MIAMI: A study by an Indian-origin researcher may soon help doctors diagnose patients with Alzheimer’s disease over the phone – just by listening to their voices.
Sona Patel, professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, US, has received a $380,000 grant from the National Institute of Deafness and Communicative Disorders to conduct a study on the vocal impacts of the neurological disorder. She said her research would take forward previous studies that indicated differences in voice patterns between normally aging adults and those with Parkinson’s disease.
“Your voice is really important,” Patel was quoted as saying. “You react to (stimuli) with your voice automatically, without even realising it… now, the question is if we can use (voices) to indicate other neurological disorders as well,” she said.