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Early identification using non-invasive biological markers is crucial for detecting and treating Alzheimer's disease (AD). Hearables are intra-aural wearable devices equipped with in-ear microphones capable of capturing inner body signals, including heartbeat, breathing, and blinking. These non-verbal audio events give valuable insight into the individual's physiological state, offering a unique method to detect and monitor subtle changes in the body, which holds the potential for early disease detection. Central auditory (CA) tests, such as understanding speech in background noise, have shown promise in tracking AD’s effects on the central nervous system. They also provide sensitive, quantitative, and repeatable assessments over time. Therefore, this study will assess physiological signals captured by a hearable during central auditory assessment. Thirty-five participants with AD and mild cognitive impairment will be recruited, in addition to age-matched control participants. Hearables will be used to capture physiological data and perform CA tests such as hearing in noise test, triple digits test, dichotic digits test, and dichotic sentence identification test. Moreover, a picture description task, where participants will have to produce coherent speech that holds potential for tracking the decline in cognitive abilities, will be administered. The data collected will be used to build an open-access database serving as the foundation of future research on early detection and monitoring of AD using hearables.
Boutros et al. (Fri,) studied this question.