Irish healthtech company MemoryTell is advancing early dementia detection with an AI platform that analyses speech-based biomarkers.

The tool provides clinicians with real-time insights, offering a rapid, non-invasive, and objective method to identify cognitive decline.

MemoryTell co-founder Corrina Grimes explained that while the platform does not diagnose, it “provides a proposed classification that helps clinicians.” The system is designed for primary-care integration, allowing a 10-minute speech assessment to generate an immediate report, enabling faster prioritisation and follow-up for patients presenting with cognitive concerns.

The platform evaluates linguistic and acoustic features from brief speech recordings, comparing them against a dataset of 13,000 clinically coded samples. Algorithms then estimate the likelihood of cognitive impairment or flag patterns indicative of early neurodegenerative disease. Longitudinal tracking allows healthcare providers to monitor disease progression or treatment response over time.

Grimes highlighted the platform’s potential for European healthcare systems, noting its role in improving workflow, saying “Our first use case focuses on people who present to their GP with symptoms and are then referred for assessment…MemoryTell is designed to slot naturally into the primary-care stage because it offers a quick, non-invasive 10-minute assessment with real-time, objective scoring.”

MemoryTell emerged from a collaboration between health and social care experts, neuroscientists, and engineers, including Adolfo García, a globally recognised authority on speech biomarkers, and Fernando Johann, a serial tech entrepreneur. The team aims to bring the platform from research into frontline services.

Grimes noted the response from investors and healthcare stakeholders, saying “A lot of people have been personally impacted by dementia, so they understand the mission: shifting from invasive, subjective tests to something faster, more dignified, and more objective.”

Discover how MemoryTell is transforming dementia care with AI-enabled solutions in the full story.