Alzheimer – Is the Doctor Already in the House?

I’m just attending a meeting about nutrition and healthy ageing of the brain. One of the more fascinating discoveries is that the microbiome, i.e. the bacterial in your gut, play a crucial role when it comes to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer.

And in 2017, according to Alzheimers.net, worldwide nearly 44 million people are affected by the disease or related dementia. The disease is most prevalent in Western Europe, followed by the U.S.A. The care cost for Alzheimer is immense: in 2016, $ 18.2 billion hours were spent caring for those affected, with the global cost amounting to $ 605 billion. And the prevalence is expected to still rise by more than 10%. For those already affected, early recognition is very important. The sooner neurodegenerative diseases are diagnosed, the easier it is to treat them.

One of the important developments in the field is the discovery that some neurodegenerative diseases can be diagnosed over the phone. This is due to the fact that such diseases are accompanied by changes in the speech pattern of those affected. Initially the pattern changes are small, however, they become more prominent as the disease progresses. And as previously mentioned, diagnoses are possible over the phone.

Now combine the detectability of early onset of neurodegenerative diseases through speech pattern changes with the progression of audio-command devices like Google Home and Amazon Echo. What do you get? Hopefully not just the doll house that was ordered by a six-year old through Alexa.

The likes of Amazon Echo and Google Home, since they are recording and analyzing the words of their users, will have the enormous potential to also recognize the minute changes in speech pattern of all those affected by neurodegenerative diseases. This would allow the early recognition, and consequently early treatment – when it is still most effective. So, at least potentially, you already have the doctor in the house.

Considering in how many homes you find one or the other device, will we see the likes of Google Now and Alexa doubling as diagnostic tools allowing the early recognition of neurodegenerative diseases?

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