Methodology

An innovative experimental method that combines acoustic and articulatory observations will be implemented. 

Three balanced cohorts of adult/elderly subjects living in Emilia Romagna will be enrolled:

1. DemGroup: Patients aged 65-85 years, diagnosed with preclinical and clinical cognitive decline due to protein misfolding diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's dementia, Frontotemporal dementia, Lewy Body Dementia).
2. HEGroup: an equal number of "healthy elderly people", matched by age/sex/education.
3. HAGroup: an equal number of "healthy adults", matched by sex/education (to manage the effect of "presbiphonia").

At the end of the cognitive evaluation, controlled and semi-spontaneous speech tasks will be administered to collect acoustic data and midsagittal ultrasound images of tongue shape and location through Ultra Tongue Imaging. In line with previous literature, acoustic and articulatory cues will be used to highlight the degree of gestural cohesiveness during speech.