York linguist joins major NIH study on Alzheimer’s speech markers

Posted on Friday 13 February 2026

Professor Monika S. Schmid, Head of the Department of Language and Linguistic Science, is a collaborator on a new research project funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study is led by Principal Investigator Dr Jet Vonk at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

The four-year project, running from September 2025 to August 2029, seeks to harness the power of automated speech analysis to advance the early detection of Alzheimer's disease. While language impairment is often one of the first symptoms of the condition, it remains underutilised in standard clinical assessments.

"We still lack sensitive, low-cost, and high-access cognitive markers to reliably detect and track the earliest cognitive manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease," the researchers note.

By identifying and validating digital speech markers, the team aims to fill critical gaps in current diagnostic methods. The work will offer an automated, non-invasive, and cost-effective tool for identifying early cognitive changes, helping to aid diagnosis and provide sensitive outcome measures for clinical trials.