{"id":28948,"date":"2021-09-21T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T03:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/?p=28948"},"modified":"2021-09-21T11:16:20","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T03:16:20","slug":"linguistic-markers-of-dementia-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/2021\/09\/21\/linguistic-markers-of-dementia-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Linguistic Markers of Dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Photo: \u2018Chat\u2019 by Kelman Chiang from SRN\u2019s SG Photobank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

Dementia refers to a decline in general mental ability to the extent that it impairs daily life. While commonly used interchangeably, Alzheimer\u2019s is actually a specific disease that causes dementia. World Alzheimer\u2019s Day is commemorated on the 21st of September every year. The event brings people together from all over the world to raise awareness about Alzheimer\u2019s disease, reducing social stigma around the disease and dementia in general. \u00a0 In 2018, the Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Association of Singapore estimated that about 82,000 Singaporeans suffered from the syndrome. This has turned into a cause of concern for Singapore given our lack of awareness surrounding the disease and the country\u2019s rapidly ageing population. In \u201cCHI study: protocol for an observational cohort study on ageing and mental health in community-dwelling older adults\u201d (BMJ Open<\/em>, 2020), Professor Bao Zhiming (NUS English Language and Literature) and his co-authors point out that Singapore\u2019s increasing ageing population raises an urgent need for a better understanding of mental health and ageing among older Singaporeans. \u00a0 The article delineates the processes and methods the researchers intend to use to achieve a better understanding of older Singaporeans\u2019 mental health. They aim to recruit 1,000 participants into the three-year cohort study. Participants will then undergo a series of rigorous tests and data collection processes. The resulting database will uncover several key insights. Firstly, a detailed overview of older Singaporeans’ health levels will serve as a window into the relationships between the biological, social, and psychological domains that constitute health. Next, the study will identify at-risk groups within our community that could be used for future interventional studies. Lastly, the database could be used to develop better psychological intervention methods, enhancing healthcare outcomes in Singapore. \u00a0 Healthcare issues grow increasingly salient as individuals age. In Singapore, Alzheimer\u2019s disease and dementia are projected to be increasing causes for concern for citizens and policymakers alike as Singapore ages. The study identifies the necessary investigative and data collection processes that will serve as an important milestone in establishing and refining our understanding of early-stage dementia among older Singaporeans. \u00a0 Funded by a Social Science Research Thematic Grant, Prof Bao\u2019s project ‘Linguistic Markers of Dementia’ mobilizes expertise from a wide range of disciplines such as linguists and neuropsychologists to investigate speech data collected from elderly Singaporeans. This investigation into the speech patterns of the elderly ultimately aims to uncover language patterns that indicate the onset of early-stage dementia. In the long term, ‘Linguistic Markers of Dementia’ will identify new ways of detecting dementia among the elderly, improving the quality of elderly care in Singapore\u2019s ageing population. Read the article here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dementia refers to a decline in general mental ability to the extent that it impairs daily life. While commonly used interchangeably, Alzheimer\u2019s is actually a specific disease that causes dementia. World Alzheimer\u2019s Day is commemorated on the 21st of September every year. The event brings people together from all over the world to raise awareness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":28949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4606,4604],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-visible"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28948"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29937,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28948\/revisions\/29937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}