IISc project to use smartphones for early detection, diagnosis of neuro-degenerative diseases

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) are currently undertaking a project which aims to collect data for commonly observed neuro-degenerative disorders and develop models for diagnosis using state-of-the-art machine learning approaches.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) are currently undertaking a project which aims to collect data for commonly observed neuro-degenerative disorders and develop models for diagnosis using state-of-the-art machine learning approaches.

The Learning and Extraction of Acoustic Patterns (LEAP) lab at the Department of Electrical Engineering has embarked on this project along with Aster CMI hospitals to collect data for neurodegenerative diseases. It envisages using the massive outreach of smartphone technologies among the population as part of the project.

“The burden of non-communicable neurological disorders has more than doubled in India in the last 30 years mainly due to the ageing of the population. Currently, this has a 10% contribution to the total deaths in the country. Further, medical evidence indicates a substantial increase in this figure due to the rapid demographic and epidemiological transition,” Sriram Ganapathy​ Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, LEAP lab told The Hindu.

According to Mr. Sriram, patients with neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Dementia and Amyotrophic Lateral Ssclerosis (ALS), especially those from the rural communities, show up for analysis or scans only about 18 months after the onset of all these diseases.

One of the key factors that can reduce the impact is the early diagnosis of neurological disorders.

“In the direction of diagnosis, the first major step is the clinical analysis that may also include MRI scans to identify the neurological condition of the subject. There are two major concerns with the current convention; the first is the cost and the second is lack of wide-spread access to clinical expertise as well as MRI scanning devices. These disadvantages cause an inhibition in testing which leads to delayed diagnosis,” Mr Sriram said.

He said that neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s disease are quite evident in various modalities, like facial expressions, speech production, gait patterns and finger movements, which are easily measurable using smartphones.