New computer aided device for real time analysis of speech of people with Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects the coordination of muscles and limbs, including those responsible of the speech production. The lack of control of the limbs and muscles involved in the speech production process can generate intelligibility problems and this situation has a negative impact in the social interaction of the patients. It is already demonstrated that constant speech therapy can improve the communication abilities of the patients; however, the measurement of the recovery progress is done subjectively by speech therapists and neurologists. Due to this, it is required the development of flexible tools able to asses and guide the speech therapy of the patients. In this paper the design and deployment of a new device for the real time assessment of speech signals of people with PD is presented. The processes of design and deployment include the development on three platforms: first, a graphic user interface is developed on Matlab, second the first prototype is implemented on a digital signal processor (DSP) and third, the final device is developed on a mini-computer. The device is equipped with an audio codec, storage capacity and the processing unit. Besides, the system is complemented with a monitor to display the processed information on real time and with a keyboard enabling the interaction of the end-user with the device. Different acoustics and nonlinear dynamics measures which have been used in the state of the art for the assessment of speech of people with PD are implemented on the three mentioned platforms. In accordance with the state of the art, the designed platforms show an increment in the variation of the fundamental period of speech (commonly called pitch) of people with PD. Additionally, the decrease of the vocal space area is validated for the case of patients with PD. These results indicate that the designed device is useful to perform the assessment and monitoring of the speech therapy of people with PD.