Predicting frailty in older adults using vocal biomarkers: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Frailty is a common issue in the aging population. Given that frailty syndrome is little discussed in the literature on the aging voice, the current study aims to examine the relationship between frailty and vocal biomarkers in older people. METHODS: Participants aged ≥ 60 years visiting geriatric outpatient clinics were recruited. They underwent frailty assessment (Cardiovascular Health Study [CHS] index; Study of Osteoporotic Fractures [SOF] index; and Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation, Illness, and Loss of weight [FRAIL] index) and were asked to pronounce a sustained vowel /a/ for approximately 1 s. Four voice parameters were assessed: average number of zero crossings (A1), variations in local peaks and valleys (A2), variations in first and second formant frequencies (A3), and spectral energy ratio (A4). RESULTS: Among 277 older adults, increased A1 was associated with a lower likelihood of frailty as defined by SOF (odds ratio [OR] 0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.74–0.96). Participants with larger A2 values were more likely to be frail, as defined by FRAIL and CHS (FRAIL: OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.12–1.79; CHS: OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.10–1.75). Sex differences were observed across the three frailty indices. In male participants, an increase in A3 by 10 points increased the odds of frailty by almost 7% (SOF: OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.02–1.12), 6% (FRAIL: OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.02–1.11), or 6% (CHS: OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.01–1.11). In female participants, an increase in A4 by 0.1 conferred a significant 2.8-fold (SOF: OR 2.81, 95% CI 1.71–4.62), 2.3-fold (FRAIL: OR 2.31, 95% CI 1.45–3.68), or 2.8-fold (CHS: OR 2.82, 95% CI 1.76–4.51, CHS) increased odds of frailty. CONCLUSIONS: Vocal biomarkers, especially spectral-domain voice parameters, might have potential for estimating frailty, as a non-invasive, instantaneous, objective, and cost-effective estimation tool, and demonstrating sex differences for individualised treatment of frailty. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-03237-7.