cause of mental disorders. To prevent from mental disorders, frequent assessment of mental status is important. This pilot study aimed to examine feasibility of stress assessment using vocal affect display (VAD) indices as calculated by our proposed algorithms in a situation of comparison between different durations of stay in stricken area as disaster relief operation, which is an environment highly likely to induce stress. METHODS: We used Sensibility Technology (ST) software to analyze VAD from voices of participants exposed to extreme stress for either long or short durations, and we proposed algorithms for indices of low VAD (VAD-L), high VAD (VAD-H), and VAD ratio (VAD-R), calculated from the intensity of emotions as measured by voice emotion analysis. As a preliminary validation, 12 members of Japan Self-Defense Forces dispatched overseas for long (3 months or more) or short (about a week) durations were asked to record their voices saying 11 phrases repeatedly across 6 days during their dispatch. RESULTS: In the validation, the two groups showed an inverse relationship in VAD-L and VAD-H, in that long durations in disaster zones resulted in higher values of both VAD-L and VAD-R, and lower values of VAD-H, compared with short durations. Interestingly, phrases produced varied results in terms of group differences and VAD indices, demonstrating the sensitivity of the ST. CONCLUSIONS: A comparison of the values obtained for the different groups of subjects clarified that there were tendencies of the VAD-L, VAD-H, and VAD-R indices observed for each group of participants. The results suggest the possibility of using ST software in the measurement of affective aspects related to mental health from vocal behavior.