Summary:

• Development and Investigation Objective: Vocal Biomarkers as prognostic and diagnostic markers for the early detection of disease patterns.
• Evidence is mounting that Voice Signal Processing can detect early warning signals for respiratory, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders.
• Researchers are decoding disease-specific voice patterns with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning models.
• New non-invasive digital biomarkers are enabling precise early-diagnosis, support personal treatments and enable longitudinal therapy monitoring.

Unlocking the human voice for the early detection of diseases

Can a smartphone based application for voice signal processing detect a person’s individual risk and status of respiratory, cardiovascular and mental diseases? Interdisciplinary research and development teams at EVOCAL Health and the “The Human Voice Project” Initiative are working to unlock the human voice as a prognostic and diagnostic marker for the early disease detection using artificial intelligence and machine learning models.

The target is to develop sophisticated algorithms that digitize, parameterize and normalize the human voice, coughing and breathing sounds. In a further step these sounds are analyzed for disease specific structure, dynamic, intonation, and rhythm parameters using artificial intelligence and machine learning models and correlate the results to other disease-typical symptoms and biomarkers. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, EVOCAL Health has initiated the so-called “Human Voice Project”: A comprehensive research program, bridging the gap between clinical research and care.

The influence of diseases on the human voice

EVOCAL Health is aiming to help detect respiratory, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders at an earlier stage to enable a precise diagnosis, support personal treatments and enable longitudinal therapy monitoring. “From previous investigations and studies, we know how human signal processing changes in patients with severe disorders of the heart, lung and brain, for instance,” explains Dirk Simon, CEO of EVOCAL Health and Initiator of the Human Voice Project. “Our long-term and highly ambitious goal is to predict diseases that are advancing using specialized algorithms: We want to identify these changes more quickly and thereby support the early detection of such a disease, so that patients benefit from earlier diagnosis and suitable disease monitoring. The Human Voice Project is EVOCAL’s initiative to make it easy and engaging to contribute to decoding the human voice and participate in clinical and real-life research.”

The role of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning

“Words, syllables, sentences, tones, and rhythms can be combined in an infinite number of ways. We are in the development of our Voice Signal Processing of Humans (VSPoH™) technology, that help us hear beyond what the human ear can hear and identify disease-specific patterns with artificial intelligence and machine learning models,” Hendrik Kleinwächter CTO of EVOCAL Health explains. Complex pattern algorithms analyze the parametrized voice. Subsequently, the voice signals are converted for visual representation so that voice structure, dynamic, intonation, and rhythm can be shown using complex indexes. By means of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the VSPoH™ technology learns to recognize and classify patterns along the way.

With clinical investigations EVOCAL Health is establishing the use of artificial intelligence for state of the art voice signal processing in the diagnosis of disorders like respiratory, mental and cardiovascular diseases. Previous studies with chronic patients in fields of a number of disorders have already shown that advanced voice signal processing can be an early sign of a disease.

Recordings from surveys and interviews with patients are based on a specific system of questions, vocals and speech probes, providing valuable data for digital voice processing analysis.

Vocal Biomarkers - A tech breakthrough for the future of Longevity

“Longevity research around the globe is about to figure out how to age healthy and extend human life span for (healthy) decades with technology, preventive medicine, personalized therapies and health assistants based on AI and Big Data. At EVOCAL Health we are aiming to support the science of healthy ageing developing new remote biomarkers, digital diagnostics and personalized therapeutics. Our mission is to make longevity accessible and affordable and we are striving for a technological breakthrough. To support longevity, the early detection during what is known as the “predictional phase” of a disease is vital” stated Philip Mertes, COO of Evocal Health and Initiator of the Human Voice Project.