Using speech and language analysis to spot Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia in English- and Spanish-speakers
Official title: An automated machine learning approach to language changes in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia across Latino and English-speaking populations
Funded at University of California, San Francisco · NIH-11404655 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project uses automated speech and language tools to help find signs of Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia in English- and Spanish-speaking adults.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California, San Francisco NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Francisco, United States) |
| Project start | August 15, 2023 |
| Project end | June 30, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $409,055 |
| NIH project number | 3R01AG075775-03S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11404655 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are adults who speak English or Spanish, including people diagnosed with or suspected to have Alzheimer’s disease or frontotemporal dementia and healthy volunteers for comparison.
✕Less likely to help
People who do not speak English or Spanish, cannot produce natural speech (for example due to severe speech impairments), or are unwilling to share voice recordings may not benefit from participating.
What this research studies
You would be asked to speak naturally so the team can record your voice and language. The recordings will be turned into acoustic and linguistic data and analyzed with automated machine learning tools. The project combines samples from English-speaking U.S. participants and Spanish-speaking participants from several Latin American countries to make the tools work across languages, dialects, and social backgrounds. Researchers will compare people with Alzheimer’s, people with frontotemporal dementia, and healthy volunteers while accounting for factors like bilingualism and biological differences.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could produce a low-cost, noninvasive way to help detect and monitor Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia, especially for Latino communities.
How similar studies have gone: Previous smaller studies using automated speech analysis have shown promise for detecting dementia, but most were English-focused and few directly compared Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia across diverse Latino populations.
Where this research is happening
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University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Gorno Tempini, Maria Luisa — University of California, San Francisco
- Study coordinator: Gorno Tempini, Maria Luisa
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Automated language analysis for Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia in Latino and English speakers
A low-cost, automated speech and language analysis tool is being developed to help identify Alzheimer’s disease or frontotemporal dementia in Latino and English-speaking people.
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Automated language analysis for Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia across Latino and English-speaking groups
A low-cost, automated language study aims to help diagnose and understand Alzheimer’s and FTD in diverse Spanish- and English-speaking communities.
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Automated language analysis to help diagnose Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia in Latino and English speakers
A low-cost, computer-based method analyzes speech and language to help identify Alzheimer’s disease or frontotemporal dementia in Latino and English-speaking people.
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Automated language analysis for Alzheimer's and frontotemporal dementia in Latino and English-speaking communities
A low-cost, computer-based language analysis method is being developed to help identify Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia in Latino and English-speaking people.
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Automated language analysis to detect Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementia in Latino and English-speaking adults
A low-cost, computer-based language and speech analysis tool will help identify Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia in Latino and English-speaking adults.
-
Automated language analysis for Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia in Latino and English speakers
A machine learning approach analyzes speech and language from Latino and English-speaking people to help detect Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
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.