Computers Extract Disease Clues from Speech

AI models can pick up subtle alterations in linguistic and vocal attributes of spoken language that may be indicative of failing health.

Written byJef Akst

| 4 min read

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Speech is a window into our brains—and not just when we’re healthy. When neurological issues arise, they often manifest in the things we say and how we say them.

IBM computer scientist Guillermo Cecchi came to appreciate just how important language is in medicine as a psychiatry postdoc at Weill Cornell Medicine in the early 2000s. Despite advances in brain imaging, “it’s still [through] behavior, and fundamentally through language, that we assess mental health,” he says. “And we deal with it through therapy. . . . Language is essential for that.”

In the digital age, hardware and software are available for “natural language processing”—a type of artificial intelligence (AI) pioneered by IBM’s Watson that extracts useful content from written and spoken language. But while companies such as Google and Facebook use language processing to evaluate our social media interactions, emails, and browsing histories in ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
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Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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