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“Speaking More than Words”: Classifying Men with Social Anxiety Disorder via Vocal Acoustic Analyses of Diagnostic Interviews

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Abstract

The relationship between vocal pitch and social anxiety has been examined with encouraging results across a growing number of studies, highlighting increased fundamental frequency (F0) as a potential disorder-specific physiological marker of social anxiety. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between mean F0 emitted during diagnostic interviews and social anxiety disorder (SAD) symptoms. Patients who qualified for a diagnosis of SAD (n = 26) and a subsample of demographically-matched healthy controls (HCs; n = 12) were administered clinical diagnostic interviews. We examined mean F0 emitted during select segments of the diagnostic interviews utilizing specialized vocal analysis equipment. Men (but not women) who qualified for a diagnosis of SAD emitted greater overall mean F0 in comparison to HCs throughout the course of the diagnostic interviews, and mean F0 emitted during the introductory segment of the diagnostic interviews was positively related to SAD symptoms for men (but not women). Furthermore, a previously-established threshold of mean F0 which demonstrated excellent differentiation between men with SAD and controls was successfully replicated in the present design, with regard to F0 emitted during the introductory segment of the interviews. These results provide strong additional support for increased F0 as a physiological indicator and behavioral marker of SAD in samples of men. Implications for the assessment and treatment of SAD are discussed.

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Notes

  1. It bears noting that it was not statistically reasonable to examine whether the patient and control samples were demographically-equivalent with regard to racial/ethnic minority status, given the small sample size of ethnic/racial minorities (i.e., non-Caucasians represented only 7.9 % of the overall sample).

  2. For the sake of comprehensiveness, it is worth noting that the diagnostic group (i.e., SAD patients versus healthy controls) by interview timepoint multivariate interaction remained significant when diagnostic comorbidity status was not included as a covariate, F = 6.85, p = .02; however, the follow-up between-subjects comparison was no longer significant upon removing diagnostic comorbidity status as a covariate, p = .88, Nevertheless, inclusion of diagnostic comorbidity status as a covariate was statistically warranted (see “Preliminary Analyses” section and Fig. 2).

  3. In response to a suggestion from an anonymous reviewer, we added age as a covariate and re-ran our analyses, and our results were substantively identical. To illustrate, the diagnostic group (i.e., SAD patients versus healthy controls) by interview timepoint multivariate interaction remained significant, F = 6.79, p = .033, and this was a large effect, partial η2 = .80. A follow-up between-subjects comparison revealed that the SAD patients emitted significantly higher mean F0 throughout the diagnostic interviews (M = 131.87, SE = 2.12) in comparison to the healthy controls (M = 121.32, SE = 2.94), F = 7.35, p = .03, and this remained a large effect, partial η2 = .51. However, age was not a significant predictor of mean F0, F = 1.64, p = .29, and thus, we have retained focus on our original results. It bears noting that racial/ethnic minority status was deemed inappropriate to include as a covariate in our analyses given the small sample size of ethnic/racial minorities (i.e., non-Caucasians represented only 7.9 % of the overall sample [men and women]; and only 7.7 % of the men in particular).

  4. In response to a suggestion from an anonymous reviewer (see also 3), we also computed the partial correlation between LSAS total scores and mean F0 during the introductory segment of the diagnostic interview upon controlling for age, and this effect remained robust, r = .62, p = .04.

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Conflicts of Interest

Justin W. Weeks, Akanksha Srivastav, Ashley N. Howell and Andrew R. Menatti declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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  1. Center for Evaluation and Treatment of Anxiety, Department of Psychology, Porter Hall 200, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Justin W. Weeks, Akanksha Srivastav, Ashley N. Howell & Andrew R. Menatti

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Weeks, J.W., Srivastav, A., Howell, A.N. et al. “Speaking More than Words”: Classifying Men with Social Anxiety Disorder via Vocal Acoustic Analyses of Diagnostic Interviews. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 38, 30–41 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-015-9495-9

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