Kecerdasan buatan mampu mendeteksi tanda awal penurunan kognitif dan risiko demensia melalui analisis pola bicara seperti penggunaan kata jeda serta kesulitan menemukan kata.
Temuan ini diperoleh melalui riset kolaboratif para ahli dari Baycrest Corporate Centre for Geriatric Care, University of Toronto, dan York University pada tahun 2025.
Para peneliti merekam peserta yang mendeskripsikan gambar secara verbal, lalu menganalisisnya menggunakan AI sebelum membandingkan hasilnya dengan tes kognitif standar.
Hasil studi yang diterbitkan dalam Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research menunjukkan kelancaran bicara memprediksi performa tes kognitif secara konsisten.
Dr. Heather Whitson, seorang profesor terkemuka di bidang neurosains dari Duke School of Medicine, memberikan pandangan mengenai aspek kebahasaan ini.
"We know that language is one of the domains of cognition that can be really affected by dementia, and certain types of dementia more than others, but in all types of dementia, difficulty finding common words is a feature that we look for, and that we know occurs," kata Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Pakar lain menjelaskan bahwa penurunan performa tes kognitif ringan seiring bertambahnya usia merupakan bagian dari proses penuaan yang normal.
"All of us, probably starting around our 20s or 30s, start doing a little bit worse over time on many formal cognitive tests, and that does not mean that we’re on the way to dementia. It’s what we often refer to as healthy aging," ujar Dr. Carolyn Fredericks, assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine in Connecticut.
Meskipun demikian, terdapat pola spesifik yang membedakan penuaan normal dengan individu yang rentan terhadap penyakit neurodegeneratif.
"And some of the things that they were looking at in this study are things where everybody gets a little worse on these measures over time, but they’re picking up a signature where [in] some people, it’s just that much more so, and those are the ones who are vulnerable," tambah Dr. Carolyn Fredericks, assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine in Connecticut.
Kesulitan menemukan kata pada umumnya dimulai dari kata benda yang spesifik sebelum berkembang ke kata-kata umum lainnya.
"Usually it starts with proper nouns, so the person who’s saying, ‘I can remember everything about that actor, but I can’t think of their name right now,’" tutur Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Namun, studi ini memiliki keterbatasan karena pola bicara sangat dipengaruhi oleh faktor budaya dan variasi geografis.
"Speech patterns are very dependent on culture and even families," ungkap Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Selain itu, pengambilan data yang hanya dilakukan pada satu waktu membuat peneliti tidak memiliki pembanding historis.
"drawn from one time point," jelas Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Individu disarankan mewaspadai kesulitan mengekspresikan diri menggunakan kata-kata kamus yang biasa, bukan sekadar lupa nama orang atau judul film.
"The kinds of things I would worry about, number one ... having a lot of difficulty expressing oneself, particularly with ordinary dictionary words, not just struggling to come up with the name of someone or the title of a book or movie," papar Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Gejala lain yang mengkhawatirkan meliputi hilangnya ingatan jangka pendek yang sering memicu pengulangan pertanyaan.
"That usually presents with either repeating one’s questions in a very short time span," imbuh Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Disorientasi di tempat yang sudah dikenal atau berulang kali melupakan janji temu penting juga menjadi alarm bahaya.
"Other things is getting lost in familiar places, or repeatedly forgetting important appointments," lanjut Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Untuk mengonfirmasi kecurigaan, membandingkan frekuensi gejala dengan kondisi rekan-rekan sebaya dapat membantu mengidentifikasi kejanggalan.
"Often it’s helpful to compare yourself to your peers," saran Dr. Carolyn Fredericks, assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine in Connecticut.
Perubahan gaya hidup sejak usia 20-an seperti mengontrol tekanan darah tinggi di bawah 120 sangat disarankan untuk menekan risiko.
"the most actionable things that people can do in their 20s and beyond," sebut Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Dokter menekankan pentingnya menjaga tekanan darah demi menurunkan risiko demensia secara signifikan.
"There’s even evidence that strict control of blood pressure down to a top number of 120 or less is associated with reduced dementia risk," terang Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Aktivitas fisik yang teratur juga memegang peranan krusial sebagai intervensi gaya hidup yang paling efektif.
"Physical activity is one of the things that is most associated with lowering dementia risk, as well as almost every other kind of health risk," urai Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Oleh karena itu, penambahan porsi aktivitas fisik menjadi prioritas utama yang disarankan bagi pasien.
"So, I always tell people, if they’re going to change one thing about their lifestyle, increasing physical activity would be the thing to do." tegas Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Optimalisasi fungsi penglihatan dan pendengaran lewat alat bantu juga krusial karena kedua organ tersebut menyuplai informasi utama ke otak.
"Making sure that people’s vision and hearing are optimized is associated with lowering our dementia risk, which kind of makes sense because our ears and our eyes are what feeds most information and activation to our brain," kata Dr. Heather Whitson, distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.
Selain riset laboratorium, teknologi ini mulai diimplementasikan dalam bentuk aplikasi pemantau suara berbasis ponsel pintar.
Dilansir dari MENAFN pada 24 Mei 2026, beberapa studi menunjukkan sistem analisis suara digital mampu mencapai tingkat akurasi 75 hingga 78 persen.
Aplikasi penguji suara ini mengukur kompleksitas serta jeda bicara saat pengguna mendeskripsikan gambar atau mengingat kata dari rumah.
Satu aplikasi seluler mencatat akurasi klasifikasi sebesar 78,6 persen, sementara analisis berbasis data Framingham Heart Study memprediksi progresi ke Alzheimer dalam enam tahun dengan akurasi 78 persen.
Uji linguistik serupa secara matematis bahkan pernah mendeteksi penurunan keragaman kosakata pada novel mendiang Sir Terry Pratchett sepuluh tahun sebelum diagnosis klinisnya pada 2007.
Para ahli medis mengingatkan bahwa alat skrining digital ini memiliki ruang untuk hasil positif palsu dan tidak ditujukan sebagai pengganti evaluasi formal oleh dokter spesialis saraf.
