Biomarkers of Neurodegenerative Progression from Spontaneous Speech Recorded in Mobile Devices: An Approach based on Articulation Speed Estimation - A Study of Patients Suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

摘要

A majority of patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) experiment a rapid evolution of symptoms related to a progressive decline in movement function that affects different systems. Clinical assessment is based on measures of progression for identifying the need and the pace of medical decisions, and to measure also the effects of novel therapies. But assessment is limited to the periodicity of clinical appointments that are increasingly difficult for patients due to progressive mobility impairments. In this paper, we present a novel method to assess neurodegeneration process through speech analysis. An articulation kinematic model is proposed to identify markers of neuromotor functional progression in speech. We analysed speech samples that were collected with a mobile device, in 3-month intervals, from a group of six subjects with ALS. Results suggest that the method proposed is sensitive to the symptoms of the disease, as rated by observational clinical scales, and it may contribute to assist clinicians and researchers with better and continuous measures of disease progression.