Could your voice reveal cancer before you know it? Scientists say AI might soon make it possible
Researchers say AI could be used to analyse short voice recordings to flag abnormalities in the vocal folds, ranging from harmless nodules to the first signs of laryngeal cancer.
A simple voice recording could one day help doctors spot early signs of throat cancer, according to new research.
In a study published in Frontiers in Digital Health, scientists found that artificial intelligence (AI) could potentially detect abnormal growths on the vocal cords, from benign nodules to early-stage laryngeal cancer, by analysing short voice recordings.
The findings could support efforts to find an easier, faster way to diagnose cancerous lesions on the vocal cords, also known as folds.
“With this dataset we could use vocal biomarkers to distinguish voices from patients with vocal fold lesions from those without such lesions,” said Phillip Jenkins, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in clinical informatics at Oregon Health and Science University in the United States.
Cancer of the voice box, or larynx, affects more than a million people worldwide and kills roughly 100,000 every year. It is the 20th most common cancer in the world.
