"Hear me out": smart speaker based conversational agent to monitor symptoms in mental health

Difference in features of voice such as tone, volume, intonation, and rate of speech have been suggested as sensitive and valid measures of mental illness. Researchers have used analysis of voice recordings during phone calls, response to the IVR systems and smartphone based conversational agents as a marker in continuous monitoring of symptoms and effect of treatment in patients with mental illness. While these methods of recording the patient's voice have been considered efficient, they come with a number of issues in terms of adoption, privacy, security, data storage etc. To address these issues we propose a smart speaker based conversational agent - "Hear me out". In this paper, we describe the proposed system, rationale behind using smart speakers, and the challenges we are facing in the design of the system.