Speech-related parameters are sensitive measures of acetylcholinesterase inhibitor therapy in mild Alzheimer's disease.

Our aim was to find out whether speech-related temporal parameters (SRTPs) are sensitive indicators of the clinical outcome in acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor therapy with donepezil, compared to the standard cognitive Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog) used in clinical trials. In this 24-week-long, naturalistic, self-control, open-labeled, prospective pilot study with 10 mg donepezil on 20 mild AD patients, cognitive functions were evaluated using 15 different SRTPs analyzed by automatic speech recognition in the Speech-Gap Test® compared to ADAS-Cog test results. Among the SRTPs, the filled pause duration ratio significantly improved after 12 weeks of donepezil treatment.

Temporal Speech Parameters Detect Mild Cognitive Impairment in Different Languages: Validation and Comparison of the Speech-GAP Test® in English and Hungarian.

Background: The development of automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology allows the analysis of temporal (time-based) speech parameters characteristic of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, no information has been available on whether the analysis of spontaneous speech can be used with the same efficiency in different language environments.

Objective: The main goal of this international pilot study is to address the question of whether the Speech-Gap Test® (S-GAP Test®), previously tested in the Hungarian language, is appropriate for and applicable to the recognition of MCI in other languages such as English.

Temporal Speech Parameters Indicate Early Cognitive Decline in Elderly Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Introduction: The earliest signs of cognitive decline include deficits in temporal (time-based) speech characteristics. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients are more prone to mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The aim of this study was to compare the temporal speech characteristics of elderly (above 50 y) T2DM patients with age-matched nondiabetic subjects.

The Role of Silence in Verbal Fluency Tasks - A New Approach for the Detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Objective: Most recordings of verbal fluency tasks include substantial amounts of task-irrelevant content that could provide clinically valuable information for the detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We developed a method for the analysis of verbal fluency, focusing not on the task-relevant words but on the silent segments, the hesitations, and the irrelevant utterances found in the voice recordings.

Methods: Phonemic ('k', 't', 'a') and semantic (animals, food items, actions) verbal fluency data were collected from healthy control (HC; = 25; = 67.

Telltale silence: temporal speech parameters discriminate between prodromal dementia and mild Alzheimer's disease.

This study presents a novel approach for the early detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer's disease (mAD) in the elderly. Participants were 25 elderly controls (C), 25 clinically diagnosed MCI and 25 mAD patients, included after a clinical diagnosis validated by CT or MRI and cognitive tests. Our linguistic protocol involved three connected speech tasks that stimulate different memory systems, which were recorded, then analyzed linguistically by using the PRAAT software.