Abstract
<b>Title:</b> Vocal biomarkers in COPD: capturing disease severity using voice <b>Introduction:</b> Voice characteristics (e.g. number of syllables per breath) in COPD are different from those of healthy subjects. These characteristics also change during an acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) making voice a potential vocal biomarker for COPD patients. We hypothesized that such voice characteristics during an AECOPD would be more significantly affected in patients with more severe disease (i.e. higher GOLD stage). <b>Methods:</b> Speech recordings from COPD patients during an exacerbation and after recovery were analyzed using software package ‘Praat’. The primary outcomes of interest were: sustained vowel production and syllables per breath from ‘the story reading fragment’. Secondary analyses were performed for other vocal biomarkers (shimmer, HNR ratio, degree of voice breaks). Differences in voice characteristics were analyzed based on severity of COPD (Gold stage 2 vs. 3-4) and disease state (stable vs exacerbation). <b>Results:</b> The results of 10 COPD patients (5 COPD Gold 2 and 5 Gold 3-4) were compared respectively in the stable and exacerbated state. There was a trend towards a lower number of syllables per breath in a exacerbated state in both COPD GOLD severity groups. This difference was significantly different in the GOLD 2 group (p=0.016). The remaining outcomes of interest showed trends towards significance, in which the exacerbated state showed worse outcomes compared to the stable disease state <b>Conclusions:</b> GOPD GOLD stage influences specific acoustic characteristics in the voices of COPD patients during a stable and an exacerbated state. Voice could thus potentially be used to detect AECOPDs in patients with COPD.
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