Virtual Reality Training for Aphasia Rehabilitation

NCT05793879 | Suspended

• 1 other identifier: UC
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 40
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Aphasia is an acquired deficit following acute damage to the central nervous system that involves the difficulty or impossibility of understanding and formulating language. A typical disorder of non-fluent forms of aphasia is anomia. Anomia refers to the difficulty in finding words, in particular when trying to name objects and actions. According to the Embodied Cognition approach (EC), language is tightly connected to the motor system. In this view, language rehabilitation programs should stimulate language through the activation of the motor system. In this approach, since anomic deficits are often due to a weak link between the meaning of the word and its lemma, the Hebbs' principles of coincident and correlated learning can be exploited, i.e., by intensifying the synchronous activation of lexicon and semantics and connecting them with the motor counterpart. In this study, the investigators present an innovative training, based on the EC framework, in which they will make use of new technologies for anomia rehabilitation in post-stroke patients. Specifically, the researchers will use immersive 360° videos representing everyday actions displayed from the first-person point of view, experienced through a head-mounted display. The training will be administered 3 times a week for 4 weeks. The control group will watch standard videos representing the same actions recorded from the third-person perspective. Naming abilities will be tested before and after the training together with other cognitive and psychological measures. The investigators expect that the group who will undergo the 360° video-based training will show greater improvement of performance compared to the control group.

Conditions

Anomic Aphasia

Keywords

virtual reality; embodied cognition; rehabilitation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Number of verbs and objects correctly named

  All the trained videos will be presented and the patient will be asked to name the verb and the object depicted. The accuracy will be registered

  post treatment, 1 month

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Batteria per l'Analisi dei Deficit Afasici (BADA), naming subtest

  post treatment, 1 month

• EuroQol Health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-3L)

  post treatment, 1 month

• Functional Outcome Questionnaire (FOQ-A)

  post treatment, 1 month

Study Arms (2)

Video 360

EXPERIMENTAL

Patients will watch spherical videos displaying everyday actions towards objects; an audio is embedded describing the action and the object represented (i.e. "I'm cutting the potatoes").

Behavioral: Video 360

Standard video

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Patients will watch standard videos displaying everyday actions towards objects; an audio is embedded describing the action and the object represented (i.e. "I'm cutting the potatoes")

Behavioral: Standard videos

Interventions

Video 360 BEHAVIORAL

Patients will undergo 12 sessions, 3 per weeks, 4 weeks

Video 360

Standard videos BEHAVIORAL

Patients will undergo 12 sessions, 3 per weeks, 4 weeks

Standard video

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• naming disorder in the post-acute phase (index event occurring at least 6 months earlier)
• to have already received rehabilitation treatment in the acute phase
• noun naming below cut-off
• verbs naming below cut- off

You may not qualify if:

• concomitant or pre-existing (with respect to the index event) neurological and psychiatric deficits
• epilepsy
• balance disorders
• neglect

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Catholic University of the Sacred Heart: lead
• Fondazione Poliambulanza: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Poliambulanza

Brescia, Brescia, 25123, Italy

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Anomia

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Language Disorders; Communication Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Study Officials

• Claudia Repetto, Prof

  Catholic University of the Sacred Heart

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 7, 2023
• First Posted: March 31, 2023
• Study Start: May 2, 2023
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2025
• Study Completion: March 1, 2026
• Last Updated: March 19, 2026

Record last verified: 2025-09

Locations

IT (1)