Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Early Biomarkers of Parkinson’s Disease: Motor and Speech Patterns

Publication Date

Fall 2025

College

College of Sciences & Mathematics

Department

Psychological Science, Department of

SURS Faculty Advisor

Dr. Michael Oliver

Presentation Type

Metadata Only

Abstract

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that primarily impairs motor function. On average, individuals with PD experience a reduced life expectancy of approximately 5–10 years compared to the general population, which is around 77 years. Despite extensive research on the motor symptoms of PD, limited information exists regarding how these motor deficits relate to potential speech impairments. In the present study, we utilized the Early Biomarkers of Parkinson’s Disease Based on Natural Connected Speech dataset from the UC Irvine Machine Learning Repository to investigate motor and speech-related difficulties in individuals with PD. In addition to PD, the dataset also included healthy controls (HC) and participants diagnosed with REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD), a known precursor to PD. Our findings revealed a significant increase in motor rigidity, particularly in the neck and limbs, among PD patients compared to HC and RBD groups (p < 0.001). However, no significant differences were observed in speech timing measures between the three groups (p = 0.724). Our analyses also revealed notable similarities between RBD and PD, emphasizing the potential value of RBD as an early biomarker for identifying individuals at risk of developing PD.

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