Choir Singing in Aphasia Rehabilitation

NCT03501797 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 306625
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 100
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

This study evaluates the verbal, cognitive, emotional, and neural efficacy of a choir singing intervention in chronic aphasic patients and their caregivers. Using a cross-over RCT design, half of the participants receive a 4-month singing intervention during the first half of the study and half of the participants during the second half of the study.

Conditions

Stroke; Aphasia

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (7)

• Communication ability

  Total score of the Communication Action Log (CAL) questionnaire (range 0-180, higher score indicates better outcome)

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

• Spontaneous speech production

  Spontaneous Speech subscale score of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) (range 0-20, higher score indicates better outcome)

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

• Connected speech informativeness

  Percentage of correct information units (CIUs) produced in a picture description task

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

• Repetition of words and sentences

  Repetition subscale score of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) (range 0-100, higher score indicates better outcome)

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

• Verbal agility

  Verbal Agility subtest score of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examinaton (BDAE) (range 0-14, higher score indicates better outcome)

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

• Naming and word finding

  Naming and Word Finding subscale score of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) (range 0-100, higher score indicates better outcome)

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

• Verbal comprehension

  Sequential Commands subtest score of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) (range 0-80, higher score indicates better outcome)

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

Secondary Outcomes (20)

• Executive function (correct responses)

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

• Executive function (reaction times)

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

• Attention (correct responses)

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

• Attention (reaction times)

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

• Working memory

  Change from baseline at 5 months and 9 months

Study Arms (2)

Early singing intervention (AB)

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants receive a 16 weeks of singing-based rehabilitation and standard care (SC) followed by 16 weeks of SC only.

Behavioral: Singing-based rehabilitation; Other: Standard care

Late singing intervention (BA)

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants receive a 16 weeks of SC only followed by 16 weeks of singing intervention and SC.

Behavioral: Singing-based rehabilitation; Other: Standard care

Interventions

Singing-based rehabilitation BEHAVIORAL

The singing-based rehabilitation is a combination of group-training (16 weeks, 1 x week, 90 min), which utilizes a novel combination of traditional senior choir singing and singing-based speech training protocols, and home training (16 weeks, ≥ 3 x week, ≥ 30 min) in which the choir material is trained with a tablet computer.

Early singing intervention (AB); Late singing intervention (BA)

Standard care OTHER

Standard care comprises all rehabilitation and care services (e.g. speech therapy, physical and occupational therapy, neuropsychological rehabilitation) received by the patients in the Finnish health care system

Early singing intervention (AB); Late singing intervention (BA)

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• age over 18
• Finnish-speaking
• time since stroke \> 6 months
• at least minor non-fluent aphasia due to stroke (BDAE Aphasia Severity Rating scale score ≤ 4)
• no hearing deficit
• no severe cognitive impairment affecting comprehension (the patient is able to understand the purpose of the study and give an informed consent)
• no neurological / psychiatric co-morbidity or substance abuse
• ability to produce vocal sound (through singing or humming).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Helsinki: lead
• Helsinki University Central Hospital: collaborator
• Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa: collaborator
• Helsinki-Uusimaa Aphasia and Stroke Association: collaborator
• Finnish Brain Association: collaborator
• Outloud Ltd: collaborator
• University of Barcelona: collaborator
• University of Melbourne: collaborator
• Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM): collaborator

Study Sites (2)

Helsinki University Central Hospital, Department of Neurology, Rehabilitation Unit

Helsinki, Finland

Location

Helsinki-Uusimaa Aphasia and Stroke Association

Helsinki, Finland

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Martinez-Molina N, Pitkaniemi A, Siponkoski ST, Moisseinen N, Kuusela L, Laitinen S, Sarkamo ER, Pekkola J, Melkas S, Schlaug G, Kleber B, Sihvonen AJ, Sarkamo T. Functional neuroplasticity in chronic post-stroke aphasia following a singing intervention in a cross-over randomised trial. Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 29;15(1):27639. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-11288-0.

  PMID: 40738917 DERIVED

• Siponkoski ST, Pitkaniemi A, Laitinen S, Sarkamo ER, Pentikainen E, Eloranta H, Tuomiranta L, Melkas S, Schlaug G, Sihvonen AJ, Sarkamo T. Efficacy of a multicomponent singing intervention on communication and psychosocial functioning in chronic aphasia: a randomized controlled crossover trial. Brain Commun. 2022 Dec 27;5(1):fcac337. doi: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac337. eCollection 2023.

  PMID: 36687394 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Stroke; Aphasia

Interventions

Standard of Care

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

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

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Quality Indicators, Health Care; Quality of Health Care; Health Services Administration; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation

Study Officials

• Teppo Särkämö, PhD

  University of Helsinki

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Academy of Finland Research Fellow

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 16, 2018
• First Posted: April 18, 2018
• Study Start: January 1, 2018
• Primary Completion: January 31, 2020
• Study Completion: March 15, 2020
• Last Updated: August 18, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

FI (2)