KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The DIVAN trial aimed to assess the feasibility of using digital voice analysis as a new and potential frailty and distress assessment method.
- Adult pts with incurable cancer will describe images on a tablet, have their voice recorded, and complete questionnaires.
- The study explored digital voice analysis to identify quantitative parameters for frailty and distress in incurable cancer patients.
Assessing frailty and distress is essential in all cancer patients(pts) to guide management and improve patient well-being. Researchers aimed to assess the feasibility of using digital voice analysis as a new and potential frailty and distress assessment method.
The study included adult pts with active incurable cancer. Each patient undergoes up to 4 sessions describing 2-4 images presented on a tablet while their voice is digitally recorded. Baseline data, including cancer type, stage, therapy, G8 questionnaire, and distress questionnaire (ESAS), is collected at each session. They will analyze acoustic features like mean fundamental frequency (F0), formants (F1, F2, etc.), jitter(variation in F0 from cycle to cycle), shimmer (variation in peak-to-peak amplitude), and voice strength. A vowel test will be conducted. The Pearson R or Spearman’s R correlation tests will be used based on data distribution for each variable.
In this feasibility study, the main research goal is to find specific audio signal parameters that can reflect changes in a patient’s condition related to frailty and distress. Enrollment started in December 2022, and 11 out of 100 pts have been included.
Source: https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.TPS12139
Clinical Trial: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05783401
Marcus Vetter, Simone Hemm, Cédric Schmid, and Jan Gaertner. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.TPS12139 Journal of Clinical Oncology 41, no. 16_suppl (June 01, 2023) TPS12139-TPS12139.
