Interview conducted by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Aug 4 2022 Thought LeadersDr. Jordan GreenDirector of the Speech and Feeding Disorders LabMGH Institute of Health Professions In this interview, we speak to Dr. Jordan Green from the MGH Institute about his latest research partnership with Modality.AI which investigated whether an app could be used to effectively diagnose speech decline due to ALS.
As ALS progresses, motor neurons responsible for speech, swallowing, breathing, and walking can rapidly deteriorate, but if the disease can be spotted in its early stages, while the motor neurons are still intact, the benefits of interventions are likely to be maximized. The right technologies, such as this one, can also detect changes in patients with greater precision, ultimately facilitating better monitoring of the disease's progression.
Tina decodes information from speech acoustics and speech movements, extracted automatically from full-face video recordings obtained during the assessment. Computer vision technologies – such as face tracking – provide a non-invasive way to accurately record and compute features from large amounts of data from facial movements during speech.
Lastly, the app generally requires patient engagement for only a few minutes per week, thus saving time, and expense, requiring less energy than a clinical exam and the time and delays involved in coordinating an appointment and traveling to a healthcare facility. Lack of early diagnosis and objective measures are two issues that have hindered treatment progress. Early diagnosis is critical in a rapidly progressing disease.
I predict these types of collaborations will grow in popularity in the health tech space and will have an increasingly significant impact on studies like this one.Artificial Intelligence has seen a huge increase in its adoption in recent years.
While AI has been proven invaluable in the medical field, it will not replace clinicians. Human practitioners offer unparalleled personalized care, decision-making, and overarching patient support and cannot be replaced.