Mathematician Max Little has had some success diagnosing Parkinson’s disease by using signal processing algorithms to analyse the voice alone. Now the Parkinson’s Voice Initiative needs you – whether you have Parkinson’s or not – to donate three minutes to make a voice recording to add to their database and help improve the algorithm.
According to a report on the PhysOrg website Medical Xpress, Little analysed a set of recordings of interviews with around 50 people, intended to develop anecdotal record of the progression disease, and an equal sized sample of people without the condition, with the result that the system was able to detect which voices belonged to those with Parkinson’s disease in 86% of cases.
The Parkinson’s Voice Initiative website explains that current objective symptom tests for Parkinson’s are expensive, time-consuming, and logistically difficult, so mostly, they are not done outside trials. However, it notes that voice is affected as much by Parkinson’s as limb movements. The test works by detecting “subtle changes to the voice, including tremor, breathiness and weakness” (although it is careful to point out that having these symptoms does not necessarily mean that you have Parkinson’s).
In order to grow the database of voices and improve the test, the Parkinson’s Voice Initiative website gives phone numbers in the USA, UK, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Argentina and Canada. This asks:
Whether you are healthy or living with Parkinson’s, help provide the voice information needed to build a system to screen for and monitor the symptoms of this debilitating disease. All you need to do: make a low-cost, anonymous, three-minute phone call.
When you call, which I just did, a recorded system asks you for your age, gender and whether you have Parkinson’s or any other diagnosis that affects the voice. It asks you to say “arrrr” and repeat a few sentences and numbers. My phone was connected for 3 minutes 35 seconds. What an easy way to donate to medical research!
The website says the aim is to build a database of 10,000 voice recordings from around the globe. Little is quoted in a BBC News article saying:
We’re not intending this to be a replacement for clinical experts, rather, it can very cheaply help identify people who might be at high risk of having the disease and for those with the disease, it can augment treatment decisions by providing data about how symptoms are changing in-between check-ups with the neurologist… If you can catch the disease early it will make a huge difference to care costs. It could become a key technology in reducing the burden of care on the NHS.
Sources:
Medical Xpress: Mathematician develops vocal method of testing for Parkinson’s disease;
BBC News: Voice algorithms spot Parkinson’s disease;
More information: Parkinson’s Voice Initiative website.