When it comes to technology, it never ceases to amaze me: something new and extraordinary appears every day that defies the science fiction ...
This technology was developed by a bioengineer from the University of San Juan, through which depression can be detected from a voice analysis.
And why is this software so outstanding?
If we think that depression is currently a global health problem and the main cause of disability in the world, according to the WHO, then we will already begin to see the priority that its prevention and timely detection take to avoid its terrible consequences.
Depression is very complex to diagnose and by the time it is discovered, most of the time it is already too late. Contradictory as it may seem, many other people are misdiagnosed and treated with unnecessary antidepressants, leading to other problems. So, the appearance of this software is great news.
What is depression?
According to Mental Health America, depression is a serious and common illness that affects all aspects of our lives; it incapacitates, deteriorates the standard of living, and can end with death since a very high number of suicides had to do with depression.
Its main symptoms are:
Desires to withdraw from family and friends
Anxiety
loss of sleep
loss of appetite
Lack of desire, stimulation, or interest
No interest in hygiene or personal appearance
lose the will to live
Substance abuse
suicide attempts
Many times depression is confused with sadness, but we have all felt sad and overcome it. The problem arises when we are always sad, that is an indicator that should not be ignored.
Is this software really going to make a difference?
To develop this technology, a classification system was designed based on the recognition of four basic emotions: anger, happiness, fear, and sadness. Subsequently, they focused on sadness and how a sad person sounds or speaks, the most frequent, spectral, prosodic, and temporal parameters of the voice; then, an analysis through a neural network to process and classify the information obtained and from there the whole series of investigations and tests until successful recognition is achieved. So by talking for a few seconds, you can already make a very good detection of up to 96% assertiveness.
This software can be used by psychologists, psychiatrists, or doctors as a tool to detect depression and thus corroborate suspicions along with other tests.
This software is currently being reviewed in various clinical trials, patents, and bureaucratic issues so that it can soon be available on the market and begin to be used by mental health professionals. And then, help thousands of people.
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