Research Projects

Dementia affects 50 million people globally, with a projected 10 million additions annually, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Early diagnosis is challenging in countries like India, where few trained doctors and psychologists can assess cognitive status. However, the rapid advancement of digital India has led to the development of voice-controlled apps that can assess cognitive status at the doorstep, bypassing human interaction. Previous evidence suggests that recognizing emotions through voice intonation, body language, and facial expressions can help diagnose cognitive impairment. The Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR) is a validated tool for assessing cognitive impairment, using a questionnaire for the elderly and caregiver. A voice-controlled app can be developed using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to quantify and analyze speech, language, and facial expressions to detect and monitor cognitive impairment. The study aims to develop an app to assess cognitive status at the door step using smartphone devices with inbuilt cameras, recruiting 30 healthy elderly and 30 elderly with minimal cognitive impairment or beyond. The backend server will collect data from 60 individuals and create algorithms for assessing cognitive impairment.