AI-Based human audio processing for COVID-19: A comprehensive overview

Pattern Recognit. 2022 Feb:122:108289. doi: 10.1016/j.patcog.2021.108289. Epub 2021 Aug 30.

Abstract

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic impelled several research efforts, from collecting COVID-19 patients' data to screening them for virus detection. Some COVID-19 symptoms are related to the functioning of the respiratory system that influences speech production; this suggests research on identifying markers of COVID-19 in speech and other human generated audio signals. In this article, we give an overview of research on human audio signals using 'Artificial Intelligence' techniques to screen, diagnose, monitor, and spread the awareness about COVID-19. This overview will be useful for developing automated systems that can help in the context of COVID-19, using non-obtrusive and easy to use bio-signals conveyed in human non-speech and speech audio productions.

Keywords: Audio processing; COVID-19; Computational paralinguistics; Digital health.