Early detection of Parkinson's using sound waves

A new method developed by Prof. Shimon Sapir from the Department of Communication Disorders helps in the early detection of Parkinson's disease based on acoustic analysis of the sound waves produced while speaking.

The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the USA and funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA and was published in the prestigious Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research. Laws", noted Prof. Sapir.

Parkinson's disease is a disease characterized by muscle stiffness, tremors, slow movements, and difficulties in balance and posture, and the diagnosis of the disease is often made on the basis of these symptoms. The problem is that these symptoms tend to appear when the disease is already in an advanced process and therefore the diagnosis is also made when about 60% of the nerve cells in the area of ​​the brain that controls the motor activities are already destroyed and therefore the therapeutic and rehabilitation capabilities are low.

According to Prof. Sapir, in most people with Parkinson's disease, the muscles that control the voice and speech systems are also damaged, and there are preliminary findings that indicate that the changes in voice and speech appear even before the classic symptoms of the disease that were mentioned. He also added that theoretically, acoustic analysis of sound waves may detect the disease in its early stages, but until now it was not possible to distinguish between patients with Parkinson's and healthy speakers using acoustic analysis of speech. "Even when it was already possible to hear the speech impairment with the ear, the acoustic tests did not show a statistically significant difference between a Parkinson's patient and a non-Parkinson's patient," said Prof. Sapir.

In the current study, the researchers wanted to check if Prof. Sapir's new development is sensitive enough to detect this difference in the sound waves and if the changes can also be detected in the first stages of the disease (Parkinson's disease has five stages).

In the first part of the study, two groups were examined: one of patients diagnosed with Parkinson's and the other of people without the disease. The subjects recorded several sentences that underwent acoustic analysis using the dedicated software developed for this purpose. From the findings it became clear that for the first time the system was able to clearly distinguish between the sick group and the healthy group. In the second part of the study, Parkinson's patients in the first stages of the disease (stages I+II) and healthy speakers were examined. Also in this part of the study, the system was able to distinguish between the sick group and the healthy group. In the last part of the study, Parkinson's patients who were treated with a behavioral method to improve speech and Parkinson's patients who were not treated with this method were examined. From the data it became clear that the system was sensitive to changes that occurred due to the treatment, that is, the method developed by Prof. Sapir makes it possible to locate speakers with Parkinson's disease as well as to monitor changes that occurred due to treatment or the deterioration of the disease.

"There is an agreement between doctors and researchers that early diagnosis is extremely essential in order to prevent or slow down the degenerative process of the disease. There are methods of brain imaging and other methods, some of them invasive, that allow early diagnosis of the disease, but these are very expensive, especially when it comes to screening tests for the disease in a large population, therefore the importance of developing non-invasive, simple, cheap and available methods that are also reliable and accurate. It is important to emphasize that despite these encouraging initial findings, there is of course a need for additional studies to continue testing the new method we have developed", Prof. Sapir concluded.