Quebec Speech Bank

We want to study how people communicate and think by collecting speech samples during online tasks. This is important for several reasons. First, it helps us understand how thinking skills relate to everyday speech in healthy people. In those with mental health conditions, thinking skills are often affected. If we identify which aspects of communication are most linked to thinking skills from the current study, researchers can later use speech differences to investigate mental illnesses. Second, studying speech from a diverse group of healthy volunteers helps us identify patterns that vary with age, sex, and language, but are not linked to cognitive skills.

Principal Investigator

Lena Palaniyappan, MD, PhD, FRCPC

Description of study

All eligible participants will be asked to complete a few brief questionnaires related to their current health. They will also need to answer questions about the languages they use at work and home to help researchers assess their language use patterns and proficiency. The interviewer will provide instructions on how to complete the speech tasks, which will be audio and video recorded for analysis. Following this, there will be a cognitive test that checks memory, thinking speed, fluency, and reasoning.

Poster of the study

Financial compensation

Yes

Functioning

One Zoom meeting that takes 90 minutes including:

  • Questionnaires
  • Speech tasks
  • Cognitive (memory, language, attention, etc.) assessment

Benefits

By participating in this study, you will potentially contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge in this area of research which can improve the quality of life, well-being and functioning of individuals with mental health conditions.

Eligibility criteria

Healthy Volunteers, 18 years or older who can speak English or French with no diagnosed mental health illness or neurological disease.

Information

Self-registration link