15-Minute Speech Test for Dementia: Memory Services Wanted

A Northern Ireland health technology company has been awarded Innovate UK funding to test a 15-minute speech and language assessment in memory services, and founder Corrina Grimes wants to hear from memory services, clinicians and commissioners who might want to be part of it.

MemoryTell received the funding through the Biomedical Catalyst to develop and test a short assessment that analyses how a person speaks, to help clinicians assess memory and thinking in people referred to memory services with possible dementia. The 18-month project began in June 2026 and will run the assessment in real clinics.

The problem it is aimed at will be familiar to anyone working in the field. Around one in three people living with dementia in the UK do not have a diagnosis, and many wait a long time to be assessed. Services are stretched, as the Memory Services Spotlight Audit makes clear. MemoryTell is designed to help services see more people, sooner, without piling more work onto specialist staff.

How the assessment works

The assessment takes about 15 minutes. A person completes a set of short speaking tasks on a standard computer or tablet, and the software analyses their speech and language. It is designed to be run by healthcare assistants, with the results passed to the clinician as part of the existing assessment process. The clinician stays responsible for every decision about care. It is a support to clinical judgement, not a replacement for it.

Speech is attracting growing interest as a digital marker of cognitive change, because changes in word-finding, pauses, rhythm and vocabulary can show up early and can be measured without a scan or a blood draw. The approach behind MemoryTell draws on around 15 years of research into speech as a biomarker by neuroscientist Adolfo García, whom Corrina met through the Global Brain Health Institute while she was an Atlantic Fellow there.

The study

The project includes a clinical study of around 90 people across clinical sites, independently monitored by a clinical research organisation. Alongside it, the team will complete the safety, quality and data protection work needed before the technology can be used in the NHS and other frontline services.

The project is worth more than £520,000, supported by more than £360,000 from Innovate UK through the Biomedical Catalyst, with MemoryTell investing the balance.

Corrina, Founder and Chief Executive of MemoryTell, has more than 25 years’ experience in health and social care, and her own experience of caring for family members with dementia.

“Too many people wait too long to find out what is happening when they have concerns about their memory and thinking,” she said. “Our aim is to give memory services a short, simple assessment that a healthcare assistant can carry out, so that clinicians have better information sooner. This funding allows us to test that properly, in real clinics, with independent monitoring. It is the enabling step between a promising idea and a technology the NHS can rely on.”

Could your service get involved?

MemoryTell is keen to hear from memory services, clinicians and commissioners interested in the project. If you run or work in a memory service, or commission one, and would like to find out what taking part would involve, get in touch with Corrina directly at corrina@memorytell.com.

And if you are an early career researcher based in or alongside a memory clinic, you are often closer to the people who make these decisions than you think. Pass this on to your clinical lead or service manager. Getting new tools tested in routine practice, rather than only in research cohorts, is how they earn a place in the NHS.