Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40797121›Full record

ArticleBehavior research methods2025

Fabla: A voice-based ecological assessment method for securely collecting spoken responses to researcher questions.

Deanna M Kaplan, Santiago J Arconada Alvarez, Roman Palitsky, Hyoann Choi, Gari D Clifford, Melese Crozier, Boadie W Dunlop, George H Grant, Morgan N Greenleaf, Leslie M Johnson and 9 more

Erratum issuedAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Behavior research methods, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

19 authors.

Deanna M KaplanDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA. deanna.m.kaplan@emory.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9300-3029
Santiago J Arconada AlvarezEmory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA. santiago.jose.arconada.alvarez@emory.edu.
Roman PalitskyDepartment of Spiritual Health, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Hyoann ChoiWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Gari D CliffordDepartment of Biomedical Informatics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Melese CrozierDepartment of Spiritual Health, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Boadie W DunlopDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
George H GrantDepartment of Spiritual Health, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Morgan N GreenleafEmory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Leslie M JohnsonDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Jessica Maples-KellerDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Holly F Levin-AspensonDepartment of Psychology, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA.
Jennifer S MascaroDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Ariel McDowallDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Nicole S PozzoDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Charles L RaisonDepartment of Spiritual Health, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Ali John ZarrabiDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Barbara O RothbaumDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Wilbur A LamDepartment of Biomedical Informatics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Funding

Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE)UL1TR002378 · NCATS · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI Andres J Garcia, Elizabeth O. Ofili · 2017 to 2026
$92.1M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR002378NIH HHS UL1TR002378
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This article reports on the validation of Fabla, a researcher-developed and university-hosted smartphone app that facilitates naturalistic and secure collection of participants' spoken responses to researcher questions. Fabla was developed to meet the need for tools that (a) collect longitudinal qualitative data and (b) capture speech biomarkers from participants' natural environments. This study put Fabla to its first empirical test using a repeated-measures experimental design in which participants (n = 87) completed a 1-week voice daily diary via the Fabla app, and an identical 1-week text-entry daily diary administered via Qualtrics, with diary method order counterbalanced and randomized. A preregistered analysis plan investigated (1) adherence, usability, and acceptability of Fabla, (2) concurrent validity of voice diaries (vs. text-entry diaries) by comparing linguistic features obtained via each diary method, and (3) differences in the strength of the association between linguistic features and their known psychological correlates when assessed by voice versus text-entry diary. Voice diaries yielded more than double the mean daily language volume (word count) compared to text-entry diaries and received high usability and acceptability ratings. Linguistic markers consistently associated with depression in prior research were significantly associated with depression symptoms when assessed via voice but not text-entry diaries, and the difference in correlation magnitude was significant. Word-count-adjusted linguistic patterns were highly correlated between diary methods, with statistically significant mean differences observed for some linguistic dimensions in the presence of these associations. Fabla is a promising tool for collecting high-quality speech data from participants' naturalistic environments, overcoming multiple limitations of text-entry responding.

Indexed as

Mobile ApplicationsSpeechVoiceAdolescentAdultFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedYoung AdultEcological momentary assessmentExperience samplingSpeech

Identifiers

PMID40797121
PMCPMC12343679

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.