NCT02288598

Enhancing Speech Fluency With Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Developmental Stuttering

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Oxford · Academic / Other
• Sex: Male
• Age: 18 Years – 50 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study aims to test whether the addition of transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) to speech fluency training results in improvements in speech fluency in adults with developmental stuttering. Half of the participants will receive anodal TDCS on five consecutive days, the other half will receive a sham stimulation for the same amount of time.

Detailed description

Studies using TDCS have shown improvements in motor performance, and in expressive language skills in clinical and healthy populations. The benefits of single sessions of TDCS are short-lived. However, stimulation over multiple sessions can increase and prolong learning effects that can persist for several weeks after the end of the stimulation period. We aim to target left hemisphere frontal regions involved in speech production with TDCS, and to pair this stimulation with speech fluency training.

Conditions

• Stuttering
• Fluency Disorders
• Speech Disorders

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Anodal TDCS	20 minutes 1mA anodal stimulation to left inferior frontal cortex. Cathode positioned on right supra-orbital ridge.
BEHAVIORAL	Fluency Training	Speech tasks will be completed using fluency-enhancing techniques: metronome-timed speech and auditory choral speech.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-10-01
• Primary completion: 2016-03-14
• Completion: 2016-03-14
• First posted: 2014-11-11
• Last updated: 2017-01-31

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United Kingdom