Speech analysis helps identify early signs of cognitive function decline.
Researchers from the Baycrest Research Center, the University of Toronto, and York University have found that everyday speech can serve as an early indicator of declining brain function, including the first signs of dementia. In a study published in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (JSLHR), the analysis of natural communication allowed for the prediction of executive function status — cognitive mechanisms responsible for planning, action control, and cognitive flexibility.
The study involved 241 participants aged 18 to 90 years. Participants described complex images, and researchers used automated algorithms to analyze hundreds of speech characteristics: pause length, filler word frequency, disfluency, repetitions, tempo, and word-finding difficulties. It turned out that disfluency — pauses, hesitations, and searching for the right word — best reflects individual differences in executive function performance and signals their decline.
Importantly, such speech changes can appear long before clinical symptoms. The authors note that regular analysis of natural speech — in a clinic or even at home — could become an accessible method for early detection of cognitive impairments and dementia, bypassing the challenges of traditional tests that produce a "trained effect" and require a lot of time.
