The way a person speaks may reveal more about the speed of his biological age and health than previously thought, according to a new study that used an automated computer tool that researchers called the “speech clock.”
Recent studies have shown that the manner of speech and changes in the voice may be indicators associated with biological aging and cognitive decline, including dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, in findings that open the door to the development of simple, non-invasive methods for monitoring brain health.
How does the Talking Hour work?
In the recent study, a scientific team analyzed audio recordings of about 3,000 Spanish-speaking people in Latin America, after assigning them several tasks, including narrating the events of a short film, retelling a story after 20 minutes, and naming items within specific categories with the aim of finding out whether the characteristics of speech can reflect the biological age and health status of the individual.
The researchers relied on machine learning techniques to analyze hundreds of characteristics associated with speech, including speed of speech, pauses, tone of voice, vocabulary, emotional content and accuracy of meaning.
Your voice is an indicator of dementia
The data showed that the tool estimated the “verbal age” of each participant, which was then compared to the actual age, to reveal the extent to which the age suggested by the speech matched the person’s chronological age.
The results showed that healthy people recorded a smaller gap between their actual age and the age of their speech, while the gap widened among those with Alzheimer’s disease and some types of dementia, including frontotemporal dementia.
The increase in “verbal age” has also been linked to signs indicating accelerated aging in a number of biological and clinical systems, in addition to changes in the brain that appeared through magnetic resonance imaging examinations. Higher scores were also associated with higher levels of the protein “p-Tau217” in the blood, which is one of the indicators associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
People whose speech sounded older than their age had poorer performance on memory, concentration, and problem-solving tests, and the association also appeared on some non-verbal tests, such as visual memory tests.
Participants whose speech sounded older than their age recorded poorer performance on tests of memory, concentration, and problem solving. This association was not limited to linguistic tasks, but also appeared in non-verbal tests, such as visual memory.
The researchers believe that the importance of the “talk clock” lies in the possibility of collecting a set of indicators related to aging, brain health, and cognitive abilities in one measurement, with the possibility of conducting the test remotely and using regular devices, which may make it a low-cost, non-invasive method in the future.
But the researchers stressed that this technique is not currently considered a diagnostic test for dementia, and the study has not proven its ability to predict with certainty which people will suffer from cognitive decline in the future.
Voice disorders and risk of dementia
In the same context, a new study indicates that voice disorders, including changes in voice pitch, strength, or clarity, may be linked to an increased likelihood of developing dementia or cognitive impairment in the future.
The study – conducted by a team from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, and whose results were published in the Journal of Voice – included 833,417 participants aged 50 years and over, and examined the relationship between having a voice disorder or hearing loss, or both, and the possibility of developing cognitive impairment or dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, starting one year after the diagnosis of a voice disorder or hearing loss.
The results showed that participants who suffered from a sound disorder without hearing loss were 58% more likely to develop dementia or cognitive problems in the future, while the percentage increased to 104% for those who suffered from both a sound disorder and hearing loss.
Overall, voice disorders, whether accompanied by hearing loss or not, were associated with a 29% increase in the likelihood of developing dementia or cognitive impairment, while hearing loss alone was associated with a 27% increase.
Robert Sataloff, professor and department head at Drexel University College of Medicine, said that the strongest association with dementia appeared in patients who had a voice disorder and hearing loss together, noting that people who had voice disorders without hearing loss were more at risk compared to those who suffer from hearing loss alone.
Voice disorders include laryngitis, vocal cord paralysis, vocal cord lesions, spastic dysarthria, and others.
Researchers believe that the relationship between voice disorders and cognitive decline may be partly related to a decline in social interaction, as people who suffer from difficulty or pain while speaking or singing may avoid participating in social activities. It is believed that social communication and constant mental activity are linked to maintaining brain health.
However, researchers emphasize that the presence of a voice disorder does not inevitably mean dementia, and that the study results only prove a statistical association, and do not prove that voice disorders cause dementia or that they necessarily represent an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease.
Overall, the results indicate that voice and speech may carry important health information, but transforming these indicators into reliable tools for early diagnosis or prediction of dementia requires further research and clinical verification.