M.V. Frolov, G.B. Milovanova

A concept of the functional state in reviewed. The most important functions of the functional state, i.e., reflective and regulatory, as well as basic variables determined by these functions providing the basis for the purposeful diagnostics are discussed. A speech signal is one of the valuable indices for the diagnostics. This signal contains much information about the language and speech per se, about an interlocutor and a speaker, about the state of the latter etc. It is worth noting that the speech signal recording does not need contact sensors, and distant microphones make it possible to continuously control the state of a human operator manifestly or secretly without creating physical and psychological hindrance for his/her performance. It was shown that the emotional coloring of a speech signal (as well as characteristic features of other states) are expressed as changes in its lexical-grammatical and acoustical-phonetic levels, personal traits of a speaker being taken into account. A hierarchy of such speech characteristics of the state has not been thoroughly studied. As distinct from the lexical-grammatical parameters, acoustical-phonetic indices can be formalized and subjected to instrumental analysis, which makes it possible to obtain qualitative estimations of the state by realizations of different activities. In this analysis, a subjective factor in judgments and undesirable features of human performance are excluded. These statements are illustrated by the results of the acoustical-phonetic analysis of land-based training (pilots of three crews and an astronaut), a space flight with an outer-space leaving, and a plane flight, when the communication with the plane coming in the land was unexpectedly interrupted. During the space flight, the heart rate and speech spectrum were analyzed, whereas during the fight of the plane, spectral and melodic speech indices were recorded. In both cases, including the training, emotional and physical tensions were adequately assessed and differentiated, and the intense performance stages were correctly selected. Also, these findings allowed us, to a certain extent, to judge about the training level of subjects.