The use of voice processing techniques in the assessment of patients with Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease, which is becoming an increasingly greater social issue due to the growing incidence rate caused by population ageing. Over the recent years, the doctors have been focusing on searching for new methods supporting the diagnosis of such disorders. Acoustic voice analysis in Parkinson's patients can be a valuable and objective tool supporting the diagnosing diseases of neurodegenerative nature. The article discusses a concept of utilizing voice processing techniques in evaluating patients with Parkinson's disease. Using time analysis, frequency analysis and time-frequency analysis, the authors attempted performing acoustic voice analysis in that group of patients. The research utilized recordings conducted at the Department of Neurology at the Medical University of Warsaw. The study involved both women and men. The recording scenario was divided into several parts. The first part contained two various texts read out by the tested person. Yet another segment involved recording the vowel "a" with prolonged phonation, uttered by a patient for at least 5 seconds. The last part of the recordings involved the patient uttering individual words and sentences according to an assumed scenario. A total of 7 acoustic signals per patient, with an average length of ca. 75 seconds were recorded. The conclusions from the conducted studies will enable determining, which of the applied techniques can be a promising tool for supporting the diagnostics of neurodegenerative disorders, including parkinsonism. Further studies involving larger groups are required in order to confirm the obtained results and the structure of a target diagnostic system.