快猫短视频

A SUBTLE change in the sound of someone鈥檚 voice is the first sign that they
are serious about committing suicide. The change is so distinctive that
psychiatrists plan to use the sound change as an early warning system to
separate those who are seriously suicidal from those who are merely
depressed.

The idea that the voice might contain vital clues about someone鈥檚 mental
health came when Stephen Silverman, a psychiatrist at Yale University, noticed
he could often sense from a patient鈥檚 voice whether they were likely to attempt
suicide in the near future.

To find out if this observation had any practical use, Silverman teamed up
with Mitchell Wilkes, an electronics engineer based at Vanderbilt University in
Nashville, Tennessee.

Wilkes recorded a series of interviews with 64 depressed patients and
compared them with recordings of 33 others who weren鈥檛 depressed. In total, 22
patients made a serious attempt on their lives.

He then compared the recordings with the subsequent history of the patients.
鈥淚n suicidal patients, the voice becomes slightly hollow and empty, you get this
change in quality,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey call it the voice from the grave.鈥�

Wilkes found that two factors helped him discriminate between those who were
at high risk of committing suicide and those at low risk. First he noticed that
people who are truly suicidal use a narrower range of frequencies when
pronouncing their vowels than people who are just depressed. The voices of
suicidal people also become higher pitched. 鈥淲e find there鈥檚 a noticeable
difference between suicidal and normal, and normal and depressed people,鈥� he
says.

The reason for the frequency shifts could be related to stress-induced
physiological changes, says Wilkes. 鈥淎 variety of changes can take place under
stress鈥攍ike muscle tone quality鈥攖hat can affect the vocal chords,鈥�
he says. 鈥淎lso you get changes in moisture and elasticity of the vocal
迟谤补肠迟.鈥�

His findings could help the volunteers who staff helplines to assess a
depressed caller鈥檚 mental state. 鈥淭he goal is to have a diagnostic device for
emergency rooms or that could be linked up to helplines,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t could
help volunteers on those phones answer the question: is this person in danger of
committing suicide?鈥� Emma Charvet from The Samaritans, which runs helplines for
suicidal people in Britain, says the research might help to prevent suicides.
鈥淚f there鈥檚 any way of finding out earlier the level of someone鈥檚 risk of
suicide, it鈥檇 be a great help,鈥� she says.