Neuromuscular disease

Speech in DM1 and neuromuscular disease

In myotonic dystrophy, Duchenne and Pompe disease, speech is affected through orofacial weakness, myotonia and respiratory support. Trials in these conditions already run the endpoints speech touches: a communication subscale and forced vital capacity.

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Where the reading lands

The endpoints speech touches in neuromuscular trials

A communication subscale and forced vital capacity.

The scale

Communication subscale · FVC

The communication and respiratory endpoints these trials already run.

The reading

Between scheduled visits

Articulation, phonation and respiratory support, read from speech.

In practice

Short spoken tasks, mapped to the trial’s endpoints

The tasks

Customised to your cohort

For example: sustained vowels, syllable repetition and reading aloud. Tasks and their number are set for each cohort.

Where

At home or in clinic

On the participant's own device, with an automatic quality check at capture.

The output

Between scheduled visits

A reading of articulation, phonation and respiratory support at every session, followed between visits.

Myotonic dystrophy type 1

Communication is measured in DM1, by self-report

Registered DM1 trials carry the Myotonic Dystrophy Health Index as a secondary endpoint. Its Communication subscale is patient-reported.

Where a reading attaches. An objective reading of the same communication domain the index scores by self-report. A spoken task runs at home, between the visits.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy

In Duchenne, speech changes with disease stage

Where a reading attaches. Forced vital capacity, which Duchenne trials already carry, and the DMD Health Index (DMD-HI) and its caregiver-reported version (DMDCR-HI), whose subscales include Communication and Swallowing.

Late-onset Pompe disease

Bulbar involvement is documented in late-onset Pompe

Where a reading attaches. Registered Pompe studies already name speech, voice, communication or swallowing outcomes. Maximum phonation time reflects both respiratory support and glottal efficiency, and in Pompe both are affected. Forced vital capacity is measured upright and supine, and phonation is recorded in both positions.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy

Speech differences are documented in FSHD

What is documented. Maximum phonation time is shorter than in controls, and jitter and shimmer are higher.

In the trial

Built for real‑world clinical trials

Objective and automated

The same scoring everywhere

Every site and every visit is scored the same way, with no rater in the loop.

On the trial’s endpoints

Articulation, phonation, respiratory support

Mapped to the communication and respiratory endpoints these trials already run.

Robust

Limits drift when processing changes

Recalibrated from the recordings when on-device processing changes. How it works

Patient-centric

A couple of minutes at home

On the participant's own phone, tablet or computer, between scheduled visits.

Transparent and trackable

Visible per session

Completion, recording quality and versions are logged with every session.

Integrated

No new visit, no new rater

Runs on the Cephalgo platform alongside the assessments the study already runs.

Contact

Which endpoint would speech map to in your next protocol?

From a scheduled assessment or an existing digital measure.

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