Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Speech Processing Approach For Diagnosing Dementia In An Early Stage, Roozbeh Sadeghian, J. David Schaffer, Stephen A. Zahorian

Faculty Works

The clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is very challenging, especially in the early stages. Our hypothesis is that any disease that affects particular brain regions involved in speech production and processing will also leave detectable finger prints in the speech. Computerized analysis of speech signals and computational linguistics have progressed to the point where an automatic speech analysis system is a promising approach for a low-cost non-invasive diagnostic tool for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.

We present empirical evidence that strong discrimination between subjects with a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer’s versus matched normal controls can be achieved …