Research Projects

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementia (ADRD) is a global health issue, with traditional tests for memory, attention, and other cognitive domains not being effective in detecting cognitive decline at the early stages. Language assessment may be sensitive to early cognitive changes, which is crucial for early identification and disease monitoring. Most research related to impaired connected speech measures has been in English and a few European languages, but there is a lack of supporting hallmarks related to connected speech and language that helps in early identification of cognitive decline in South Asian languages. The current study aims to fill this gap by identifying and characterizing linguistic features of connected speech in Kannada and Hindi speakers with a range of MCI, AD, and FTD. The objectives are to investigate if connected speech production during picture description could reveal changes in speech and language patterns in healthy controls, MCI, AD, and FTD, and examine the relationship between multidimensional connected speech variables with grey matter atrophy and white matter fractional anisotropy. The study will involve 90 patients with MCI, AD, and FTD, and 45 healthy control speakers. Participants will undergo structural MRI according to the ADNI II protocol, and the study will help understand if connected speech measures are an early predictor of cognitive decline in these conditions.