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So, well, I do applied math,

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and this is a peculiar problem

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for anyone who does applied math, is that

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we are like management consultants.

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No one knows what the hell we do.

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So I am going to give you some -- attempt today

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to try and explain to you what I do.

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So, dancing is one of the most human of activities.

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We delight at ballet virtuosos and tap dancers

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you will see later on.

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Now, ballet requires an extraordinary level of expertise

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and a high level of skill,

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and probably a level of initial suitability

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that may well have a genetic component to it.

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Now, sadly, neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease

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gradually destroy this extraordinary ability,

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as it is doing to my friend Jan Stripling, who was

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a virtuoso ballet dancer in his time.

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So great progress and treatment has been made over the years.

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However, there are 6.3 million people worldwide

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who have the disease, and they have to live with

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incurable weakness, tremor, rigidity

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and the other symptoms that go along with the disease,

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so what we need are objective tools

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to detect the disease before it's too late.

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We need to be able to measure progression objectively,

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and ultimately, the only way we're going to know

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when we actually have a cure is when we have

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an objective measure that can answer that for sure.

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But frustratingly, with Parkinson's disease

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and other movement disorders, there are no biomarkers,

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so there's no simple blood test that you can do,

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and the best that we have is like

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this 20-minute neurologist test.

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You have to go to the clinic to do it. It's very, very costly,

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and that means that, outside the clinical trials,

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it's just never done. It's never done.

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But what if patients could do this test at home?

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Now, that would actually save on a difficult trip to the clinic,

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and what if patients could do that test themselves, right?

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No expensive staff time required.

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Takes about $300, by the way,

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in the neurologist's clinic to do it.

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So what I want to propose to you as an unconventional way

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in which we can try to achieve this,

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because, you see, in one sense, at least,

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we are all virtuosos like my friend Jan Stripling.

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So here we have a video of the vibrating vocal folds.

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Now, this is healthy and this is somebody making speech sounds,

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and we can think of ourselves as vocal ballet dancers,

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because we have to coordinate all of these vocal organs

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when we make sounds, and we all actually

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have the genes for it. FoxP2, for example.

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And like ballet, it takes an extraordinary level of training.

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I mean, just think how long it takes a child to learn to speak.

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From the sound, we can actually track

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the vocal fold position as it vibrates,

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and just as the limbs are affected in Parkinson's,

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so too are the vocal organs.

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So on the bottom trace, you can see an example of

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irregular vocal fold tremor.

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We see all the same symptoms.

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We see vocal tremor, weakness and rigidity.

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The speech actually becomes quieter and more breathy

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after a while, and that's one of the example symptoms of it.

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So these vocal effects can actually be quite subtle,

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in some cases, but with any digital microphone,

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and using precision voice analysis software

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in combination with the latest in machine learning,

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which is very advanced by now,

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we can now quantify exactly where somebody lies

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on a continuum between health and disease

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using voice signals alone.

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So these voice-based tests, how do they stack up against

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expert clinical tests? We'll, they're both non-invasive.

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The neurologist's test is non-invasive. They both use existing infrastructure.

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You don't have to design a whole new set of hospitals to do it.

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And they're both accurate. Okay, but in addition,

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voice-based tests are non-expert.

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That means they can be self-administered.

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They're high-speed, take about 30 seconds at most.

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They're ultra-low cost, and we all know what happens.

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When something becomes ultra-low cost,

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it becomes massively scalable.

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So here are some amazing goals that I think we can deal with now.

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We can reduce logistical difficulties with patients.

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No need to go to the clinic for a routine checkup.

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We can do high-frequency monitoring to get objective data.

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We can perform low-cost mass recruitment for clinical trials,

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and we can make population-scale screening

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feasible for the first time.

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We have the opportunity to start to search

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for the early biomarkers of the disease before it's too late.

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So, taking the first steps towards this today,

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we're launching the Parkinson's Voice Initiative.

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With Aculab and PatientsLikeMe, we're aiming

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to record a very large number of voices worldwide

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to collect enough data to start to tackle these four goals.

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We have local numbers accessible to three quarters

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of a billion people on the planet.

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Anyone healthy or with Parkinson's can call in, cheaply,

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and leave recordings, a few cents each,

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and I'm really happy to announce that we've already hit

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six percent of our target just in eight hours.

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Thank you. (Applause)

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(Applause)

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Tom Rielly: So Max, by taking all these samples of,

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let's say, 10,000 people,

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you'll be able to tell who's healthy and who's not?

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What are you going to get out of those samples?

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Max Little: Yeah. Yeah. So what will happen is that,

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during the call you have to indicate whether or not

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you have the disease or not, you see. TR: Right.

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ML: You see, some people may not do it. They may not get through it.

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But we'll get a very large sample of data that is collected

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from all different circumstances, and it's getting it

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in different circumstances that matter because then

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we are looking at ironing out the confounding factors,

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and looking for the actual markers of the disease.

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TR: So you're 86 percent accurate right now?

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ML: It's much better than that.

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Actually, my student Thanasis, I have to plug him,

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because he's done some fantastic work,

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and now he has proved that it works over the mobile telephone network as well,

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which enables this project, and we're getting 99 percent accuracy.

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TR: Ninety-nine. Well, that's an improvement.

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So what that means is that people will be able to —

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ML: (Laughs)

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TR: People will be able to call in from their mobile phones

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and do this test, and people with Parkinson's could call in,

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record their voice, and then their doctor can check up

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on their progress, see where they're doing in this course of the disease.

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ML: Absolutely.

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TR: Thanks so much. Max Little, everybody.

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ML: Thanks, Tom. (Applause)