Application of Speech Technology in a Home Based Assessment Kiosk for Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease
By Coulston, Rachel; Klabbers, Esther; de Villiers, Jacques; Hosom, John-Paul; Proceedings of InterSpeech 2007,Publication Date: 2007
Paper describes a computer-based kiosk used for early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease in elderly people. Hardware for the kiosk, which is placed in the client’s home, consists of a compact PC, a flat-panel monitor, and a telephone receiver. Data collected by the kiosk is cached on the PC’s local file system and then uploaded to a server via the Internet. The kiosk’s system schedules and conducts interviews with the client at regular intervals. During the interview, the client uses the telephone receiver to answer questions or uses the touch-screen function of the monitor to select an answer. The interview is made up of four test tasks: (1) Word list recall; (2) Backward digit span, where the client is asked to repeat a string of numbers in reverse order; (3) Category fluency, where the client is asked to name as many members in a set, such as animals, as they can think of in one minute; and (4) Story recall, where the client is asked to repeat back the details of a simple story. The invariability in the delivery of instructions and stimuli keeps stimulus presentation consistent over the course of longitudinal monitoring; additionally, unlike human interviewers, the kiosk will not be subject to the influence of any prejudice about whether or not cognitive decline is present. The kiosk is part of a pilot study comparing the effectiveness of conventional, telephone, and computer testing in early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Published by: International Speech Communication Association (ISCA) (Website:http://www.isca-speech.org/index.php)
International Speech Communication Association (ISCA) (Web Site: http://www.isca-speech.org/index.php )
Link to text: http://www.orcatech.org/papers/InterSpeech_07_Coulston.pdf
