Detecting Parkinson’s disease through speech analysis https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/grant-detail.php?grant_id=1616 SAMI group from Department of Circuit Theory received prestigious USA grant by Michael J. Fox Foundation and has a unique opportunity to contribute to preclinical diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease Czech Technical University is the main investigator and coordinator of project who is responsible for technological design and project solution: Jan Rusz (Principal investigator) Michal Novotný (Project coordinator) Jan Hlavnička (Research assistant) Tereza Tykalová (Research assistant) Collaborative clinical partners (co-investigator): Canada, McGill University, Montreal, QC (Ronald Postuma) USA, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota (Erik St. Louis) Austria, Medical University of Innsbruck (Birgit Högl) France, Gui-de-Chauliac Hospital, Montpellier (Yves Dauviliers) Germany, University of Marburg, Marburg (Wolfgang H. Oertel) Italy, San Raffaele Hospital, Milano (Luigi Ferini-Strambi) Czech republic, Charles University, Prague (Karel Šonka, Evžen Růžička) Description of project: Our ability to speak is enabled by the coordination of more than 100 of muscles controlled through several brain centers. Evaluation of speech performances has therefore a great potential to be extremely sensitive biomarker of neurodegenerative alterations. Objective preclinical diagnosis is essential for selection of patients at risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, i.e., patients suitable for clinical studies focused on development of neuroprotective therapies. The aim of this project is to design a set of DSP algorithms, which will allow an objective assessment of speech performances, and create a simple tool to screen large populations at risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. The database used for design and validation of DSP algorithms consists of patients with disruption of sleep behavior in REM phase, who are at high risk for developing of Parkinson’s disease. Robust algorithms for automatic speech analysis will be optimized for five languages including English, Czech, French, Italian and German. SAMI web Contact: Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Electrical Engineering Department of Circuit Theory Technicka 2, 166 27 Prague 6, Czech Republic Phone: +420 2435 2236, e-mail: cmejla at fel.cvut.cz