{"id":38391,"date":"2026-02-17T12:24:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marymount.edu\/academics\/?p=38391"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:24:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T17:24:47","slug":"center-researchers-publish-call-to-advance-equitable-speech-technologies-for-older-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marymount.edu\/academics\/center-researchers-publish-call-to-advance-equitable-speech-technologies-for-older-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"Center Researchers Publish Call to Advance Equitable Speech Technologies for Older Adults"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Researchers from the Center have contributed to a newly published article in\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Gerontologist<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0calling for greater linguistic equity in the development of speech-based technologies for older adults. The article, titled\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201c<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/gerontologist\/advance-article-abstract\/doi\/10.1093\/geront\/gnaf315\/8406927?redirectedFrom=fulltext&amp;login=true\"><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">Equitable speech technologies for older adults: a call to prioritize low-resource languages<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u201d<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0was published on<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> December 29, 2025, as part of a Gerontological Society of America (GSA) special issue on Artificial Intelligence and Aging.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Authored by <a href=\"https:\/\/marymount.edu\/academics\/center-for-optimal-aging\/faculty-staff-associates\/\">Catherine Diaz-Asper, PhD<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/marymount.edu\/academics\/center-for-optimal-aging\/faculty-staff-associates\/research-assistants-and-trainees\/\">Mahederemariam\u00a0Dagne, MS<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/health\/medical-advisory-board\/patricia-c-heyn-ph-d-f-g-s-a-f-c-a-r-m\/\">Patricia C. Heyn, PhD, FGSA, FACRM<\/a>, the paper examines how recent advances in artificial intelligence can support healthy aging through non-invasive, scalable tools that promote social engagement,\u00a0assist\u00a0with daily living, and aid in disease detection.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Despite this promise, the authors note that most speech-based AI models are trained\u00a0almost exclusively\u00a0on\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">English-language datasets,<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0excluding over one billion older adults worldwide who speak non-English, low-resource languages. This linguistic imbalance limits access to emerging technologies, contributes to delayed diagnoses, and\u00a0exacerbates\u00a0existing health care inequities among aging populations.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The article emphasizes the urgent need to curate speech datasets in<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0low-resource languages,<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0guided by principles of community agency,\u00a0equitable\u00a0benefit sharing, and long-term sustainability. The authors argue that inclusive data practices are essential to ensuring speech technologies serve diverse older adults and advance equity in health care innovation.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers from the Center have contributed to a newly published article in\u00a0The Gerontologist\u00a0calling for greater linguistic equity in the development of speech-based technologies for older adults. The article, titled\u00a0\u201cEquitable speech technologies for older adults: a call to prioritize low-resource languages,\u201d\u00a0was published on December 29, 2025, as part of a Gerontological Society of America (GSA) special [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/marymount.edu\/academics\/center-researchers-publish-call-to-advance-equitable-speech-technologies-for-older-adults\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":255,"featured_media":38392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mcoa","category-mcoa-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - 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