December 20, 2024
THE DONG-A ILBO
By Man-hyuk Han mh@itdonga.com
Here is a natural and professional English translation of the interview, formatted to read smoothly like an international tech and business news article.
[SBA X Dong-A.com Joint Feature] Dong-A.com, in collaboration with the Seoul Business Agency (SBA), introduces promising startups poised to make a global impact. From startup support and scale-up to competitiveness enhancement and global PR, we explore the capabilities of these SBA-backed startups alongside IT Dong-A, a dedicated startup media outlet.
Voinosis is developing voice-based screening solutions for cognitive impairment and dementia. By analyzing voice data, the solution detects the likelihood of developing these conditions even during the asymptomatic stages. To achieve this, Voinosis combined artificial intelligence (AI) with the extensive clinical experience and expertise of its CEO, Dr. Shin Jeong-eun, a practicing otorhinolaryngology (ENT) specialist.
Voinosis’s voice analysis technology previously secured 1st place at The MADRess Challenge (Alzheimer’s disease AI detection competition) during the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), earning global recognition for its technical prowess.
The company has developed three core products: Brain Guard Doctor (a clinical solution for hospitals), Voice Check (a B2C app for the general public), and HAHA (Hear Again Healing Again) (a digital therapeutic for auditory cognitive rehabilitation). Brain Guard Doctor and HAHA are currently preparing for certification by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), while Voice Check was launched in December. Voinosis is also eyeing global expansion, with plans to conduct Proof of Concept (PoC) and clinical trials with a major telecom operator and a medical school in the U.S. in 2025.
We sat down with CEO Shin Jeong-eun, who aims to foster a healthier society through the early screening of cognitive impairment and dementia, to discuss Voinosis and its voice analysis technology.
Developing Early Screening Solutions for Cognitive Impairment and Dementia
IT Dong-A: Hello, CEO Shin. Could you please introduce yourself? CEO Shin Jeong-eun: Hello, I am Shin Jeong-eun from Voinosis. I graduated from Seoul National University College of Medicine and currently serve as an ENT professor and the Director of the Clinical Research Center at Konkuk University Hospital. While researching the mechanisms and treatments for age-related hearing loss, I developed an interest in AI. I founded Voinosis to create a screening solution for cognitive impairment and dementia by converging medicine and artificial intelligence.
IT Dong-A: What was your motivation for founding Voinosis? CEO Shin: Over the past 22 years of consistently treating patients with hearing aids, I encountered many whose simple hearing loss progressed to age-related hearing loss, cognitive impairment, and eventually dementia. Because early-stage cognitive impairment or dementia patients often complain of hearing loss, I saw many of them in their early stages. Through this, I learned to distinguish abnormalities just by listening to their voices.
Voice is produced as air from the lungs passes through the vocal cords, which requires the harmonious movement of many muscles. When cognitive impairment occurs, controlling these muscles becomes difficult. Having played the violin for a long time since childhood, my hearing is quite sensitive, and I remember patient characteristics well. This allowed me to detect changes in a patient’s voice and identify abnormalities even in asymptomatic early-stage patients.
Seeing a consistent pattern among these patients, I realized that by combining my medical expertise with AI technology, we could screen for these conditions early through voice analysis. To bring this to life, I founded Voinosis in 2019.
IT Dong-A: What kind of company is Voinosis? CEO Shin: Voinosis develops voice-based AI screening solutions for cognitive impairment and dementia. Our solution prevents the onset of dementia early by monitoring the degenerative changes in brain cognitive function during the asymptomatic period before dementia occurs. The company name is a portmanteau of “VOICE” and “DIAGNOSIS,” reflecting our mission to help people maintain a healthier life using the acoustic characteristics of their voice and AI analysis.
Solutions Powered by AI Voice Analysis Technology
IT Dong-A: Could you tell us about the AI technology Voinosis has developed? CEO Shin: AI technology requires vast amounts of data, manpower, and infrastructure. When it comes to data, quality is far more important than quantity. Simply having a large volume can actually lower the AI model’s accuracy. You need meaningful data to properly train the AI. Because I am a medical specialist, Voinosis was able to secure highly meaningful data on early-stage cognitive impairment and dementia patients.
Furthermore, we collaborated with Professor Kim Eun-yi’s computer engineering research team at Konkuk University to develop the AI model. Through a true synergy between medical specialists and AI developers, we created an AI-based acoustic voice collection and analysis technology. Based on medically verified, high-quality voice data, we adopted an analysis method that strictly focuses on sensitive acoustic information—excluding linguistic or text data—which allowed us to overcome language barriers.
This approach won us 1st place at the global MADRess Challenge at IEEE ICASSP 2023, a competition evaluating voice analysis technology for mild cognitive impairment and dementia in multilingual environments. Voinosis predicted multilingual dementia patients with 87% accuracy and recorded a margin of error within 3.7 points for predicting dementia severity. It was an excellent achievement for the company and a pivotal moment that personally cemented my confidence in our business potential.
IT Dong-A: Please tell us more about your specific screening solutions. CEO Shin: Based on our proprietary voice analysis tech, we developed three solutions:
- Brain Guard Doctor: An AI-based implementation of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) used for dementia screening. Using voice as the medium increases accuracy and patient accessibility, delivering results in under 3 seconds. We have completed pre-clinical trials at Konkuk University Hospital and are undergoing the MFDS certification process. It is slated for release in the second half of 2025 and will be supplied to hospitals, clinics, and welfare facilities.
- Voice Check: An easy-to-use app for the general public. Users test their voice through the app and receive a brain health score ranging from 1 to 100 points. For those with scores indicating a high risk of cognitive impairment or dementia, the app provides guidelines for disease prevention and health management. It graphs score fluctuations over time, making it easy to spot abnormalities. It is currently available on the Google Play Store and will soon be on the Apple App Store once the review process is complete.
- HAHA: A digital therapeutic for auditory cognitive rehabilitation. During the asymptomatic period, usually only auditory cognition declines; this rehab helps prevent the progression to cognitive impairment. HAHA checks progress through tests and provides a hyper-personalized rehabilitation program based on those results, adjusting to the user’s progress and daily physical condition. Development is complete, and we are preparing for MFDS certification.
IT Dong-A: We understand Voinosis has achieved significant milestones recently. CEO Shin: We have been recognized for our technological prowess and growth potential by being selected for the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development’s (KISED) Startup Leap Package, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ TIPS program (deep-tech track), and the Super Gap Startup 1000+ Project. We were also chosen as a PoC participant in the Hyundai Open Innovation Lounge and as an LG 3rd batch incubator company. We plan to accelerate our commercialization next year through these opportunities.
Focusing on Global Market Expansion Next Year
IT Dong-A: You are currently receiving support from the SBA. What kind of support has that entailed? CEO Shin: With the SBA’s support, we participated in the POSCO Open Innovation Program, IMP (Idea Market Place). POSCO IMP offers promising startups the chance to expand their technology into the global market, making it a perfect fit for our global ambitions. Through this program, we are preparing global language packs, gearing up for global service launches, pursuing U.S. FDA certification, and driving global investment and strategic partnerships. The SBA also provides diverse support programs including PR, networking, and investor matching, which has been incredibly helpful for our expansion and growth.
IT Dong-A: Finally, what are your future plans and goals? CEO Shin: In 2025, we plan to fully launch our entry into the global healthcare market. We are targeting the U.S. market first and are currently preparing a PoC with a major U.S. telecom company and clinical trials with a U.S. medical school.
We will also continue our R&D efforts to collect voice data and advance our AI technology. Long-term, we want to continuously discover other diseases that can be screened via voice and develop corresponding solutions.
Our ultimate goal is to contribute to a healthier society by screening for cognitive impairment and dementia early and guiding patients to maintain healthy environments and lifestyles. Through this mission, we aim to grow into a unicorn company.
original article : Voinosis: Early Detection of Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Through Voice Analysis