5YF Episode #5: Kintsugi CEO Grace Chang

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There is data hidden in our voice that is being analyzed to pick up an increasing amount of cognitive diseases. Akin to a blood draw, AI can take a short sample of speech and identify risk factors relating to chronic depression, anxiety, and potentially even Alzheimers and Parkinsons. It works across any language and is privacy sensitive not listening to what you say but how you say it. The transformative technology paints a picture of a future where anyone with a phone or internet connection could be served with next generation diagnosis and early warning detection.

We have been able to identify voice biomarkers as it correlates to depression through short snippets of free form speech

What you’ll hear:‍

🗣️ Voice biomarker technology revolutionizing mental health analysis

🧠 Search for early indicators for Alzheimers, Parkinson, and cognitive disease

🪫 The link between our physical and mental wellbeing

⛑️ AI’s role in democratizing access to better and cheaper healthcare

🎛️ The power of low cost compute

♾️ And plenty more!
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We saw some innovation around COVID diagnostics just using the voice

Our guest:

Grace Chang is founder and CEO of Kintsugi. A Berkeley based technology company on a mission to scale access to mental healthcare by pioneering voice biomarker technology. With just 20 seconds of free form speech Kintsugi can pick up on depression and anxiety with over 80% clinical accuracy — and it works across multiple languages. Named by Forbes as Top 50 AI Company, it has received almost $30M in funding from the National Science Foundation and tier 1 VCs including Insight Partners. Grace is an engineer and product developer by background, having worked as a technology leader at multiple startups that leveraged data in novel ways —including at security firm UnifyID, which would authenticate a users identity by monitoring their behavior. (focal is a proud investor in Kintsugi’s pre-seed round).

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There is about 80% comorbidity between depression and chronic conditions like diabetes, congestive heart failure, pulmonary disease

My takeaway:

In the face of a mental health pandemic impacting a reported 1 in 3 Americans, we need a way to better identify those who need support at scale and low cost. Voice biomarker technology democratizes access where an API connection can now carry the sophistication of a specialized AI model designed to pick up on and score risk of disease. With enough data you can see an increasing amount of health conditions being scored this way, where AI is picking up on subtle correlations that go unnoticed to the eye of a trained expert. The result is a proliferation of superior medical expertise globally that improves with each additional use. Holding the promise to revolutionize access to mental healthcare and beyond.

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- Daniel Darling