Speech, Linguistic and Acoustic Markers in Parkinson's Disease

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The Investigators aim to identify speech and language markers that provide information on cognitive function and predict cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease. The Investigators will administer speech tasks and cognitive assessments to participants with Parkinson's disease and healthy controls. The Investigators will also explore the associations between genetic factors and speech and cognitive status in Parkinson's disease.

Official Title
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Speech, Linguistic and Acoustic Markers in Parkinson's Disease

Conditions
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Parkinson Disease, Cognitive Impairment, Mild, Speech

Intervention / Treatment
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* Diagnostic Test: Cognitive Battery
* Behavioral: Voice, Speech and Language Analysis
* Behavioral: Questionnaires and Clinical Assessments
* Genetic: DNA Analysis


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Parkinson's Disease (or healthy control) Disease duration ≥ 2 years Mild cognitive impairment or normal cognition Exclusion Criteria: Diagnosis of dementia (MoCA <21) Adults unable to consent Age < 18 Pregnant women Prisoners Non-English speakers Any neurological disorder other than PD Deep brain stimulator placement Severe, unstable psychiatric disorder Unintelligible speech due to effects of PD Visual acuity or color vision impairment that would interfere with cognitive testing Other voice, speech or swallowing disorders or history of surgery involving palate/nasopharynx/larynx/vocal cords

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Parkinson's Disease<br>Subjects with Parkinson's Disease | Diagnostic Test: Cognitive Battery<br>* Participants will be asked to complete a series of cognitive testing (testing of concentration, memory, and other thinking abilities).<br>Behavioral: Voice, Speech and Language Analysis<br>* Participants will be asked to perform speaking and reading tasks, which will be recorded. Participants will be asked to complete a laptop-based test of language comprehension.<br>Behavioral: Questionnaires and Clinical Assessments<br>* Participants with Parkinson's disease will complete an examination of their symptoms and questionnaires assessing disease symptoms, mood and activities of daily living. Healthy controls participants will be asked to complete questionnaires on mood.<br>Genetic: DNA Analysis<br>* Participants will have their blood drawn for DNA analysis.<br>|
| Control<br>Subjects without Parkinson's Disease | Diagnostic Test: Cognitive Battery<br>* Participants will be asked to complete a series of cognitive testing (testing of concentration, memory, and other thinking abilities).<br>Behavioral: Voice, Speech and Language Analysis<br>* Participants will be asked to perform speaking and reading tasks, which will be recorded. Participants will be asked to complete a laptop-based test of language comprehension.<br>Behavioral: Questionnaires and Clinical Assessments<br>* Participants with Parkinson's disease will complete an examination of their symptoms and questionnaires assessing disease symptoms, mood and activities of daily living. Healthy controls participants will be asked to complete questionnaires on mood.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Detection of speech acoustic parameters that classify PD participants by cognitive status (mild cognitive impairment [MCI] vs. normal cognition) | Gaussian regression modeling and other machine learning techniques will be used to develop a model including fundamental frequency, noise-to-harmonic ratio, cepstral peak prominence, formants, phoneme-dependent speaking rates and diadochokinesis rate and quality to predict categorization of PD participants by disease and cognitive status. | 12-24 months | 
| Duration and location of pauses during speech in PD participants with and without mild cognitive impairment | Participants will produce speech samples of spontaneous speech, which will be transcribed and coded for pause length and location, and these characteristics will be entered into a non-linear mixed model with the three-level predictor of group membership (control, PD-MCI, PD with normal cognition) as the parameter of interest. | 12-24 months | 
| Syntax processing efficiency score (percentage correctly understood sentences/processing time) in controls, and in PD with and without MCI | When presented with sentences of varying syntactical complexity in a self-paced task, participants response time and accuracy will be used to create multilevel models and test for effect of group (controls, PD, PD-MCI). | 12-24 months |