Correlation between speech acoustic parameters and oxygen saturation levels

• Grant number: 25/17077-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics
• Principal Investigator: Larissa Cristina Berti
• Grantee: Júlia Vitória Gonçalves de Carvalho
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/00488-5 - SPIRA-BM: biomarkers for respiratory conditions on mobile devices using audio analysis with artificial intelligence, AP.TEM

Abstract

Breathing plays an active role in speech production, since we change the respiratory pattern by increasing the expiration time to enable speech (Abbasi et al., 2023). Individuals with respiratory insufficiency may present deficits in speech emission, as pulmonary alterations compromise the expiratory airflow and the laryngeal-aerodynamic balance (Behlau et al., 2004). Considering the scarcity of studies that directly correlate respiratory dysfunctions with acoustic aspects of speech, the present study hypothesizes that there is a negative correlation between peripheral oxygen saturation values and acoustic parameters of speech, such that the lower the saturation value, the higher the values of the speech acoustic measures.Fifty audio files will be selected from recordings of the sentence "o amor ao próximo ajuda a enfrentar essa fase com a força que a gente precisa" ("love for others helps us face this stage with the strength we need"), produced by subjects with respiratory insufficiency, obtained from the database of the SPIRA study: Early Detection System for Respiratory Failure. The parameters used in the acoustic analysis of speech will be: number of pauses, duration of pauses, and total utterance duration.In addition, the oxygen saturation levels of the subjects measured at the time of audio collection will be retrieved, correlating the acoustic speech measures with oxygen saturation values. Based on the results, the study is expected to contribute to the early detection of respiratory changes marked by decreased oxygen saturation levels through acoustic speech characteristics, in line with Line 1 of the thematic project, which aims to investigate the possibility of identifying the cause of respiratory insufficiency through audio analysis.