Overview of Automatic Speech Analysis and Technologies for Neurodegenerative Disorders: Diagnosis and Assistive Applications

Abstract

Advancements in spoken language technologies for neurodegenerative speech disorders are crucial for meeting both clinical and technological needs. This overview paper is vital for advancing the field, as it presents a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art methods in pathological speech detection, automatic speech recognition, pathological speech intelligibility enhancement, intelligibility and severity assessment, and data augmentation approaches for pathological speech. It also highlights key challenges, such as ensuring robustness, privacy, and interpretability. The paper concludes by exploring promising future directions, including the adoption of multimodal approaches and the integration of large language models to further advance speech technologies for neurodegenerative speech disorders.