Using speech patterns to track Parkinson's disease changes

Researchers want to understand whether analyzing how people speak—in detail using computers—can reliably detect changes in movement, mood, and thinking that happen in Parkinson's disease. Speech is complex and naturally reflects all three of these areas of health at the same time. This study will record and analyze speech from people with Parkinson's disease (some who have had deep brain stimulation surgery and some who haven't) and from healthy volunteers, to see if speech patterns can become a useful tool for doctors to monitor how well treatments are working.

Parkinson's disease affects how people move, think, and feel, and these abilities naturally go up and down throughout the day. Current ways of checking how someone is doing require office visits and subjective judgments from doctors. If speech analysis could reliably track these changes, it might help doctors adjust treatment more quickly and accurately, and even allow patients to monitor themselves at home.