Dr. Maria Liakata and her team are developing a tablet application to collect longitudinal conversation and writing data between people with dementia and their caregivers. By analyzing patterns of language change over time in areas like vocabulary, syntax and coherence, they aim to develop computational techniques for effective, low-cost dementia diagnosis and monitoring without intrusive medical tests. The application will use images from the past to facilitate dialogue and written responses, engaging people living with dementia while generating data to study language alterations linked to the condition.

1. Dr Maria Liakata
University of Warwick, UK
m.liakata@warwick.ac.uk
Sensing language for dementia
monitoring and diagnosis

2. Why it is important to find innovative ways for diagnosis and
monitoring of dementia
• It is estimated that 41% of people currently living with
dementia do not have a formal diagnosis.
• Both false positive and missed diagnoses can be
detrimental to both dementia sufferers and their carers,
as well as the economy overall.
• Current methods for diagnosis are expensive and
intrusive (including brain scans and expensive blood
and spinal fluid tests)
• Innovative and non-invasive methods are sought for
early diagnosis and monitoring of progression.

3. Language, dialogue and dementia
• Studies have shown that language usage can be affected
by dementia.
• Interpersonal communication, emotions and humour, all
conveyed by language, can also be affected.
• Studies of authors before and after the onset of dementia
compared to authors who never had dementia showed a
dramatic change in :
• Vocabulary usage
• Use of syntax
• coherence between sentences

4. What our project is about
• If we could observe and automatically analyse
language changes over time for everyday people, we
could have an effective, low-cost, non-intrusive means of
dementia diagnosis and monitoring of disease
progression.
• How can we do this in a way that engages people
living with dementia?

5. Collecting dialogue data and written logs based on images
• The importance of dialogue and communication for
people living with dementia is becoming increasingly
better understood.
• Sarah Reed from http://www.manyhappyreturns.org/
has developed a set of cards containing everyday images
from past decades to help facilitate the communication
between people living with dementia and their carers
and families, often from a younger generation.

6. Our project goals
1. Create a platform for collecting longitudinal
conversation data between people living with dementia
and their carers as well as written logs by people living
with dementia on the basis of meaningful images from
the past.
2. Use the longitudinal data collected to develop
computational techniques for studying patterns of
language change in terms of syntax, vocabulary and
coherence.

7. Tablet application for collecting dialogue and written data

8. Select the pictures you would like to talk about
Page 2

9. Tell me about…
Page 3

10. Tell me about: Record your voice
Page 5

11. Tell me about: Write about your experience
Page 8

12. Project Partners
• Dr Maria Liakata, University of Warwick, PI
• Dr Matt Purver, Queen Mary University London, co-I
• Prof Martin Underwood, University of Warwick, co-I
• Clinvivo: spin-out company specialising in Electronic
Data Capture.
• Sarah Reed, Many Happy Returns
• Volunteers from the Alzheimer’s Society.

13. Contact Details
• We are in the process of recruiting participants.
• We are currently funded by the Warwick Innovation
Fund and looking for external funding.
• If you are interested in find out more about our project:
“Sensing language for dementia monitoring and
diagnosis”
Please get in touch with Dr Maria Liakata
M.Liakata@warwick.ac.uk
THANK YOU!!!