Poster Presentation: Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS) 2024
Title: Enhancing Mental and Cognitive Fitness Monitoring via Vocal Biomarkers: Applications for Military Personnel Authors: Erik Larsen, Olivia Murton, Xinyu Song, Dale Joachim, Lindsey Venesky, Sam Murdock, Bonnie Wong, Brad Dickerson Abstract: Maintaining the mental and cognitive fitness of military personnel is critical to ensuring peak operational readiness. Traditional methods like self-reported questionnaires and clinical interviews are often hindered by subjectivity, time constraints, and the stigma surrounding mental health. Vocal biomarkers offer a breakthrough, enabling an unobtrusive, secure, and real-time assessment of mental and cognitive states using readily available smart devices. Our research validates the effectiveness of vocal biomarkers in remotely monitoring mental and cognitive shifts, including those associated with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and cognitive impairment, as well as real-time cognitive effort. This technology, deployable across consumer electronics and wearables without the need for network…