Using fundamental frequency of cancer survivors' speech to investigate emotional distress in out-patient visits. Issue 12 (December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kandsberger, Jacqueline; Rogers, Simon N.; Zhou, Yuefang; Humphris, Gerry
• Is Part Of: Patient education and counseling. Volume 99:Issue 12(2016)
• Page Start: 1971
• Page End: 1977
• Publication Date: 2016-12
• Subjects: HNC head and neck cancer -- FoR fears of cancer recurrence -- VR-CoDES Verona coding definitions of emotional sequence -- BSP behavioural signal processing -- ASP affective signal processing -- F0/f0 fundamental frequency of pitch (Hz) -- QoL quality of life; Emotional distress -- The VR-CoDES -- Fundamental frequency of pitch -- Multilevel -- Head and neck cancer; Patient education -- Periodicals; Health counseling -- Periodicals; Health education -- Periodicals; Counseling -- Periodicals; Patient Education -- Periodicals; Éducation des patients -- Périodiques; Counseling -- Périodiques; Éducation sanitaire -- Périodiques; 615.5071
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2016.08.003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0738-3991

Abstract

Highlights: Emotions in clinical conversations of cancer patients studied by a coding system and speech prosody. Emotional energy f0 was associated with cues and concerns as coded by VR-CoDES system. An additional aid to study emotional speech with potential to reveal hidden content and meaning. Abstract: Objective: Emotions, are in part conveyed by varying levels of fundamental frequency of voice pitch ( f0 ). This study tests the hypothesis that patients display heightened levels of emotional arousal ( f0 ) during Verona Coding Definitions of Emotional Sequences (VR-CoDES) cues and concerns versus during neutral statements. Methods: The audio recordings of sixteen head and neck cancer survivors' follow-up consultations were coded for patients' emotional distress. Pitch ( f0 ) of coded cues and concerns, including neutral statements was extracted. These were compared using a hierarchical linear model, nested for patient and pitch range, controlling for statement speech length. Utterance content was also explored. Results: Clustering by patient explained 30% of the variance in utterances f0 . Cues and concerns were on average 13.07 Hz higher than neutral statements ( p = 0.02). Cues and concerns in these consultations contained content with a high proportion of recurrence fears. Conclusion: The present study highlights the benefits and challenges of adding f0 and potential other prosodic features to the toolkit of coding emotional distress in the health communication setting. Practice implications: The assessment of f0 during clinical conversations can provide additional information for research into emotional expression.