Founded by Clare Meskill and Dave Calnan in 2020, Telea connects speech and language therapists with patients to monitor their treatment remotely.
A pilot study of Irish digital speech therapy platform Telea has found that patients of Parkinson’s disease using the technology recorded a 10pc increase in their vocal function.
Announced a day ahead of World Parkinson’s Day tomorrow (11 April), the study conducted by Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) offers hope to around 15,000 patients of the neurodegenerative disorder in Ireland that primarily affects speech and movement.
Telea is a start-up based in Cork that developed a platform and an app to provide home-based therapy for people with Parkinson’s. It connects speech and language therapists (SLTs) with patients of the disease to monitor and progress their treatment remotely.
Founded by Clare Meskill and Dave Calnan in 2020, Telea was formerly known as Teleatherapy. The platform lets SLTs prescribe exercises for clients, which can then be completed at home through an app on their phone or tablet. The product is designed to save time for speech therapists and reduce waitlists for patients.
Other than a 10pc improvement in voice, the HIHI pilot study also noted an 80pc reduction in waiting times for SLT assessment and intervention for patients. More than 80pc reported their adherence with speech therapy exercises improved, with clients completing an average of 62 exercises per week.
“The value of the HIHI pilot for Telea was immeasurable as it provided an opportunity to gather invaluable feedback directly from SLTs, fostering a collaborative environment where we were able to make real-time changes and improvements based on their insights,” said Meskill, who is the CEO.
“This not only enhanced the Telea platform but also ensured it was finely tuned to meet the specific needs of management, therapists and clients in their setting.”
According to Parkinson’s Ireland, the disease is most commonly diagnosed in people over the age of 60. However, early and young onset Parkinson’s can also affect younger people between the ages of 21-60. Those younger than that age group are said to have juvenile parkinsonism.
Parkinson’s is the second most common neurodegenerative condition after Alzheimer’s, and it has no known cause – but most cases are not inherited.
“The results of this study were very impressive, we showed that when healthcare staff and people with Parkinson’s used the Telea technology, waiting times were reduced, patients engaged with their exercises more than ever and there was a notable improvement in their speech,” said HIHI director Dr Tanya Mulcahy.
“Everyone involved in this study is passionate about improving outcomes for people with Parkinson’s. Technology has the ability to enable that, and we were delighted to be part of this work supporting an Irish product, Irish patients and their healthcare teams.”
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