Cited by 127Dementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchEmotion and Mood RecognitionSpeech and dialogue systems

Detecting Dementia Through Interactive Computer Avatars

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Tanaka, Hiroki, Adachi, Hiroyoshi, Ukita, Norimichi, Ikeda, Manabu, Kazui, Hiroaki, Kudo, Takashi, Nakamura, Satoshi·2017·IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine

Abstract

This paper proposes a new approach to automatically detect dementia. Even though some works have detected dementia from speech and language attributes, most have applied detection using picture descriptions, narratives, and cognitive tasks. In this paper, we propose a new computer avatar with spoken dialog functionalities that produces spoken queries based on the mini-mental state examination, the Wechsler memory scale-revised, and other related neuropsychological questions. We recorded the interactive data of spoken dialogues from 29 participants (14 dementia and 15 healthy controls) and extracted various audiovisual features. We tried to predict dementia using audiovisual features and two machine learning algorithms (support vector machines and logistic regression). Here, we show that the support vector machines outperformed logistic regression, and by using the extracted features they classified the participants into two groups with 0.93 detection performance, as measured by the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve. We also newly identified some contributing features, e.g., gap before speaking, the variations of fundamental frequency, voice quality, and the ratio of smiling. We concluded that our system has the potential to detect dementia through spoken dialog systems and that the system can assist health care workers. In addition, these findings could help medical personnel detect signs of dementia.

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  1. [38]Bishop C. M., “ Pattern recognition,” in Machine Learning, vol. 128 New York, NY, USA: Springer-Verlag, 2006, pp. 1– 58.
  2. [53]Paeschke A. and Sendlmeier W. F., “ Prosodic characteristics of emotional speech: Measurements of fundamental frequency movements,” in Proc. ISCA Tuts. Res. Workshop (ITRW) Speech Emotion, 2000, pp. 75– 80.

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Authors
Tanaka, H., Adachi, H., Ukita, N., Ikeda, M., Kazui, H., Kudo, T., & Nakamura, S.
Affiliations
  • Nara Institute of Science and Technology (JP)
  • The University of Osaka (JP)
  • Toyota Technological Institute (JP)
Corresponding author
Tanaka, Hiroki
Venue
IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine
Published
2017
Volume
5
Pages
1-11
ISSN
2168-2372 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2755232679
Cited by
127
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 2
FWCI
9.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • JSPS KAKENHI (JP17H06101, JP16K16172)
  • Yanmar Innovation Lab. 2112
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Emotion and Mood Recognition
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Speech and dialogue systems
Keywords
dementia detection, spoken dialogue systems, audio-visual features, fundamental frequency, voice quality, smiling, Mini-Mental State Examination, Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, neuropsychological assessment, support vector machine, logistic regression, speech analysis

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