Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that significantly impacts a patient’s ability to communicate and organize language. Traditional methods for detecting AD, such as physical screening or neurological testing, can be challenging and time-consuming. Recent research has explored the use of deep learning techniques to distinguish AD patients from non-AD patients by analysing the spontaneous speech. These models, however, are limited by the availability of data. To address this, we propose a novel contrastive data augmentation method, which simulates the cognitive impairment of a patient by randomly deleting a proportion of text from the transcript to create negative samples. The corrupted samples are expected to be in worse conditions than the original by a margin. Experimental results on the benchmark ADReSS Challenge dataset demonstrate that our model achieves the best performance among language-based models.

A multi-language dictionary is a fundamental tool for language learning, allowing the learner to look up unfamiliar words. Searching an unrecognized word in the dictionary does not usually require deep knowledge of the target language. However, this is not true for sign language, where gestural elements preclude this type of easy lookup. This paper introduces GlossFinder, an online tool supporting 2, 000 signs to assist language learners in determining the meaning of given signs. Unlike alternative systems of complex inputs, our system requires only that learners imitate the sign in front of a standard webcam. A user study conducted among sign language speakers of varying ability compared our system against existing alternatives and the interviews indicated a clear preference for our new system. This implies that GlossFinder can lower the barrier in sign language learning by addressing the common problem of sign finding and make it accessible to the wider community.