Association between suicidal ideation and acoustic parameters of university students’ voice and speech: a pilot study

Abstract

Purpose

At a worldwide level, suicide is a public health problem that, despite displaying downward trends in several areas of the world, in many countries these rates have increased. One of the elements that contributes to its prevention is an early and dynamic evaluation. Due to this, the objective is to determine the association between acoustic parameters of voice and speech (F0, F1, F2, F3, dB, and Jitter) and suicidal ideation arousal amongst some university students from the city of Temuco, Chile.

Methods

Attending to this issue, a cross-sectional design study was conducted through a non-probabilistic sampling of sixty 18- and 19-year-old adolescents from the city of Temuco, that went through an acoustic evaluation of their voice and speech after taking a test to determine suicidal ideation. Afterwards, data were analyzed through IBM SPSS version 23.0 software (IBM SPSS Statistics, Armonk, NY), by means of exploratory, descriptive, and inferential statistics taking the variable’s levels of measurements and the types of distributions into account.

Results

The results point out that 30% of the adolescents, from both genders, displayed suicidal ideation. Taking into account the acoustic results of their voice, it is possible to recognize that the fundamental frequency (F0), the formants (F1, F2), and Jitter, are the ones that majorly link to the presence of suicidal ideation, both in women and men (p < .05). The characteristics that describe F3 were only linked to the presence of suicidal ideation in men (p < .05).

Conclusions

It is concluded that the acoustic parameters of voice and speech differ in adolescents with suicidal behavior, opening the possibility of representing a useful tool in the diagnosis of suicide.

Keywords:

• Suicidal ideation
• speech acoustics
• voice
• adolescents
• Chile
• voice quality

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participants for taking part in the study and Francisco Blanco for his review.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carla Figueroa Saavedra

Carla Figueroa Saavedra is an Assistant professor at the Autonomous University of Chile, and Researcher at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, University Autonomous of Chile, Chile. Her research is focused on speech, voice and bioelectrical signal in individuals with suicidal behaviour.

Tamara Otzen Hernández

Tamara Otzen Hernández is an Assistant professor at the University de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile, and Research in program Doctorate in Medical Science. Her research is focused on Multivariate statistical modelling. Analysis of mortality data from external causes and respiratory diseases. Systematic reviews of the literature. Suicidal attempt, suicidal ideation and consummate suicide. Research Methodologies.

Camila Alarcón Godoy

Camila Alarcón Godoy is a speech-language therapist student at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Autonomous University of Chile.

Arlette Ríos Pérez

Arlette Ríos Pérez is a speech-language therapist student at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Autonomous University of Chile.

Damaris Frugone Salinas

Damaris Frugone Salinas is a speech-language therapist student at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Autonomous University of Chile.

Roberto Lagos Hernández

Roberto Lagos Hernández is an Associate Professor at the Autonomous University of Chile, Researcher in Education Sciences and the human movement in the Department of Physical Education.