Speech Analysis by Natural Language Processing Techniques: A Possible Tool for Very Early Detection of Cognitive Decline?

ABSTRACT: Background: The discovery of early, non-invasive biomarkers for the identification of "preclinical" or "pre-symptomatic" Alzheimer's disease and other dementias is a key issue in the field, especially for research purposes, the design of preventive clinical trials, and drafting population-based health care policies. Complex behaviors are natural candidates for this. In particular, recent studies have suggested that speech alterations might be one of the earliest signs of cognitive decline, frequently noticeable years before other cognitive deficits become apparent. Traditional neuropsychological language tests provide ambiguous results in this context. In contrast, the analysis of spoken language productions by Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques can pinpoint language modif

SUBMITTER: Beltrami D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6243042 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature