93
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VOC?GAccIusmC 0XFELWEOFFLATAFFERD-WI'IH~s1mSANDwITHDFERESS1CN -Y
=pert*,
JoanWelkowitz, ChristinaS&in,
AnnaF&se.n,
DonnaTeti,
JoanEbmd
Departmerrt of psychiatry,HN New York, NY 10016
323; New York University Media
Center:
bsedsystemforanalyzingrecord& Wehavedevelopedamicmcm@er theacoustic r&uralspeedxinrealtimeinordertocbjectivelymmsunz associatedwith wrrelatesofdi~ intheexpmssicnoffeelings neumpsychiatricdisozder. Thesystemprovidesinfomationabmtthe (pitch)of each syllable anplitude(loudness)arbdfm%m&alfmquency clock starts with voice spokenandthedurationofuWemxes(theutbmnce threshold for .2 secomls) and onsetandstopswhenthevoicegoesbelow wealsoIEasurethe pauses,aswellasthevariancesofthesemeasmes. interactionsbetweenthepatientardtheinterviewerintennsofturn bking,sirrailtanecxls speechardswitxhingpauses. WehaveanalyzedthespeechofoverllO subjects, includirqgroqxwith Sbiz~a (Sz), B&insonts Disease (W, emHemisphere stroke wm, UnipolarDepression (UD) andcontrols (NC). DiagnosiswasthrmghSAE intexview. patientswerealsoratedwith AndTeasen's,Abram & Taylor's, &wine's, and overall's scales. lhediffe.rentscabsagreedwellwithBach otherastowhetherapatient ismxeorless flat. However, allfourd significant levels of flat affect in the UD gruup. Theacoustic mmsures provided highly reliable separationsof the flat frcan the nonflat patients in the Sz, PD, and RBD groups. Flat patients show4 lessvomleqhasis(varianceofan@itudeandf r-eqWnq)and~less pmductive(shorteruttemnces and1ongerpauses,1owerpercenttilne talking). The rating smles tended to be relatively insensitiveto flat affect, and the aaxstic masums were mre efficient in separatingthe gmq6at1cwerratingscxlea1Wingscoms. Patientswithretardeddepressionsh~reduced facial, gestural and spontaneausrrvxrementactivityequalwiththat~~intheS2 ardPDgroups, but depressed mood was associatedwith a mmber of different accustic measures~withtheothexgrcrups.TheUDsshowed~rather thandecreasedvocdL~isanddepressedvoicehada~~todropin loMnessfmmthebeginningtotheendofanutbrame. IntheSANSthediffemnt .subxleswerehighlyin~rrelatedfortheSz ofsocialwithdrawalandimpoverishmentwereclosely graup,dtiedtotheaccusticmeasmes. Itisnutclearthatthedifferentscales pruvidemmni@ul differences ina~licationtoSz@ients. FDpatients with flat affect do not show the social interactiondeficits that flat Sz patients shm. Theacaustic mmsures~~yhelptoclarifythe stmctureof the rating space for negative signs.