Therapeutic area

Huntington disease

Developing and evaluating digital measures of movement, speech, cognition, and daily function in Huntington disease.

Huntington disease (HD) is an inherited, progressive brain disorder that affects movement, thinking, mood, behavior, and daily function. Movement symptoms may include involuntary movements (chorea), muscle contractions (dystonia), changes in eye movements, and difficulties with walking, balance, or speech. Cognitive changes can affect planning, processing speed, attention, and working memory.

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Published evidence for digital measures in HD

Peer-reviewed studies identified movement and speech differences in groups with HD, prodromal HD, and no HD. These findings support further evaluation of digital measures for early-stage research.

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Our research in HD

Our research in HD, supported by $4.6 million in NIH funding, focuses on three complementary areas: developing measures of symptoms and daily function, evaluating their ability to capture early changes, and building longitudinal datasets to complement clinical assessments.

Digital measures for tracking HD

Our research combines wearable sensors with digital assessments to study HD-related function in the clinic and at home. We are evaluating measures of activity, posture, falls, upper limb movement, gait, speech, cognition, and eye movements alongside clinical assessments. Repeated measurements may help characterize changes that occur between visits.

  • PAMSys and PAMSys Fall

    Wearable sensors that characterize daily activity, walking, and posture, with PAMSys Fall identifying potential falls for review.

  • PAMSys ULM

    Wrist-worn sensors and algorithms that characterize upper limb movement and patterns consistent with goal-directed hand use, including irregularity associated with HD.

  • LEGSys

    Wearable sensors that quantify walking speed, stride timing, and gait variability during standardized walking assessments.

  • BioDigit Speech

    Standardized speech tasks and automated analysis to characterize speech features relevant to dysarthria.

  • Cognitive and fine motor assessments

    Standardized digital tasks to measure cognitive and fine motor performance repeatedly at home.

  • Oculomotor assessments

    Video-based tasks under evaluation for measuring eye movement features relevant to HD, including saccades, fixation, and smooth pursuit.

Digital measures for early-stage HD

Early-stage HD research requires measures that can capture subtle changes in movement, thinking, and daily function. Clinical rating scales provide valuable information, while repeated digital assessments may add detail between visits. We are studying whether these measures can reliably detect change over time and support the evaluation of potential treatments.

  • Cognitive function

    Repeated tasks assess processing speed, attention, planning, and working memory to explore cognitive change over time.

  • Motor and movement

    Measures of tapping, hand use, movement regularity, and gait add detail about motor performance between clinical visits.

  • Speech and oculomotor function

    Standardized speech and eye movement tasks are being evaluated for their ability to characterize features relevant to HD.

Evidence supporting our digital measures in HD

Peer-reviewed, cross-sectional studies found associations between digital measures and clinical scores, as well as differences between study groups. These findings support further validation; the studies did not establish the ability to track progression or treatment response over time.

  • Upper limb function

    Characterizing upper limb movement

    A Communications Medicine study analyzed seven days of wrist-sensor data from 39 participants with HD, prodromal HD, or no HD. Movement features differed between groups and correlated with clinical scores.

  • Speech

    Digital speech assessment

    A Frontiers in Neurology study analyzed speech from 36 participants with HD, prodromal HD, or no HD. Speech features differed between groups and were associated with clinical measures of disease severity.

$4.6 million in NIH support for HD research

NIH support advances our work on digital measures and longitudinal data collection in HD, including evaluation alongside established clinical assessments.

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Our clinical studies in HD

Our observational studies combine clinical assessments, digital tasks, and scheduled wearable recordings to examine function over time. BioDigit HD details below are reported by BioSensics. HD-02 details reflect its January 2026 registry update, including planned enrollment and follow-up.

Our research partners

We collaborate with academic researchers and patient advocacy organizations to advance HD research.

  • Huntington's Disease Society of America
  • University of Rochester
  • Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Selected publications and presentations

Advance HD research with digital measures

Plan digital assessments for your HD study. Discuss research collaboration, study protocols, and access to relevant datasets with our team.

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