NCT04055987

Use of Electropalatography to Improve Speech Sound Production

The Use of Electropalatography to Improve Speech Sound Production in Deaf Adults With Cochlear Implants

• Status: Withdrawn
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 0 (actual)
• Sponsor: Molloy College · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this proposed study is to examine the benefits of using electropalatography (EPG) during speech therapy with adult individuals who are either congenitally deaf or adventitiously deaf and use a cochlear implant.

Detailed description

It has been established in numerous research studies that there is a definitive link between speech perception and speech production, in that what one can perceive, one can produce. Hearing loss disrupts this link and while cochlear implants make a significant difference in perception of sound, adults who are deaf and receive a cochlear implant (CI) do not gain the same perceptual benefits as children who are deaf and are implanted at a young age. Thus, the speech production of the adult CI user is reported to be less intelligible. The purpose of this proposed study is to examine the benefits of using electropalatography (EPG) during speech therapy with adult individuals who are either congenitally deaf or adventitiously deaf and use a cochlear implant. The investigators have proposed to study 10 CI users (5 in each etiological group) who will undergo speech intelligibility testing, and receive speech therapy (1x/week for 10 weeks) using EPG that provides both visual (biofeedback) and auditory feedback. It is hypothesized that the biofeedback in addition to the auditory feedback from the CI will result in an increase in articulation skills and thus the speech intelligibility in these individuals will improve significantly.

Conditions

• Hearing Impairment

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Visual biofeedback, auditory feedback and models	The EPG software program allows the speech clinician to model and comment upon the visual patterns during tongue/palate contact and to replay the participant's production for additional correction or reinforcement productions. Auditory feedback will be used to facilitate participant's perception of differences in production.

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-09-30
• Primary completion: 2020-04-30
• Completion: 2020-06-01
• First posted: 2019-08-14
• Last updated: 2019-09-30