People who talk in certain way 'could be more at risk of dementia'
Scientists have discovered that the way you talk could indicate the risk of developing dementia.
Dementia is a condition that affects the brain, causing memory problems, changes in behaviour and sometimes difficulty with movement. It usually happens to older people, so it can be hard to know if it's just normal aging or something more serious. Scientists have now discovered a potential sign of dementia and Alzheimer's disease that could show up when someone is talking. The research found that how fast someone talks could be a clue to their brain health.
The study was carried out by a team from the University of Toronto and the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Canada. They found that how quickly someone speaks could be a better indicator of brain health than struggling to find words, which is something that happens as we get older.
Dr Jed Meltzer, who co-authored the study, said: "Our results indicate that changes in general talking speed may reflect changes in the brain. This suggests that talking speed should be tested as part of standard cognitive assessments to help clinicians detect cognitive decline faster and help older adults support their brain health as they age."
However, the study, called Cognitive components of aging-related increase in word-finding difficulty, only found a link between talking speed and brain health, not that one causes the other. So, training a person to speak faster might not improve brain health, according to The Express.
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The research, which was published in the Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition journal, involved 125 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 90 who completed three different tests. One test was a picture-naming game where they had to answer questions about pictures while ignoring distracting words heard through headphones.
In another test, participants described two complex pictures for 60 seconds each, with AI-based software analysing their language performance. The final test included standard checks to determine mental abilities that often decline with age and are linked to dementia risk.
These checks tested executive function, which is the ability to manage conflicting information, stay focused and avoid distractions. Many of these abilities seemed to worsen with age, including the speed of finding words. The team found that it wasn't the pausing to find words that had the strongest link to brain health, but the speed of speech surrounding pauses. This suggests that while many older adults may worry about their need to pause to search for words, it might just be a normal part of ageing.
However, the scientists believe that speaking slower, even without pauses, could be a more "important indicator" of changes in brain health. The researchers plan to do more studies where they check the same people over many years. They want to see if the speed at which someone speaks can really tell us about their brain health as they get older.
The Baycrest Centre said: "In turn, these results could support the development of tools to detect cognitive decline as early as possible, allowing clinicians to prescribe interventions to help patients maintain or even improve their brain health as they age."
The NHS says that common symptoms of dementia include trouble with:
- Memory loss
- Thinking speed
- Mental sharpness and quickness
- Language, such as using words incorrectly, or trouble speaking
- Understanding
- Judgement
- Mood
- Movement
- Difficulties doing daily activities.
As time goes on, dementia symptoms usually get worse. In the later stages, people might not be able to look after themselves and could lose the ability to talk. If you think you or someone you know is showing signs of dementia, the NHS and the Alzheimer's Society charity have a large amount of information about dementia.
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