Flexible Representation of Speech

NCT05209386 | Completed Results DMC

• 2 other identifiers: STUDY210900111R21DC019217-01A1
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 48
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The overarching goal of this exploratory research is to understand the dynamic and flexible nature of speech processing in the human supratemporal plane. The temporal lobe has long been established as a region of interest in the speech perception and processing literature because it contains the auditory cortex. More recently, research has localized the supratemporal plane as an area that exhibits response specificity to acoustic properties of complex auditory signals like speech. The supratemporal plane, comprised of Heschl's gyrus, the planum polare, and the planum temporale, is capable of the rapid spectrotemporal analysis required to map acoustic information to linguistic representation. Neural activity in this area, however, is rarely studied directly because it is difficult to access with non-invasive measures like scalp electroencephalography (EEG). Capitalizing on the unique opportunity to access these areas via routine clinical stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG) in a patient population, this study seeks to understand how cortical responses reflect the diagnosticity of two acoustic-phonetic dimensions of interest and how responses rapidly and flexibly adapt to changes in listening demands. Examining how neural response to voice onset time (VOT) and fundamental frequency (F0) modulates as a function of perceptual weight carried in signaling phoneme categories, and identifying how changes in listening context shift perceptual weight, will provide invaluable data that indicates how speech processing flexibly adapts to short-term acoustic patterns.

Conditions

Epilepsy

Keywords

sEEG; Speech representation; Supratemporal plane

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Supratemporal Neural Response to Change in Acoustic-Phonetic Dimensions

  Neural activity will be measured via simultaneous EEG-sEEG monitoring in the supratemporal plane as indicated by high-gamma band activity in the electrical signal. Neural activity will be measured as participants listen to acoustic stimuli with gradually manipulated acoustic dimensions, fundamental frequency (F0) and voice onset time (VOT). The data reported here is the number of temporal lobe channels demonstrating significant encoding of change in acoustic dimension (F0 as VOT is held constant).

  During sEEG-EEG recording sessions, up to 3 hours total

• Behavioral Impact of Change in Acoustic-Phonetic Dimensions

  Behavioral responses in the form of a category judgment will be obtained as participants listen to acoustic stimuli in with gradually varying fundamental frequency (F0) and voice onset time (VOT). Participants will provide a behavioral response by indicating the phoneme perceived at the beginning of stimulus words (/b/ or /p/). Specifically, the outcome is reported as percent of stimuli classified as /p/ over varying F0 with VOT held constant.

  During sEEG-EEG recording sessions, up to 3 hours total

• Supratemporal Neural Response to Change in Listening Context

  Neural activity was measured via sEEG monitoring as indicated by high-gamma band activity in the electrical signal. Neural activity will be measured as participants listen to acoustic stimuli in accented speech. The un-transformed voltage represents the difference in electric potential between a specific electrode contact and the reference electrode contact; since we use a common average reference, that means it's the difference between a specific electrode contact and the mean voltage across all electrodes. We then z-score to characterize shifts from baseline activity (where z = 0) at a specific electrode, which is believed to measure changes in voltage due largely to post-synaptic currents. This is a mathematical transformation rather than a published scale or standardized assessment. More extreme z-scores (+ or -) indicate a greater change from baseline local neural activity; in other words, stimuli evoked greater activity in this region.

  During sEEG-EEG recording sessions, up to 3 hours total

• Behavioral Impact of Change in Listening Context

  Behavioral responses in the form of a category judgment will be obtained as participants listen to acoustic stimuli in a varied listening context: accented speech. Participants will provide a behavioral response by indicating the phoneme perceived at the beginning of stimulus words (/b/ or /p/). Specifically, the outcome is reported as the mean % of stimuli classified as /p/ with varying VOT and F0 relationships.

  During sEEG-EEG recording sessions, up to 3 hours total

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Neural Response of Non-Regions of Interest to Change in Acoustic-Dimension

  During sEEG-EEG recording sessions, up to 3 hours total

• Neural Response of Non-Regions of Interest to Change in Listening Context

  During sEEG-EEG recording sessions, up to 3 hours total

Study Arms (1)

Patient Participants

EXPERIMENTAL

This single-group study will recruit patients through the PI's clinical practice who are undergoing invasive neurophysiological monitoring (sEEG) with clinically necessary placement of electrodes in the supratemporal plane. All participants will complete the same behavioral response paradigms.

Behavioral: Dimension-Based Statistical Learning

Interventions

Dimension-Based Statistical Learning BEHAVIORAL

Each participant will complete self-paced blocks of stimuli that will first establish a baseline for neural activity and behavioral responses with clear speech, and will then record responses for experimentally manipulated blocks to introduce 1) speech-in-noise and 2) a Canonical-Reverse block to model an "accent." Auditory stimuli will be adjusted to a comfortable level for each participant as determined by a calibration process completed by the participant. Each block involves listening to sound via earphones and making a categorical decision between initial consonants (/b/ or /p/) by tapping a button to indicate the word heard by the participant.

Patient Participants

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 15 Years - 25 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Individuals 15-25 years old
• Undergoing sEEG placement in the supratemporal plane for clinically necessary localization of epileptic foci or language mapping
• Fluent English speakers
• Cognition and speech-language skills within normal limits (as determined by evaluation prior to surgery)
• Normal or correct-to-normal visual acuity
• Normal hearing acuity in each ear (as determined by audiometric assessment)
• No history of autism or ADHD

You may not qualify if:

• Individuals with intellectual disabilities
• Abnormal epileptiform activity in the supratemporal plane
• Lack of fluent English comprehension/production
• Severe language or auditory-specific cognitive dysfunction
• History of autism or ADHD

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Pittsburgh: lead
• National Institutes of Health (NIH): collaborator
• Carnegie Mellon University: collaborator
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15224, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Epilepsy

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Taylor Abel
• Organization: University of Pittsburgh

abeltj@upmc.edu

412-692-9631

Study Officials

• Taylor J Abel, MD

  University of Pittsburgh

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: Yes
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery; Pediatric Neurosurgeon

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 12, 2022
• First Posted: January 26, 2022
• Study Start: May 2, 2022
• Primary Completion: July 1, 2024
• Study Completion: April 10, 2025
• Last Updated: September 8, 2025
• Results First Posted: September 8, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP
• Time Frame: Data will be made available as soon as possible, but no later than one year upon completion of the study.
• Access Criteria: Our data will be made publicly available online as soon as possible. Data will be easily and widely accessible.

Locations

US (1)