AI Can Spot Early Signs of Alzheimer's in Speech Patterns - Neuroscience News

Summary: Artificial intelligence can detect signs of mild cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease, even when no symptoms are apparent, by analyzing a person's speech. The technology could be used as a simple screening method to identify early signs of cognitive impairment. New technologies that can capture subtle changes in a patient's voice may help physicians diagnose cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease before symptoms begin to show, according to a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher who led a study published in the Alzheimer's Association publication Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring. "Our focus was on identifying subtle language and audio changes that are present in the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease but not easily recognizable by family members or an individual's primary care physician," said Ihab Hajjar, M.D., Professor of Neurology at UT Southwestern's Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute. Researchers used advanced machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) tools to assess speech patterns in 206 people – 114 who met the criteria for mild cognitive decline and 92 who were unimpaired.