Investigators:
Jennifer Flexman, Moneta Health
Michael Busa, UMass Amherst

MassAITC Cohort: Year 3 (AD/ADRD)

Cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT) is an established behavioral intervention led by skilled therapists to address challenges in daily life faced by individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and the early stages of dementia. Despite the evidence showing the ability of CRT to improve or preserve cognitive function, quality of life, and caregiver burden at the earlier stages of decline, 90% of seniors do not have access, particularly outside of skilled nursing settings and centralized medical centers. Moreover, CRT is typically limited to short time periods despite the progressive, long-term nature of underlying conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Moneta Health is a brain health company reinventing the delivery of CRT to dramatically improve accessibility, particularly for communities with limited access to healthcare. The Moneta™ digital therapy assistant uses voice-based technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver on-demand cognitive exercises over the telephone and analyze recorded speech for remote monitoring by speech therapists.

This project focuses on advancing the capabilities of the Moneta™ digital therapy assistant. Firstly, we will train and optimize the performance of AI algorithms to classify speech biomarkers relevant to monitoring patient response to therapy using existing speech data. Secondly, we will evaluate the usability and scalability of these AI algorithms through real-world testing with a cohort of older adults diagnosed with MCI or mild dementia (n=30), with the goal of achieving a clinically relevant predictive accuracy of >80%. The ability to accurately classify speech biomarkers enable real-time feedback for patients, and clinical decision support tools critical to commercialization.