Professor Dr Mücke & Professor Dr Barbe: Research is shaping people with Parkinson’s disease

Doris Mücke is Professor of Phonetics at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Michael Barbe is Professor of Movement Disorders and Deep Brain Stimulation at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Cologne. Together, they founded the research group Brain Modulation & Speech Motor Control. The group aims to investigate and better understand speech disorders in people with degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, from both phonetic and neurological perspectives. They are developing new methods to quantify altered speech patterns and integrating these insights directly into patient care.

1. What role has transfer played in your career so far?

Our first project focussed on deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with essential tremor. In DBS, probes are implanted in the brain, and certain target regions are electronically stimulated to suppress the respective tremor. We observed that many patients experienced a reduction in speech ability following the procedure. Using a new method, we were able to measure both the acoustics and kinematics of the speech apparatus in order to optimize electrode placement and current output, thereby minimizing speech interference. We then expanded our focus to developing new methods for the digital quantification of speech disorders in people with Parkinson’s disease.

2. Which of your transfer activities would you like to report on, and what can you tell us about them?

Our project ‘Development of linguistic-digital biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease’ is a specifically designated transfer project funded by the German Research Foundation and part of the Collaborative Research Centre Prominence in Language. In addition to phonetician Dr Tabea Thies and speech therapist Dr Ilona Rubi-Fessen, industry partner ki:elements is also involved. We are developing a transfer technology for the automatic detection of changes in the speech system in Parkinson’s disease. The goal of our studies is to create a biomarker algorithm that can automatically assess the severity of clinically relevant speech disorders – for example, by recording and analysing speech via a smartphone app and providing tailored feedback to patients and healthcare professionals. Biomarkers are measurable biological characteristics that allow diagnoses to be made and the severity of a speech disorder to be objectively quantified.

We anticipate that our translational work on linguistic biomarkers will reach many people. Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, and its prevalence is rising worldwide due to demographic changes. In fact, 90% of people with Parkinson’s disease develop a speech disorder, affecting the articulation of syllables and words as well as sentence modulation such as intonation and rhythm, thereby severely impairing everyday communication.

3. How did you come up with your research topics?

We discovered early on that the severity of speech disorders cannot be determined by a single phonetic marker. Particularly in people with Parkinson’s disease, multiple phonetic dimensions such as respiration, voice, articulation, and/or prosody can be affected. This makes a multidimensional phonetic assessment necessary, which is closely interconnected with the neurological assessment. Since a single phonetic parameter is not sufficiently robust, we are developing an algorithm that automatically performs the weighting of multiple parameters. To achieve reliable tracking, we are currently collecting neurological and speech data from over 100 patients.

Speech disorders occur very early in Parkinson’s disease. A biomarker algorithm, combined with other relatively simple screenings, such as gait analysis, could help identify the onset of Parkinson’s disease even before clear clinical criteria are evident to the neurologist. If a drug could one day help with reliable early diagnosis to halt this serious disease, it would be a major step forward. For this reason, we consider our collaborative work on digital methods for early language assessment to be highly relevant.

4. What concrete social impact have you achieved through this activity so far?

Through our collaboration with the Cologne Parkinson’s Network, we transfer scientific findings to society. Patient seminars and conferences are organized every year, along with training courses for medical staff.  This exchange is reciprocal, as patients participate in our studies with remarkable commitment, generously ‘giving us their voice’ to help break new ground. We also see the funding of our transfer project on linguistic biomarkers by the German Research Foundation as a tangible success, supporting both awareness and technology transfer. Ultimately, we are combining elements that are evidently connected but often considered separately due to traditional structures in science: neurological screening with multidimensional phonetic assessment and advanced computer systems to improve living conditions for people with Parkinson’s disease.