A Machine Learning Model for Prediction of
Parkinson’s Disease using Vocal Features
Abstract— Parkinson's disease is a progressive
neurological disorder which affects motor skills and is
characterized by symptoms such as muscle rigidity,
tremors and difficulties in maintaining equilibrium and
coordination. Detecting Parkinson's disease involves
analyzing the patient's medical background and
conducting multiple imaging tests like MRI, Computed
Tomography, and DaTscan, along with physical and
neurological assessments. All these steps are essential to
validate a definitive diagnosis. Recent researches have
proved that variations in speech can be used as a
quantifiable indicator to detect Parkinson's disease in its
early stages.
This method is both non-invasive and economically
efficient in contrast to alternative diagnostic procedures.
To achieve a speech-based diagnosis system, we have
tried a feature selection algorithm in combination with
classification algorithms and a stacking classifier to
combine these base models. In the process of feature
selection, we have applied the mutual information gain
method in combination with three classifiers: K-nearest
neighbors(KNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and
XGBoost. To evaluate various permutations, we've made
use of the speech dataset provided UCI. To address the
issue of imbalanced data, we've applied the Synthetic
Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE). The
stacking classifier has shown the best performance,
attaining an accuracy rate of 97.05%.
Keywords—Parkinson’s Diseases, Vocal features, SVM, KNN,
XGBoost, Stacking classifier, SMOTE
I. INTRODUCTION
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a disease which is
neurodegenerative affecting the relevant frightened system,
in general manifesting as motor and non-motor symptoms.
Motor symptoms encompass tremors, slowed actions, issue
in day by day activities, and shuffling at the same time as
walking. Non-motor symptoms embody loss of smell, speech
issues, constipation, fatigue, insomnia, and reminiscence
problems. Detecting non-motor signs and symptoms early is
important for managing the disease.
It is observed that PD begins before motor symptoms appear.
In this case voice disorders affect around 90% of patients.
Individuals with PD often experience vocal difficulties
known as dysphonia, which encompasses various voice-
related disorders resulting from both pathological and
functional issues. This can lead to raspy, tense, or effortful
voice quality and hindered speech intelligibility due to low
volume or distinctiveness. These problems can arise from
improper vocal instrument usage and postural challenges,
sometimes involving a combination of misuse and
physiological factors. Currently, diagnosing PD relies
heavily on human expertise. Hence, there is a requirement for
enhanced techniques to detect early non-motor symptoms
and impede the progression of the disease. Machine learning
tools have been used widely in the field of medicine to detect
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diseases, often improving accuracy. However, considerations
such as execution time and algorithm complexity are crucial
in medical applications. Due to the ability to enhance
decision-making performance, machine learning techniques
can prove as a promising solution to assist the Parkinson's
disease diagnosis.
This paper discussed an method to come across the
Parkinson’s sicknesses that includes feature getting to know
from voice recordings, and those found out capabilities are
used as inputs for supervised classification techniques. The
model makes use of ensemble classifiers composed of
various Machine Learning Algorithms, which include SVM,
KNN, and XGBoost. The overall performance of every
technique is assessed with the help of performance metrics to
determine the most effective approach. This also uses
Synthetic oversampling of the minority magnificence and use
of a function selection set of rules at the same time as
preserving the most critical ones that make a contribution to
the accuracy of the model.
II. LITERATURE SURVEY
Individuals affected by PD frequently manifest a range of
vocal indications involving difficulties in producing regular
vocal sounds, referred to as dysphonia. Dysphonia
encompasses diverse voice-related disorders that can arise
from both pathological and functional issues affecting the
voice. This can result in voice quality that is raspy, tense, or
effortful. Furthermore, speech intelligibility might be
hindered due to low volume or distinctiveness, diverting
attention from the intended message. These voice-related
disorders may also emerge from incorrect vocal instrument
usage, including pitch misalignment, improper volume
control, or inadequate breath support, often attributed to
postural challenges. Some instances of dysphonia seem to
stem from a combination of misuse and physiological factors.
The current diagnostic methods for PD heavily rely on
human expertise. Parkinson's disease diagnosis, where the
choice of feature extraction technique is critical for achieving
high performance
Several studies have explored machine learning models for
PD diagnosis. One study used a stacking ensemble learning
framework with various classifiers and achieved a 96.88%
accuracy using multi-modal features [1]. Another study
predicted disease severity using machine learning models,
achieving high predictive values [2]. Additionally, a model
based on handwriting samples showed promising results in
early PD identifications [3]
Speech processing is a significant area of research in
Parkinson's disease diagnosis, where the choice of feature
extraction technique is critical for achieving high
performance. Various feature extraction techniques have
been explored, and their strengths and weaknesses have been
analyzed [4].
The literature surrounding Parkinson's disease has
extensively explored speech measurement techniques for
general voice disorders. Several studies highlight that up to
90% of individuals with PD experience a specific voice
disorder known as dysphonia [5]. Dysphonia can be
categorized as either pathological or functional and can be
diagnosed based on a constellation of vocal symptoms,
including signs of vocal impairment. Researchers, such as
[6], propose speech analysis methods to investigate the
impact of voice disorders on PD patients. These techniques
involve extracting features like fractal scaling and recurrence
patterns to distinguish between disordered and normal
voices. An alternative approach introduces a hybrid model
for the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease based on speech
signals. This approach utilizes feature selection techniques,
including genetic algorithm, mutual information gain and
extra tree algorithm methods, achieving an accuracy rate of
95.58% through the use of genetic algorithms in combination
with a random forest classifier [7].
In [8] Senturk's work, proposed feature selection through
feature importance and recursive feature elimination
methods. Classifiers such as regression trees, artificial neural
networks, and SVM are used for PD diagnosis classification.
Furthermore, Lahmiri and Shmuel [9] utilized voice disorder
patterns to differentiate between individuals who are healthy
and those who have Parkinson's disease. They utilized
various pattern ranking techniques for feature selection in
combination with an optimized SVM classifier, leading to an
accuracy of 92.21% when utilizing the Wilcox feature
ranking method. In a related context, [10]Polat introduced a
hybrid model for diagnosing Parkinson's disease using
speech signals analysis. The process starts with
preprocessing using SMOTE and then proceeds to
classification with a random forest classifier, achieving an
accuracy of 94.8%.
Further studies, such as Gupta et al, highlight the
enhancement of classifier performance through techniques
like multi-feature evolutionary algorithms and optimized
feature selection algorithms [11].
The initial symptoms of PD might be subtle and go
unnoticed, progressing to more pronounced manifestations as
the disease advances. These symptoms vary among patients
and encompass both motor symptoms like bradykinesia,
tremors, rigidity, and postural instability, as well as non-
motor symptoms like psychiatric manifestations, sleep
disturbances, sensory impairments, and autonomic
dysfunction. Notable symptoms in Parkinson’s patients
include changes in speech, tremors, slowed movement,
altered handwriting, muscle rigidity, impaired balance, and
loss of automatic movements. Researchers have identified
vocal disorders in around 90% of individuals with
Parkinson’s disease, often evident in its early stages. These
vocal disorders encompass issues like reduced volume,
defective voice quality, articulation difficulties, and reduced
pitch [12].
The early detection of PD is a complex task, primarily
because it requires extensive medical assessments and
repeated examinations conducted by neurologists and
specialists in movement disorders. Regrettably, this
procedure can be lengthy and cumbersome, especially for
older patients, the majority of whom are aged sixty or above.
III. METHODOLOGY
The dataset plays an important role in any machine learning
based approach. The former part of this section discuss about
the dataset used while in the later part the proposed approach
to detect the Parkinson’s algorithm is discussed.
A. Parkinson’s Speech dataset
This research utilized a publicly accessible dataset sourced
from the UCI repository[14]. The dataset encompasses
speech recordings from 8 individuals in good health and 23
individuals diagnosed with PD. The dataset's origin is
attributed to Max Little of Oxford University. Within the
dataset, there are 195 rows, each corresponding to voice
measurements of individual participants, while each column
represents a distinct vocal characteristic. Among the total,
147 voice measurements pertain to PD patients, while the
remaining entries belong to those without health issues. A
"status" column is included, featuring binary values: zero
denoting healthy individuals and one indicating PD patients.
B. Proposed Methdology
The proposed approach aims to utilize speech signals for
Parkinson's disease diagnosis. As depicted in Figure 1, the
suggested hybrid system comprises three main components:
feature reduction, SMOTE balancing, and binary
classification. Data items from the UCI Parkinson's language
database were selected using the Mutual Information method.
There is an inherent class imbalance issue in the dataset, with
147 cases out of 195 involving PD patients, and the
remainder representing healthy individuals. To tackle this
problem, the study employs SMOTE, wherein minority
samples are synthetically generated from existing instances
within the dataset. The classification process involves the use
of SVM, KNN, and XGBoost classifiers, ultimately leading
to the creation of a stacking classifier with Logistic
Regression as the final classifier.
Fig. 1 System Overview
1) Feature Selection Method
Mutual Information gain feature selection is a technique used
in machine learning to select the most informative features
from a dataset. Mutual Information serves as a metric for
quantifying the extent of information one variable holds with
regard to another variable. When applied to feature selection,
Mutual Information quantifies how much a feature's presence
(or absence) contributes to predicting the value of the target
variable. Finally the 11 selected features which will be feed
to the classifier which is given in figure 2.

Feature Selection using Mutual
Information Gain
Fig. 2. Feature Selection
2) Machine Learning Classifiers
For this study, the Parkinson diseases detection is considered
as the binary classification problem having classes as PD
detected and PD not detected. In this section different
classification methods used for Parsion’s disease detection
are discussed.
 Support Vector Machine(SVM)
SVM is an algorithm of machine learning algorithm applied
to the tasks which involves regression and classification.
They serve as robust nonlinear classifiers that operate by
identifying an optimal hyperplane capable of effectively
separating distinct classes of data points within a high-
dimensional space. The choice of the hyperplane is geared
towards optimizing the separation between the nearest data
points of each class, thus increasing the likelihood of
correctly categorizing new data samples. SVMs find
application across a broad spectrum of use cases and are
recognized for their precision and competence in managing
intricate datasets. The process of hyperparameter tuning was
used to determine the most suitable parameters for optimal
SVM performance.
 K- Nearest Neighbour (KNN)
KNN stands as a widely used machine learning algorithm
applicable to both classification and regression purposes.
KNN operates by identifying the K closest data points within
the training dataset to the incoming input data point and then
making predictions regarding its class or value. This
prediction hinges on either the majority class or the average
value among these nearest neighbors.
In classification tasks, K-nearest neighbors(KNN) gives a
class label to a new input data point by seeing the class labels
of its K-nearest neighbors from the training dataset. The class
label that looks most frequent among these KNN is given to
the new data points. In the context of regression tasks, KNN
assigns a value to the new input data point by calculating the
average value of its KNN in the training dataset. The average
value of the KNN is used as the predicted value for the new
data point In our model, the KNN classifier utilizes a concept
known as lazy learning or instance-based learning. This
approach involves using the entire training dataset during the
classification process, as there is no dedicated training phase
in this method.
 XGBoost
XGBoost or Extreme Gradient Boosting, has gained
significant popularity as an open-source gradient boosting
library extensively employed in supervised learning tasks,
particularly in regression and classification. Its primary
attributes include high scalability, efficiency, and accuracy.
Gradient boosting, a technique that amalgamates numerous
weak models, such as decision trees, to form a robust
predictive model, serves as the foundation for XGBoost.
These weak models are trained in a sequential manner, with
each new model endeavoring to rectify the errors made by its
predecessors. XGBoost, as an implementation of gradient
boosting, employs a more advanced algorithm to optimize
the training process and enhance the model's accuracy.The
essence of XGBoost lies in the sequential addition of
decision trees to the model. Each newly introduced tree is
constructed with the aim of rectifying the errors generated by
the prior trees. To be specific, XGBoost fits the new tree to
the residuals, or the discrepancies, of the previous tree's
predictions. This iterative process ensures that each
subsequent tree is trained to predict the remaining error in the
predictions of the preceding trees. Additionally, XGBoost
incorporates regularization techniques to mitigate the risk of
overfitting. These techniques include L1 and L2
regularization on the feature weights and a penalty for adding
new nodes to the tree structure. By doing so, XGBoost
enhances the generalization capabilities of the model and
reduces the likelihood of the model memorizing the training
data.
 Stacking Classifier
Stacking Classifier is an ensemble getting to know method
utilized in device learning that mixes a couple of type models
to improve predictive performance. In Stacking Classifier,
multiple class fashions are skilled at the same dataset to make
predictions. The predictions from those models are then
blended by way of schooling a meta-classifier on the outputs
of the base classifiers. The meta-classifier takes the output of
the bottom classifiers as enter and makes a final prediction.
The base classifiers may be any form of classification set of
rules, including logistic regression, selection tree, random
woodland, KNN, or SVM. The meta-classifier also can be any
category algorithm, which includes logistic regression, choice
tree, or neural- network. One gain of the usage of Stacking
Classifier is that it boosts the total performance of the
classification model through combining the strengths of
multiple fashions. It also can lessen the chance of overfitting,
that could arise whilst a unmarried version is used.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The proposed system, employ the mutual information gain
feature selection method along with three classifiers: SVM,
KNN, and XGBoost. Subsequently, a stacking classifier is
used that combines the output of these three classifiers. In
this section, the performance of different classifiers is
examined on full features and selected feature subsets. To
assess the validity of our results, a k-fold cross-validation
approach is used with k set to 10.
The model performance evaluation relies on several metrics,
including accuracy, recall, F-measure, precision, and AUC.
Table 1 shows the performance metrics for the full features detection. Proper remedy, a balanced weight-reduction plan
(23 features) K-fold score wherin table 2 shows the and exercising can decrease the signs and symptoms of
performance metrics for the selected (11 features) features K- Parkinson’s. The primary focus of this study revolves around
fold score the early detection of Parkinson's disease using speech
The stacking classifier trained on all features outperforms signals. There is no ordinary feature selection technique and
the other classifiers with a 97.05% accuracy. For the selected classifier for the scientific dataset.
features from the mutual information gain method, the While one characteristic selection technique may also
stacking classifier is again the highest performing out of the enhance the accuracy for a classifier, the identical can't be
other 3 with a 94.5% accuracy. By using this method of stated for its impact on other classifiers. The proposed hybrid
feature selection, the accuracy of KNN improves by nearly machine is at an impressive ninety seven.05%. The suggested
3%, for SVM it decreases by nearly 3%, and for XGBoost it system should not be seen as a replacement for healthcare
has little to no effect. professionals but can serve as a supplementary tool for
TABLE I. FULL FEATURES K- FOLD SCORES
Parkinson's disease diagnosis. Detecting Parkinson's disease
can be accomplished through a diagnostic tool that analyzes
Full Feature Recall Accurac F1 score Precisi Roc_a handwritten drawings since slowness and tremors are early
K-fold scores y on uc
SVM 96.66 96.63 96.62 96.97 99.49
symptoms of Parkinson's that can significantly affect a
KNN 89.47 89.37 89.11 91.59 98.39 person's handwriting. Different tools and strategies can be
XGBoost 93.75 93.64 93.61 94.31 98.28 attempted to yield distinct results inclusive of one-of-a-kind
Proposed 97.08 97.05 97.04 97.3 99.42 SMOTE variations. Alternative strategies for extracting voice
Method capabilities can be explored.
(Stacking
Classifier)
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V. CONCLUSION [14] https://archive.ics.uci.edu/dataset/174/parkinsons

Parkinson’s is a chronic ailment consequently; the best

manner to improve an affected person’s lifestyles is early