Clinical use of voice measurement in patients with heart failure: study protocol

Type of funding sources: None.

Chronic conditions are the main causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Heart failure (HF) has a prevalence between 0.5% and 2% in the western population and the number is destined to increase from 25% in 2012 to 46% in 2030. Older adults affected by HF have difficulties to recognize signs and symptoms of the disease, bringing to a reduction of life expectancy. The voice is a complex coordination mechanism between systems and subsystems (i.e. glottis, lung, nose,..). Changes in voice parameters, measuring by algorisms of artificial intelligence, could be useful markers of HF exacerbation. To date, no prior studies have investigated the changing of voice parameters in HF patients and the relationships between voice parameter changes and the clinical course of HF.

Explore voice parameter differences between HF patients and healthy subjects; to investigate the relationships between voice parameter changes and the clinical course of the disease.

Observational study. Patients with HF and healthy subjects between 60 to 80 y/o will be enrolled in inpatient and outpatient settings. Patients and healthy participants will record voices by microphones and smartphones. Voice data will be analyzed with algorithms of artificial intelligence.

This study will identify differences in voice parameters between HF patients and healthy participants, and the associations between the voice parameters and the clinical changes of HF patients.

Monitoring of voice parameters allows to clinicians to early identify, via voice changes, signs and symptoms of HF exacerbations, and to monitor patients at home.