Arizona State University Professors Visar Berisha and Julie Liss have combined their expertise in engineering and speech communication to develop and apply novel automated speech analysis technology to the field of neurological disorders. Because of the complexity of human speech and the brain circuits involved speech analysis can provide a window into multiple domains of brain function. In this episode they talk about their research and how speech analysis can be used as a tool for cross sectional and longitudinal studies of people with or a risk for brain dysfunction. Their published findings range from studies of NFL football players to patients with ALS or a mental disorder. Automated speech analysis may prove useful in the early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders and for evaluation of the efficacy of treatments.

LINKS

Review article on automated speech analysis and its applications

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8074691/pdf/nihms-1062578.pdf

Study of NFL players

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6939664/pdf/nihms-861058.pdf

Early diagnosis of ALS https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7555482/pdf/41746_2020_Article_335.pdf

Assessment of mental health

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10031731/pdf/sbac176.pdf

Potential for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6922000/pdf/nihms-1062581.pdf