Can the acoustics of someone’s voice indicate if he or she has a brain injury?

Researchers with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) are developing a computer algorithm to identify vocal biomarkers that could help diagnose mild traumatic brain injury, or concussion.
The U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency (USAMMA), a subordinate organization of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), has partnered with MIT LL to help evaluate, test and validate the algorithm. So far, the algorithm has a successful track record in assessing mental or cognitive state from speech. Researchers have used the algorithm to identify a variety of cognitive changes, including those associated with preclinical mild TBI (mTBI) and depression, all based on vocal biomarkers. ..

SOUND HEALTH PRESS RELEASE –  01/30/2010

Innovative Ohio Biotech Company Awarded Contract with US Army to Study Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Summary: Innovative study projected to produce a quantitative, mobile, non-invasive identification of close proximity acoustic blast injuries and, ultimately, the restitution of normal brain function and emotional stability for returning soldiers.

The Sound Health Institute of BioAcoustic Biology, southeastern Ohio’s only alternative research biotech company, has recently been awarded a contract with the United States Army. The objective of the collaborative venture is the utilization of Sound Health’s emerging technology to explore the potential of using frequency based biomarkers to identify and quantify Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and the associated Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Statistics from The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC), established in 1992, recently revealed that more than 20% of the 20,000 military casualties from the Iraq war suffered from TBI and nearly 60% of soldiers who entered Walter Reed Army Medical Center from both Afghanistan and Iraq were diagnosed with TBI as either their primary or secondary injury.

The implication of this innovative study is the development of a quantitative, mobile, non-invasive identification of close proximity acoustic blast injuries and, ultimately, the restitution of normal brain function and emotional stability. The work being done by the Institute is at the forefront of a distinguishing technology that employs numeric biomarker patterns to assess, evaluate and produce outcomes that support optimal biological form and function. This new technology utilizes the premise that the body can identify and prescribe for itself using the algorithms of vocalized frequencies to accurately quantify, organize, and extrapolate biometric information.

An objective of the grant is the distribution of an educational curriculum that will professionally train BioAcoustic technicians to fill this much needed gap.  Currently, Sound Health is evaluating colleges in strategic locations nationwide. Once trained these BioAcoustic practitioners will be more prepared to handle the influx of returning soldiers who need access to the benefits associated with PTSD and TBI issues which have become a military priority.