Using speech and language analysis to spot Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia in English- and Spanish-speakers
An automated machine learning approach to language changes in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia across Latino and English-speaking populations
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 ID | NIH-11404655 on NIH RePORTER |
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.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: 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.
Not a fit: 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.
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 performed: 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
San Francisco, United States
- 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
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 below.