Researchers are exploring a new application of artificial intelligence technology that could detect whether a person has a cold or not based on their tone of voice. AI has been rapidly advancing with tools such as Microsoft’s Bing, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Google’s Bard. The technology of detecting colds through vocal patterns could prove useful in helping people identify if they have caught a cold. However, it could also be troublesome for employees who might apply for sick leave by lying about having a cold when they are actually healthy.
This new technology could give employers the power to detect which employees are truly suffering from a cold and who is faking it just by their voices over a call. According to a report by Business Insider, researchers at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology in Surat have successfully analyzed vocal patterns collected from 630 people to detect colds.
The study found that the harmonics (vocal rhythms in human speech) decrease in amplitude when the person’s frequency increases, and a person who has a cold shows an irregular pattern of frequency. Machine-learning algorithms were used by researchers to analyze various individuals’ amplification differences and identify those who were suffering from a cold.
The people who participated in the experiment were asked to count from 1 to 40, describe the activities they did over the weekend, and read Aesop’s fable titled The North Wind and the Sun. The accuracy achieved by the study in detecting colds was 70 percent.
The development of this technology could potentially revolutionize the way people detect and diagnose colds, but it also raises concerns about privacy and ethics.
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