Exploratory analysis of speech features related to depression in adults with Aphasia

Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder resulting from brain damage and impairs an individual's ability to use, produce, and comprehend language. Loss of communication skills can be stressful and may result in depression, yet most depression diagnostic tools are designed for adults without aphasia. This paper discusses preliminary results from a research effort to examine acoustic profiles of adults with aphasia who have been assessed as having possible depression versus those who assessment suggests they are not depressed based on tools completed by their caretakers. This study analyzes prosodic and spectral features in 14 participants (7 assessed as having possible depression and 7 whose assessment does not suggest depression). The results showed using Cepstral Peak Prominence provided the best overall performance in separating depressed and non-depressed speech among adults with aphasia.