Dynamic Assessment of Fine Motor Control and Vocalization in Parkinson Disease Through a Smartphone App:...

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor and nonmotor symptoms that worsen over time, significantly impacting quality of life. While clinical evaluations such as the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) are standard for assessing disease severity, they offer somewhat limited temporal resolution and are susceptible to observer variability. Smartphone apps present a viable method for capturing detailed fluctuations in motor and vocal functions in real-world settings.

This study aimed to use a smartphone-based app to quantitatively evaluate the interaction effect between time and disease severity on motor and vocal symptoms in individuals with PD.

This was an exploratory, cross-sectional pilot study. Disease severity in persons with PD was assessed using the modified Hoehn & Yahr Scale, Voice Handicap Index, and UPDRS. We used a custom smartphone app to administer finger-tapping tasks, sustained phonation (/a/ and /i/), and rapid syllable repetition (/dadada/ and /pa-ta-ka/). The total tap counts, tap-to-tap variability, and vocal parameters (loudness, jitter, shimmer, repeat counts, and their variability) were analyzed. Each task was divided into 5 equal time frames to analyze performance changes over a short duration. Time-severity interactions were examined using linear mixed models.

In total, 20 persons with PD and 20 healthy adults were included in this study. Persons with PD showed worse motor and vocal performance compared to healthy adults, with higher dysrhythmia; worse jitter, shimmer, and jitter and shimmer variability; and fewer repeat counts. During finger-tapping tasks, individuals with PD showed an earlier onset of dysrhythmia than their healthy counterparts. While a higher UPDRS part III score was associated with greater finger-tapping variability, there was no significant time-severity interaction for this motor task. However, linear mixed model analysis revealed significant time-severity interaction effects for vocal tasks, including /a/ loudness (P=.001), /a/ jitter (P=.01), /a/ shimmer (P=.001), /i/ loudness (P=.001), /i/ jitter (P<.001), /i/ shimmer (P<.001), and /pa-ta-ka/-variability (P=.04). This indicates that individuals with higher UPDRS part III scores experienced a more rapid decline in vocal control during the assessment period. All measured smartphone-based characteristics showed a significant correlation with UPDRS part III scores, with finger-tapping variability having the strongest correlation.

This study demonstrates that a smartphone-based assessment, conducted over just a few minutes, can detect subtle temporal changes in fine motor and vocal control. The app successfully captured the earlier onset of dysrhythmia in individuals with PD and, importantly, identified significant time-severity interaction effects in vocal performance. This suggests that such digital tools can provide sensitive, dynamic insights into symptom progression, potentially enabling more precise monitoring and timely clinical interventions for individuals with PD.