Digital App for Speech and Health Monitoring
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Digital App for Speech and Health Monitoring in Neurodegenerative Disorders
IRAS ID
338290
Contact name
Suvankar Pal
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Many people living with neurodegenerative conditions suffer from speech problems. Using common digital technologies such as smartphone apps, we can record and analyse speech in detail to provide new information for people living with these conditions, researchers, and healthcare professionals. This may help improve both care for these conditions and efforts to find new treatments. This study will investigate the use of these digital speech recordings to help diagnose and monitor these conditions. Our App tasks involve speech recordings (reading out paragraphs, responding to questions, describing pictures, and other verbal tasks), health questionnaires (mood, sleep, quality of life, and disease specific questions), cognitive games (Corsi block task, Stroop test) and an optional feedback survey. If participants have their own devices such as a smartphone or tablet, the team will help install the App and show participants how to use it. Participants may also undergo some clinical and cognitive assessments specific to their condition. These assessments help to tell us more information about their health. Participants also have the option to provide us with a blood sample, which we will use to compare disease markers in blood against changes in speech. After the first assessment, participants will continue taking part in assessments every 2 months for a 24 month period.
This will involve:
• 4 x Full Assessments (at months 6, 12, 18 and 24 months) lasting maximum 2.5 hours.
A full assessment includes App assessments, disease-specific clinical assessments, cognition assessments and an optional blood test (this may require attending the clinic).• 8 x Short Assessments (at months 2, 4, 8, 10) lasting between 15-60 minutes depending on the participant.
Shorter sessions involve completing the App assessments every 2 months in between full assessments. Depending on the condition, the participant may also be asked to complete a disease-specific clinical assessment.REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/SC/0067
Date of REC Opinion
27 Mar 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion