Could the sound of your voice tell a doctor if you are depressed? That’s the thought behind SimSensei, a system designed to help doctors diagnose depression by analyzing speech patterns. Researchers at the University of Southern California developed the system that they say can work alongside doctors to more accurately diagnose depression in patients.Research shows that reduced frequency range in vowel production is a speech characteristic of people with psychological and neurological disorders. The system is programmed to specifically identify reductions in vowel expression — a characteristic associated with depression — that human interviewers may not recognize. In a 2009 study, doctors misdiagnosed depression half the time. SimSensei is looking to vastly reduce that percentage. Watch the videos below for more information on depression.