Typically, diagnosing Alzheimer’s may take many expensive and time consuming tests, brain imaging, and behavior observations. Canary Speech, a company that specializes in speech analysis technology, is working on an artificial intelligence powered technology that can detect Alzheimer’s just by listening to a quick voice sample of the patient.

This technology makes use of what are called biomarkers (data about health or disease management used to explain, influence, and/or predict health related outcomes) identified in clinical studies. Embedded in a wearable device, this technology will have the ability to analyze a 20 to 30 second speech sample within a second for not only Alzheimer’s but also anxiety, depression, and general energy levels. Henry O’ Connell, CEO of Canary Speech suggests that currently Canary has an accuracy of 92.5% when it comes to distinguishing between the voices of people with and without Alzheimer’s. In a recent study, programmers were able to train an AI model to to identify mild cognitive impairment also which can be a precursor to Alzheimer’s, even though not everyone with mild cognitive impairment goes on to develop Alzheimer’s. Identifying these impairments as early and quickly as possible will help start treatment for their respective conditions. (watch the videos below for details)

This type of technology is typically found in doctor’s offices and clinics but Canary Speech is collaborating with another company Syntiant to bring it to people’s homes where they can use the analysis for continuous monitoring and improvements.

Learn more about Canary Speech through this video.

Canary Speech consists of some really interesting and high profile folks who have made quite the impact with speech technologies! This video below provides background on the founders and also does a deeper dive on the Canary Speech philosophy, technology, and journey. (I highly recommend watching it!)

Source: IEEE, Canary Speech

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