Towards the Objective Speech Assessment of Smoking Status based on Voice Features: A Review of the Literature

Background and Objective: In smoking cessation clinical research and practice, objective validation of self-reported smoking status is crucial for ensuring the reliability of the primary outcome, that is, smoking abstinence. Speech signals convey important information about a speaker, such as age, gender, body size, emotional state, and health state. We investigated (1) if smoking could measurably alter voice features, (2) if smoking cessation could lead to changes in voice, and therefore (3) if the voice-based smoking status assessment has the potential to be used as an objective smoking cessation validation method. Methods: A systematic review of the scientific literature was conducted to compile studies on smoking status assessment based on voice features. We searched nine scientific databases for original studies involving the effects of smoking on voice features, the effects of smoking cessation on voice features. Results: A total of 34 studies were identified for review. We found that fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, harmonics to noise ratio, and other voice features are affected by smoking and could be used to assess smoking status. Conclusion: Speech assessment of smoking status based on voice features has potential as a smoking status validation method, as it is simple, reliable, and less time-consuming. Furthermore, this study provides recommendations for future research on the objective speech assessment of smoking status based on voice features.