Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34088354›Full record

ArticleAlzheimer's research & therapy2021

Correlating natural language processing and automated speech analysis with clinician assessment to quantify speech-language changes in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's dementia.

Anthony Yeung, Andrea Iaboni, Elizabeth Rochon, Monica Lavoie, Calvin Santiago, Maria Yancheva, Jekaterina Novikova, Mengdan Xu, Jessica Robin, Liam D Kaufman and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Alzheimer's research & therapy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
45citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
9.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

45 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 84 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. An End-to-End Overview of Clinical Speech AI.IEEE transactions on audio, speech, and language processing (2025) · 2026
    Article
  5. Review
  6. How culture shapes subjective cognitive decline reporting: Refining assessment tools with digital solutions.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026
    Article
  7. Review
  8. Urban mental health: a position paper of the European psychiatric association.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025
    Review
  9. Facets of language performance in early-onset and late-onset Alzheimer's disease dementia.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Distinguishable features of spontaneous speech in Alzheimer's clinical syndrome and healthy controls.Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Anthony YeungDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada. anthony.yeung@mail.utoronto.ca.ORCID 0000-0002-2029-4515
Andrea IaboniDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada.
Elizabeth RochonKITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehab, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.
Monica LavoieDepartment of Speech-Language Pathology and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Calvin SantiagoDivision of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Maria YanchevaWinterlight Labs, Toronto, Canada.
Jekaterina NovikovaWinterlight Labs, Toronto, Canada.
Mengdan XuWinterlight Labs, Toronto, Canada.
Jessica RobinWinterlight Labs, Toronto, Canada.
Liam D KaufmanWinterlight Labs, Toronto, Canada.
Fariya MostafaWinterlight Labs, Toronto, Canada.
University of Toronto · CAUniversity Health Network · CA

Funding

TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASEP50AG005133 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI KAMBOH, M. ILYAS · 1985 to 2019
$43.0M
RHDBank Database DevelopmentR01DC008524 · NIDCD · CARNEGIE-MELLON UNIVERSITY · PI BRIAN MACWHINNEY · 2007 to 2026
$7.0M
NIA NIH HHS P50 AG005133NIDCD NIH HHS R01 DC008524
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLanguage impairment is an important marker of neurodegenerative disorders. Despite this, there is no universal system of terminology used to describe these impairments and large inter-rater variability can exist between clinicians assessing language. The use of natural language processing (NLP) and automated speech analysis (ASA) is emerging as a novel and potentially more objective method to assess language in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's dementia (AD). No studies have analyzed how variables extracted through NLP and ASA might also be correlated to language impairments identified by a clinician.

methodsAudio recordings (n=30) from participants with AD, MCI, and controls were rated by clinicians for word-finding difficulty, incoherence, perseveration, and errors in speech. Speech recordings were also transcribed, and linguistic and acoustic variables were extracted through NLP and ASA. Correlations between clinician-rated speech characteristics and the variables were compared using Spearman's correlation. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to find common factors between variables for each speech characteristic.

resultsClinician agreement was high in three of the four speech characteristics: word-finding difficulty (ICC = 0.92, p<0.001), incoherence (ICC = 0.91, p<0.001), and perseveration (ICC = 0.88, p<0.001). Word-finding difficulty and incoherence were useful constructs at distinguishing MCI and AD from controls, while perseveration and speech errors were less relevant. Word-finding difficulty as a construct was explained by three factors, including number and duration of pauses, word duration, and syntactic complexity. Incoherence was explained by two factors, including increased average word duration, use of past tense, and changes in age of acquisition, and more negative valence.

conclusionsVariables extracted through automated acoustic and linguistic analysis of MCI and AD speech were significantly correlated with clinician ratings of speech and language characteristics. Our results suggest that correlating NLP and ASA with clinician observations is an objective and novel approach to measuring speech and language changes in neurodegenerative disorders.

Indexed as

Alzheimer DiseaseCognitive DysfunctionLanguage DisordersHumansNatural Language ProcessingSpeechAlzheimer’sAutomated speech analysisDementiaMachine learningMarkersMild cognitive impairmentNatural language processing

Identifiers

PMID34088354
PMCPMC8178861
OpenAlexW3164718964

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.