Imagine being able to catch the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease not with hours of testing, but with just a few minutes of casual conversation. Thanks to artificial intelligence, that idea is becoming a real possibility.
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found a way to use AI to detect early signs of cognitive decline, like Alzheimer’s, just by analyzing how a person speaks. This could lead to a quick and easy screening test that doctors might one day use during regular checkups.
How It Works
Dr. Ihab Hajjar, a neurologist at UT Southwestern, led the study. He and his team used machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) — two key AI technologies — to examine voice recordings from 206 people. About half had mild cognitive impairment, and the rest showed no signs of memory problems.
Participants were asked to describe a piece of artwork for about one to two minutes. From this short recording, the AI system analyzed things like:
- How well people formed sentences
- How rich their vocabulary was
- How fluidly they spoke
- The complexity of their grammar
- How much their speech “made sense” (what experts call idea density)
These subtle patterns can reveal how the brain is functioning — often in ways that are too subtle for even trained doctors or family members to notice.
What They Found
The researchers compared the voice data with brain scans and spinal fluid samples — tools commonly used to confirm Alzheimer’s. They discovered that the AI could detect early cognitive changes with impressive accuracy, even when traditional memory tests didn’t yet show clear signs of decline.
The best part? Recording the speech only took about 10 minutes, while standard tests can take hours.
Why This Matters
Detecting Alzheimer’s early is a big deal. It gives patients and families more time to plan, and doctors more time to suggest treatments or lifestyle changes that might help slow the disease.
“If we can confirm this with bigger studies, AI could give primary care doctors an easy and quick way to screen people at risk,” said Dr. Hajjar. “It’s a tool that could really change how we diagnose cognitive issues.”
What’s Next?
Dr. Hajjar’s team is continuing this research with a follow-up study in Dallas, funded by the National Institutes of Health. The goal is to confirm the results on a larger scale — and hopefully bring us one step closer to making Alzheimer’s detection as simple as talking.
Source: https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/dad2.12393
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