Alzheimer's disease can be detected by the voice

Researchers at the University of Salamanca have developed the prototype of a device that would allow, after analyzing the speech of an elderly person, establish the likelihood that you have Alzheimer's disease in the future.

After following this line of research for 6 years, Juan José García Meilán, from the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Salamanca, Francisco Martínez Sánchez from the University of Murcia and the rest of his work team have managed to develop this device that in just five minutes can establish a diagnosis.

• Related article: "Alzheimer's: causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention”

Detect Alzheimer's through your voice

The device developed by Martínez Sánchez and his collaborators (2016) bases its operation in the analysis of the rhythm of language, a property that is negatively affected as Alzheimer's disease develops.

Although the rhythm patterns of language are of great importance in human communication (Rothermich, Schmidt-Kassow & Kotz, 2012), Differences between these in a healthy person and in one who begins to develop this disease are impossible to perceive simply listening.

Therefore, to apply this test, patients must read some sentences that are recorded by this device that, through algorithms, analyzes the properties of language and compares them with the typical parameters of Alzheimer's.

The troublesome diagnosis of Alzheimer's

Currently there is no test or diagnostic tool that allows to detect this disease in a completely certain way. There are, for example, clinical diagnostic criteria that allow us to affirm that the patient is probably suffers from the disease once it meets a series of symptoms, such as it has had an onset progressive or that the person suffers from serious memory problems.

This makes an early diagnosis through clinical observation impossible, that is, before the disease appears. Other tests such as cerebrospinal fluid analysis are too invasive.

On the other hand, neuroimaging techniques that can be applied for the detection of this disease are very expensive, so they cannot be tackled on a large scale by both the public and private health systems.

Regarding neuropsychological tests, these require a great amount of time to be applied (Laske et al., 2015). In addition, despite having characteristic symptoms, the disease cannot be confirmed 100%. until brain tissues are analyzed after the patient's death (National Institute on Aging, 2010).

• You may be interested: "The first 11 symptoms of Alzheimer's (and their explanation)”

The importance of the find

Taking this situation into account, the development of this type of device is of vital importance. In the first place, it is a test that establishes a diagnosis in a short period of time, although it must not be forgotten that it must be combined with other types of evaluations.

The second advantage to mention is that its use will be very intuitiveTherefore, its use will be accessible to both clinicians and researchers.

Third, it should be noted that the economic cost of applying this test will be quite low.

Finally, the fact that it allows detecting the probability of suffering from the disease before your symptoms appear is really important, since it would allow to establish therapies, both psychological and pharmacological, that are focus on preventing the associated deterioration and therefore improve the quality of life of the affected people.

The incidence of this disease

Alzheimer's disease involves a condition that, as it progresses and develops, makes even the person unable to live independently.

As published by Alzheimer's Disease International (2015) in its report on dementia, every 20 years is expected to multiply by two the number of people suffering from a dementia-type disease. That is, while in 2015 approximately 46.8 million were affected by these diseases, in the year By 2030 the number will rise to 74.8 million, and by 2050 this number will have risen to 130 million.

This organization classifies these forecasts as those of an epidemic, although they affirm that they are mainly due to the aging of the population worldwide.

Although this increase in the number of cases will be accentuated due to a greater hope of life, according to the report, there will be differences between regions, both globally and in the same country. This is due to factors such as people's access to the public health system, since this influences both the treatment and the detection of the disease. For this reason, this World Alzheimer's Report entrusts public authorities to include both the prevention and treatment of dementia among their priorities.

The cognitive reserve

In view of these forecasts, some researchers interested in this pathology have focused on how it affects its prevention interventions such as physical activity, social interactions, diet modification, and staying active mentally. Regarding the latter, it is important to mention the concept of cognitive reserve.

This refers to the fact that if we exercise our intellectual capacity, our brain, due to its plasticityYou will be able to better adapt to the damage suffered, helping to cope with the aging process and preventing the appearance of dementias (Stern, 2002).

Therefore, detect Alzheimer's disease early It will allow to propose therapies focused on prevention through stimulation of the mind. We could define these therapies known as Cognitive Stimulation (EC) as a type of intervention that offers older people the enjoyment of activities that stimulate thinking, memory and concentration, generally in a social context (Woods, Aguirre, Spector and Orrell, 2012).

This type of intervention have been shown to be effective in healthy elderly (Tardif and Simard, 2011) in elderly hospitalized for a long period (Castel, Lluch, Ribas, Borràs and Moltó, 2015) and in people who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, improving neuropsychiatric symptoms and their quality of life and that of their caregivers (Fukushima et al., 2015). It should not be forgotten that early detection of Alzheimer's would also allow treatment of this disease to be focused on the stage prior to the appearance of its symptoms.

Conclusions

Although this device is still only a prototype, its effectiveness and other characteristics are quite encouraging.

This line of research, on the other hand, is a great example of the importance of investing in science since, although we do not see the short-term results, knowledge about certain subjects will end up having an impact on an improvement in the quality of life later or early.

Bibliographic references:

• Alzheimer's Disease International. (2015). World Alzheimer Report 2015.

• Castel, A., Lluch, C., Ribas, J., Borràs, L., & Moltó, E. (2015). Effects of a cognitive stimulation program on psychological well-being in a sample of elderly long-term care hospital inpatients. Aging & Mental Health. DOI: 10.1080 / 13607863.2015.1099033

• Fukushima, R., Carmo, E., Pedroso, R., Micali, P., Donadelli, P., Fuzaro, G.,… & Costa, J. (2016). Effects of cognitive stimulation on neuropsychiatric symptoms in elderly with Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review. Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 10 (3), 178-184.

• Laske, C., Sohrabi, H., Frost, S., López-de-Ipiña, K., Garrard, P., Buscema, M.,… & O’Bryant, S. (2015). Innovative diagnostic tools for early detection of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 11 (5), 561-578.

• Martínez-Sánchez, F., Meilán, J., Vera-Ferrándiz, J., Carro, J., Pujante-Valverde, I., Ivanova, O., & Carcavilla, N. (2016). Speech rhythm alterations in Spanish-speaking individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition.

• National Institute on Aging. (2010). Alzheimer's disease.
• Rothermich, K., Schmidt-Kassow, M., & Kotz, S. (2012). Rhythm’s gonna get you: regular meter facilitates semantic sentence processing. Neuropsychology, 50 (2), 232-244.

• Tardif, S., & Simard, M. (2011). Cognitive Stimulation Programs in Helathy Elderly: A Review. International Jounal of Alzheimer's Disease, 2011.

• Stern, Y. (2002). What is cognitive reserve? Theory and research application of the reserve concept. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 8 (3), 448-460.

• Woods, B., Aguirre, E., Spector, A., & Orrell, M. (2012). Cognitive stimulation to improve cognitive functioning in people with dementia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2.