Journal article
Vocal acoustic biomarkers of depression severity and treatment response
JC Mundt, AP Vogel, DE Feltner, WR Lenderking
Biological Psychiatry | Published : 2012
Abstract
Background: Valid, reliable biomarkers of depression severity and treatment response would provide new targets for clinical research. Noticeable differences in speech production between depressed and nondepressed patients have been suggested as a potential biomarker. Methods: One hundred five adults with major depression were recruited into a 4-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled research methodology study. An exploratory objective of the study was to evaluate the generalizability and repeatability of prior study results indicating vocal acoustic properties in speech may serve as biomarkers for depression severity and response to treatment. Speech samples, collected at baselin..
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Awarded by National Institute of Mental Health
Funding Acknowledgements
Funding support was provided by Pfizer, Inc. and through National Institute of Mental Health Small Business Innovation Research Grant National Institute of Mental Health (R44 MH068950). Dr. Mundt has received research support grants from Glaxo SmithKline, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Eisai, the National Institutes of Health, and the US Department of Agriculture. Dr. Mundt provides consulting services to ERT, a company that provides services to the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Mundt is a former employee of and owns stock in Healthcare Technology Systems, a research and development company that develops computer-automated patient assessment programs. Dr. Vogel has received research support from the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia, #10012302) and is a former employee of CogState Ltd, a company that provides services to the pharmaceutical industry, and owns CogState stock. Dr. Feltner is Chief Medical Officer for and has stock options in Embera Neurotherapeutics, a company focused on smoking cessation and other drug abuse treatments. Dr. Feltner is a former employee of Pfizer Inc. and owns Pfizer stock. Dr. Lenderking was the Principal Investigator of this study and was a full-time employee of Pfizer, the manufacturer of sertraline, during the time this study was conceived and implemented. He continues to be a Pfizer stockholder. He is currently an employee of United BioSource Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Express Scripts, Inc,. United BioSource Corporation is a company that provides consulting services for hire to the pharmaceutical, biotech, and device industries.