NPR Covers SimSensei: Using Virtual Humans to Help Detect Depression and PTSD

Published: May 20, 2015
Category: News

NPR’s All Things Considered and Planet Money featured ICT’s SimSensei project which uses a virtual human and sensing technologies to help detect signs of depression and PTSD. The stories explained that Ellie, ICT’s virtual human interviewer, listens to answers and analyzes non-verbal behaviors like tone and facial expressions.
“Contrary to popular belief, depressed people smile as many times as non-depressed people,” said ICT’s Skip Rizzo. “But their smiles are less robust and of less duration. It’s almost like polite smiles rather than real, robust, coming from your inner-soul type of a smile.”
The stories note that Ellie is funded by the military as a tool to help detect PTSD and depression.