Apkinson: the smartphone application for telemonitoring Parkinson's patients through speech, gait and hands movement

Neurodegener Dis Manag. 2020 Jun;10(3):137-157. doi: 10.2217/nmt-2019-0037. Epub 2020 Jun 22.

Abstract

Aim: This paper introduces Apkinson, a mobile application for motor evaluation and monitoring of Parkinson's disease patients. Materials & methods: The App is based on previously reported methods, for instance, the evaluation of articulation and pronunciation in speech, regularity and freezing of gait in walking, and tapping accuracy in hand movement. Results: Preliminary experiments indicate that most of the measurements are suitable to discriminate patients and controls. Significance is evaluated through statistical tests. Conclusion: Although the reported results correspond to preliminary experiments, we think that Apkinson is a very useful App that can help patients, caregivers and clinicians, in performing a more accurate monitoring of the disease progression. Additionally, the mobile App can be a personal health assistant.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; automatic monitoring; finger tapping; gait; hand movement; mobile application; motor evaluation; speech.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Female
  • Gait
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Mobile Applications*
  • Movement
  • Parkinson Disease / physiopathology*
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Smartphone*
  • Speech