AphasiaBank: Shared database and tools to study aphasia communication
Official title: AphasiaBank: A Shared Database for the Study of Aphasic Communication
Funded at Carnegie-Mellon University · NIH-11337619 · Data updated 2026-11-12
AphasiaBank will expand a database and add new language-analysis tools to help researchers and clinicians understand how people with aphasia communicate.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Carnegie-Mellon University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Pittsburgh, United States) |
| Project start | May 1, 2007 |
| Project end | May 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $332,044 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DC008524-20 |
| Project ID | NIH-11337619 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are people with aphasia whose speech and communication can be analyzed using language and gesture analyses.
✕Less likely to help
Patients whose data are not included in AphasiaBank or whose speech cannot be analyzed with the new methods may not benefit directly.
What this research studies
If you or a loved one has aphasia, this grant improves how researchers study everyday speech and gestures by making the AphasiaBank data easier to analyze. It introduces automatic speech recognition, discourse and gesture analysis, and a collaborative commentary system to better capture how people with aphasia communicate. The project will apply these methods to the existing database and new language corpora, then optimize the tools for use by researchers and clinicians. The goal is to provide clearer insights into communication patterns and improve methods that support therapy and assessment. This work bridges data science with clinical practice to enhance understanding of aphasia across communities.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Better understanding of how aphasia affects everyday communication and improved tools for researchers and clinicians to support assessment and therapy.
How similar studies have gone: Previous analyses using AphasiaBank have advanced understanding of aphasic speech, and the new methods aim to extend these gains.
Where this research is happening
-
Carnegie-Mellon University
Pittsburgh, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Macwhinney, Brian — Carnegie-Mellon University
- Study coordinator: Macwhinney, Brian
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.