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.
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.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Enrollment
30
20 minutes 1mA anodal stimulation to left inferior frontal cortex. Cathode positioned on right supra-orbital ridge.
Speech tasks will be completed using fluency-enhancing techniques: metronome-timed speech and auditory choral speech.
University of Oxford
Oxford, United Kingdom
Change from baseline proportion of stuttering in speech sample
Quantitative measurement of stuttering
Time frame: 1 week post-treatment
Change from baseline proportion of stuttering in speech sample
Quantitative measurement of stuttering
Time frame: 6 weeks post-treatment
Change from baseline on the Stuttering Severity Instrument version 4 (SSI-4)
Standardised assessment of frequency and duration of stuttering and associated physical concomitants
Time frame: 1 week post-treatment
Change from baseline on the Stuttering Severity Instrument version 4 (SSI-4)
Standardised assessment of frequency and duration of stuttering and associated physical concomitants
Time frame: 6 weeks post-treatment
Change from baseline on Overall Assessment of Speaker's Experience of Stuttering (OASES)
Standardised assessment of the functional impact of stuttering on a person's life
Time frame: 6 weeks post-treatment
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