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Seton Hall Professor Sona Patel with a study participant. (Photo courtesy Seton Hall University)
(Fred Stucker)
SOUTH ORANGE -- Doctors may one day have a quicker, less expensive way to diagnose patients with Alzheimer's disease, just by listening to their voices. That's according to a Seton Hall University professor currently conducting research on the vocal impacts of the disorder.
Sona Patel said she is building her latest study on the topic off of previous research that indicated differences in voice patterns between normally aging adults, and those with Parkinson's disease.
"Your voice is really important," Patel said in a phone interview about her research.
"You react to (stimuli) with your voice automatically, without even realizing it...now, the question is if we can use (voices) to indicate other neurological disorders."
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Patel received a $380,000, three-year grant from the National Institute of Deafness and Communicative Disorders to carry out research at Seton Hall's Voice Analytics and Neuropsychology Lab in South Orange. She is using electroencephalogram (EEG), and auditory feedback testing to determine how Alzheimer's patients respond to various speech tasks, and if their responses differ from those of Parkinson's patients, and normally aging adults.
Seton Hall Professor Sona Patel is studying voice and brain changes in Alzheimer's patients. (Photo courtesy Seton Hall University)
"In the early stages of these (two neurological) diseases, the symptoms are very similar," Patel said. "By the time the disease has progressed enough to be properly diagnosed, there is not much you can do."
If her research indicates changes in voice patterns, Patel said it could be possible to develop non-invasive, less expensive methods that would be able to detect whether or not a person in the early stages of a disease has Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.
The test, she said, would be simple to administer, and could even potentially be done over the phone. That, Patel said, would not only increase early detection in the United States, but could have a great impact on third world countries, where the disease is often never properly diagnosed or treated.
"If you can detect it earlier, and treat it earlier, and potentially slow down or even stop the progression, that would be amazing," Patel said.
The research could potentially impact a lot of local people, too. According to the Alzheimer's Association, about 170,000 people in New Jersey - or about 12 percent of the state's senior citizens - are living with the disease. That number is expected to increase to 210,000 within the next 10 years.
Officials at Seton Hall say they are "proud" to have this research happening in New Jersey.
"To know that (Patel) is working right here on our campus...to find new ways to understand diseases that affect people all over the world is humbling," Brian B. Shulman, Dean of the School of Health and Medical Sciences, said in a statement to NJ Advance Media.
Patel's "research brings together health and technology in groundbreaking ways."
The project is expected to wrap next fall. Patel is currently looking for additional participants to take part in the study. Anyone over 60 interested in finding out more information about participating should reach out to Seton Hall at 973-313-6081 or VANlab.shu@gmail.com.
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.