Now recruiting

Dementia is being caught
too late.
We are using voice
to catch it earlier.

Building scalable and accessible cognitive screening to reach rural and underserved older adults.

Built by

Clinical science Digital Neuropsychology and Brain Health Lab at Mass General Brigham/Harvard Pioneering digital neuropsychology and AI speech analysis.
Technology & infrastructure CareYaya Health Technologies NIA-recognized AI voice platform reaching older adults at home.
Take the 1 min screener
$100 · 15 min/day · 7 days · open through May 27
§ 01 The problem

Most early dementia goes uncaught. Two populations carry the cost.

Older adults · Rural America
Cognitive change, missed where care is hardest to reach.
7.2M
Americans aged 65 and older living with Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's Association · 2025
40-76%
of dementia cases missed in primary care.
Bradford et al. · 2009
+25%
higher dementia prevalence in rural America.
Mollalo et al. · 2025
78%
of adults 65 and older own a smartphone.
Pew Research · 2025
Dementia caregivers
A second population, invisible to the system that depends on them.
~12M
unpaid dementia caregivers, almost none routinely measured.
Alzheimer's Association · 2025
30-40%
of caregivers meet criteria for clinical depression.
Family Caregiver Alliance
~32%
experience clinically significant anxiety.
Kaddour & Kishita · 2020
6×
elevated dementia risk for spousal caregivers themselves.
Norton et al. · 2010
Help close the gap One minute can change how cognition is measured. $100 · 15 min/day · 7 days · Open through May 27
See if you qualify
§ 02 · What we're building

Dementia is being caught too late. We are using voice to catch it earlier.

Up to three out of four dementia cases are missed by routine primary care. New treatments work best in the earliest stages of decline. The people who could benefit most are often the last to be screened.

A brief voice conversation

A short phone-based check-in. No app to install, no screen to navigate, no clinic visit required. Accessible on any phone.

Speech as a window into cognition

Cognitive change leaves measurable traces in speech: in word choice, in timing, in tone. Computational speech analysis can detect these shifts, in some cases earlier than standard in-clinic testing.

Designed for rural and underserved older adults

78% of adults 65 and older now own a smartphone, and voice administration carries no learning curve. This extends cognitive measurement beyond the clinic to where older adults actually live, including rural areas where clinical care may be hours away.

§ 03 Behind the work

Bringing clinical neuropsychology to where older adults actually live.

Digital Neuropsychology and Brain Health Lab

Mass General Brigham · Harvard Medical School
Shifali Singh, PhD
Shifali Singh, PhD
Principal Investigator
Vivien Cheng, MPH, Clinical Study Coordinator
Vivien Cheng, MPH
Clinical Study Coordinator

Dr. Singh's lab developed the field's measurement tools. Her team pioneered ecological momentary assessment of cognition, validating clinical-grade tests in everyday life, and AI speech analysis that captures cognitive variance traditional tests can miss.

Based at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate.

CareYaya operates the AI voice service that already reaches rural older adults and family caregivers in the places clinical screening doesn't. Recognized by the National Institute on Aging and an NIA Startup Challenge finalist, CareYaya brings the deployment science and lived-context expertise that turns a validated test into a tool people actually use, on the phone they already own, at the kitchen table.

CareYaya team
§ 04 The program

Two studies. One mission.

Study One · Rural older adults

QuikTok

Voice-based cognitive check-ins for the rural older adults today's digital tools cannot reach.

A brief phone conversation at the kitchen table. The goal is to prove these check-ins detect cognitive change as accurately at home as they would in a clinic, reaching the rural older adults most underserved by existing screening.

Finalist NIA Startup Challenge. Recognized by the National Institute on Aging for the voice infrastructure already reaching rural older adults at home.
Study Two · Caregivers

YayaGuide

Voice check-ins for the dementia caregivers themselves, quietly carrying elevated risk and rarely measured.

The same voice-based listening, now for the people doing the caregiving. The goal is to surface caregiver wellbeing in real time, embedded inside a tool caregivers already trust and have asked to expand toward their own health.

92 Net Promoter Score from caregivers, who called it the first tool that centers them.
+9.5% Objective dementia knowledge gain after two weeks of self-paced use (p<0.001).
Phase I NIA-funded SBIR. Built and tested with caregivers under federal grant; Phase I complete.
Both studies are now enrolling Your voice helps build what comes next. $100 · 15 min/day · 7 days · Open through May 27
Take the 1 min screener

Catching dementia early, through the sound of your voice.

Your voice helps build a screening tool that finally reaches the people existing tests miss.

Take the 1 min screener
$100 compensation · 15 min/day · 7 days · Open through May 27