Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) in older adults living alone is essential for developing, planning, and initiating interventions and support systems to improve patients’ everyday function and quality of life. Conventional, clinic-based methods for early diagnosis are expensive, impractical, and time-consuming. This project aims to develop a low-cost, passive, and practical home-based assessment method using Voice Assistant Systems (VAS) for early detection of ADRD, including a set of novel data mining techniques for sparse time-series speech. The project has three specific aims: 1. Using a recurrent neural network (RNN) and a softmax regression model, we will develop a transfer learning technique to investigate the link between the speech from in-lab VAS tasks and cognitive decline and discover ADRD-related voice biomarkers. The Pitt Corpus speech database will be used to optimize the RNN parameters and thereby overcome the limited data problem of VAS. The softmax regression model will allow us to align the feature distributions from the previous speech data and in-lab VAS speech; 2. We will develop a novel “many-to- difference” prediction model with a symmetric RNN structure to predict the ADRD-related cognitive differences at two ends of a time period from the sparse time-series data. The proposed model is different from previous ones as the learning focus is shifted from the short-term pattern differences across users to the pattern difference over time for an individual user. The proposed model accommodates well for the highly dynamic nature of the inputs and maximally removes individual characteristics from the prediction result. To analyze the sparse time-series speech, a new data sampling technique will be used to address the imbalanced data problem, and a data quality metric will be developed for the proposed model; 3. The team will conduct an 18- month in-lab evaluation and a 28-month in-home evaluation with a focus on whether the VAS tasks and features from the in-lab evaluation and the repetition features of the in-home VAS data can measure and predict ADRD-related cognitive decline in the in-home participants over time. The proposed methods will be integrated into an interactive system to enable efficient communication on ADRD status among patients, caregivers, and clinicians. If successful, the outcomes of this project will provide an opportunity to provide supportive evidence to clinicians for the early detection of ADRD outside of a clinic-based setting. Project Relevance This project aims to develop a low-cost, passive, and practical cognitive assessment method using Voice Assistant Systems (VAS) for early detection of ADRD-related cognitive decline. If successful, the proposed system may be widely disseminated for the early diagnosis of ADRD to complement existing diagnostic modalities that could ultimately enable long-term patient and caregiver planning to maintain individual’s independence at home.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
