According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one in five US adults lives with a mental health condition. Moreover, in 2019, 51.5 million adults in the US experienced mental health issues. With these statistics rapidly changing every month, we need more ways to identify signs of declining mental health so that patients can get timely treatment.
Sonde Health — a company dedicated to advancing voice technology in healthcare — has introduced Sonde Mental Fitness, a voice-powered mental health technology that detects and monitors well-being using brief voice samples. It is a result of dedicated efforts of scientists and engineers who collected 1 million voice samples from more than 80,000 participants and analyzed them working alongside experts from health systems and clinical organizations from all across the world.
Sonde Mental Fitness measures mental fitness shifts through changes in the voice features of the person. Its voice processing technology only needs a 30-second audio voice sample of the user to determine mental fitness based on vocal features like liveliness, clarity, smoothness, energy range, etc. The tool picks up the slightest changes in the voice and gives an overall mental fitness score that ranges from excellent to pay attention. The users also get access to the transcribed version of their voice samples as journal entries, which helps track progress over time.
It is a great addition to mental-health technology and helps mental health providers engage their patients in treatment even outside of a clinical setup. Additionally, Sonde is an affordable option to understand mental well-being and can serve as an early warning system for anxiety and other mental health conditions. Individuals can also access mental health content and tips on Sonde.
Sonde Mental Fitness is currently available as an Application Programming Interface (API) to health systems, employees, and wellness service providers. It can be integrated into third-party apps or used as a separate app on iOS and Android devices.
