Auditory Masking Effects on Speech Fluency in Aphasia and Apraxia of Speech

NCT02094014 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: 10-0503R03DC011881
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 46
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Impaired speech production is a major obstacle to full participation in life roles by stroke survivors with aphasia and apraxia of speech. The proposed study will demonstrate the short-term effects of auditory masking on speech disfluencies and identify individual factors that predict a positive response, enabling future work to develop auditory masking as a treatment adjuvant targeting long-term improvement in speech. Providing an additional treatment option for adults with aphasia and apraxia of speech will have the clear benefit of improving quality of life and allowing individuals to participate more actively in their health care decisions through improved communication.

Conditions

Apraxia of Speech; Aphasia; Cerebrovascular Accident

Keywords

Perceptual masking; Auditory stimulation; Speech; Language; Verbal Fluency Disorders

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Disfluency duration change with masking noise

  Measured disfluency duration in sentences produced while listening to masking noise compared to speaking in quiet without noise.

  1 day of the study

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Speech rate change with masking noise

  1 day of the study

• Speech sound accuracy change with masking noise

  1 day of the study

Study Arms (2)

Aphasic/Apraxic Participants

The aphasic/apraxic participant group will include 30 adults who have had strokes affecting their ability to communicate verbally, broadly classified as aphasic and including individuals with and without apraxia of speech (AOS). Participants will speak under Masked Auditory Feedback, Altered Auditory Feedback, and Normal Auditory Feedback.

Behavioral: Normal Auditory Feedback; Behavioral: Masked Auditory Feedback; Behavioral: Altered Auditory Feedback

Neurologically Healthy Participants

The neurologically healthy participant group will include 15 adults with no history of stroke or developmental speech or language disorder. Participants will speak under Masked Auditory Feedback, Altered Auditory Feedback, and Normal Auditory Feedback.

Behavioral: Normal Auditory Feedback; Behavioral: Masked Auditory Feedback; Behavioral: Altered Auditory Feedback

Interventions

Normal Auditory Feedback BEHAVIORAL

Participants will produce sentences under normal speaking conditions, able to hear their own speech.

Aphasic/Apraxic Participants; Neurologically Healthy Participants

Masked Auditory Feedback BEHAVIORAL

Participants will produce sentences while listening to speech-shaped noise at 85 decibels (sound pressure level) to mask ability to hear their own speech.

Also known as: Masking Noise

Aphasic/Apraxic Participants; Neurologically Healthy Participants

Altered Auditory Feedback BEHAVIORAL

Participants will produce sentences while listening to their speech shifted up one octave and delayed.

Also known as: Delayed and pitch-shifted feedback

Aphasic/Apraxic Participants; Neurologically Healthy Participants

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Participants with aphasia (PWA) will be referred from existing referral sources (e.g. UNC Stroke registry, Triangle Aphasia Project), clinicians in the community, and the Carolina Data Warehouse for Health.

You may qualify if:

• Single left-hemisphere cerebrovascular accident
• Speech errors are present, but participant is able to produce approximations of words or sentences by reading or repetition; \< 90% and \> 10% on Chapel Hill Multilingual Intelligibility Test (Haley, 2011)
• Right-handed prior to stroke by report
• Normal visual attention, acuity, and color vision
• Pure-tone threshold \<= 40 decibels in at least one ear

You may not qualify if:

• Predominating disorders of cognition or hearing (e.g. dementia, hearing impairment).
• Presence of degenerative neurological illness (e.g. Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, primary progressive aphasia).
• Matched in age and sex to a participant with aphasia
• score of 90% or higher on the single-word intelligibility test
• Right-handed prior to stroke by report
• Normal visual attention, acuity, and color vision
• Pure-tone threshold \<= 40 decibels in at least one ear
• History of stroke
• History of developmental speech or language disorder

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: lead
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of North Carolina School of Medicine

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599-7190, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Apraxias; Aphasia; Stroke; Speech; Language; Speech Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Psychomotor Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Language Disorders; Communication Disorders; Cerebrovascular Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Verbal Behavior; Communication; Behavior

Study Officials

• Adam Jacks, Ph.D.

  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE CONTROL
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 13, 2014
• First Posted: March 21, 2014
• Study Start: March 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: December 1, 2015
• Study Completion: December 1, 2015
• Last Updated: May 12, 2016

Record last verified: 2016-05

Locations

US (1)