Abstract
It is known that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) influences the temporal characteristics of spontaneous speech. These phonetical changes are present even in mild AD. Based on this, the question arises whether an examination based on language analysis could help the early diagnosis of AD and if so, which language and speech characteristics can identify AD in its early stage. The purpose of this article is to summarize the relation between prodromal and manifest AD and language functions and language domains. Based on our research, we are inclined to claim that AD can be more sensitively detected with the help of a linguistic analysis than with other cognitive examinations. The temporal characteristics of spontaneous speech, such as speech tempo, number of pauses in speech, and their length are sensitive detectors of the early stage of the disease, which enables an early simple linguistic screening for AD. However, knowledge about the unique features of the language problems associated with different dementia variants still has to be improved and refined.
Highlights
Despite great efforts concentrated on disease modifying therapies of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), halting the degenerative process has not been possible
On the basis of the existing research findings, we can state that the language deficit in AD is present in the early stage of the disease; the objective measures of the different language domains are very important in the recognition of these patients
More extensive use of functional neuroimaging techniques based on linguistic tasks in mild cognitive impairments (MCI) or mild AD could lead to a more informed picture of the neural bases of language functions in the different stages of the disease
Summary
Despite great efforts concentrated on disease modifying therapies of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), halting the degenerative process has not been possible. For this reason, early diagnosis of AD became crucial in the management of the disease. Current pharmacological agents available for AD are more effective in the mild cases, even in the cases of mild cognitive impairments (MCI). It is welldocumented that manifest AD patients show markers of language deficit long before their diagnosis is confirmed (Mesulam et al, 2008) and this tendency is especially useful for detecting mild cognitive decline, the prodromal stage of AD (Garrard et al, 2005)
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