The 60-day pilot evaluates whether six 45-second speech samples can help identify residents who may warrant closer staff review.
SUFFOLK, VA, UNITED STATES, September 15, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Index HealthTech, LLC today announced a 60-day pilot program for Speech, the first domain of the company’s Healthy Habits Index™. The program will evaluate how longitudinal speech sampling can be incorporated into resident check-ins at senior-living and aging-services organizations.
Senior-living teams regularly decide where to focus limited staff attention without having a consistent longitudinal view of how each resident may be changing. Index HealthTech developed the pilot to assess whether brief, repeatable speech samples can provide useful additional context for those decisions.
“Senior-living teams face daily decisions about where limited staff time can do the most good,” said Steve Waddell, President and CEO of Index HealthTech. “This pilot will evaluate whether a brief, repeatable speech sample can add useful context to those decisions. Patterns are presented for review, while clinicians and care professionals retain responsibility for determining whether any action is appropriate.”
Pilot Design
A designated staff member captures each 45-second conversational speech sample using a web browser on a tablet, phone or computer already available within the organization. Index HealthTech provides onboarding, staff instruction and collection guidance.
Each participating resident provides six samples. Three samples are collected during the first week to establish an initial personal baseline, followed by three additional samples around Day 60 for comparison.
The pilot may also be used with incoming residents, allowing participating organizations to establish a repeatable speech reference point during the resident’s first week in the community.
Before collection begins, Index HealthTech and the participating organization establish a scorecard defining the pilot’s objectives and success measures. Areas of evaluation may include staff adoption, collection consistency, workflow fit and the usefulness of the resulting information.
Participation is consent-based. Pilot data are handled under documented privacy, security and data-use procedures agreed upon with each participating organization.
Speech Intelligence Report
At the conclusion of the pilot, each organization receives a Speech Intelligence Report organizing participating residents into three operational review categories: Priority Review, Elevated Concern and Watch. The report also identifies a suggested follow-up owner, such as a Director of Nursing or Wellness Director.
The categories are intended to support workflow review and are not diagnoses or clinical risk classifications. Speech does not diagnose, predict, treat, cure or prevent a medical condition. Clinicians and care professionals determine whether any follow-up is appropriate.
Pilot programs include 50 to 100 participating residents. The one-time fee is $99 per resident and covers onboarding, six speech samples and the final Speech Intelligence Report. A 100-resident pilot costs $9,900.
Addressing an Early-Recognition Gap
Subtle cognitive change often goes unrecognized. A 2024 study involving 226,756 U.S. primary-care clinicians found that only about 8% of expected mild cognitive impairment cases were diagnosed on average.
The study did not evaluate Index HealthTech or speech-based monitoring. It illustrates the broader challenge of recognizing subtle cognitive change early and the need to evaluate practical approaches that can provide additional information between clinical visits.
Healthy Habits Index
Speech is the first of six planned domains within the Healthy Habits Index™, which is being developed to measure changes in everyday function against each individual’s established baseline. Additional domains, beginning with Sleep, remain in development.
Index HealthTech, formerly known as Nasoni LLC, has received $4.85 million in National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research funding across three Phase I and Phase II awards supporting earlier assistive-technology research. That work established the company’s foundation in measuring everyday function.
Senior-living, life-plan, PACE and home-care organizations may request additional information about the pilot from Index HealthTech.
About Index HealthTech
Index HealthTech develops technology intended to help senior-living and healthcare organizations recognize changes in everyday function. The Healthy Habits Index™ is designed to establish personal baselines across six everyday behaviors and surface patterns that may warrant professional review.
Index HealthTech, LLC, formerly Nasoni LLC, is headquartered in Suffolk, Virginia. Additional information is available at www.indexhealthtech.com.
Federal Funding Acknowledgment
The earlier assistive-technology research referenced in this release was supported by the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R43HD108061, R44HD108061 and R44AG087731. The content is solely the responsibility of Index HealthTech and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Steve Waddell
Index HealthTech
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