This study is being done to understand the effect of aripiprazole on adults who stutter. Stuttering is a disorder that affects speech fluency. This study aims to understand sensorimotor pathways of stuttering and possible interventions.
Stuttering is a disorder of speech fluency that affects 3.5 million people in the USA alone. The goal of this project is to assess whether fluency ehnancement with auditory feedback manipulations or with pharmacological agents that regulate dopamine uptake improve the sensorimotor functions of speech feedback prediction and processing in stuttering. This study may lay the foundation for stuttering treatments that combine dopamine regulators and behavioral treatments. Aripiprazole is an FDA-approved anti-psychotic typically used for treatment of schizophrenia or acute manic episodes. A typical dose is 10-15 mg per day, given daily for treatment. In this study, one 10 mg dose will be given. The usage in this study is purely investigational (experimental) and not FDA approved.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
40
The effects of aripiprazole on stuttering and various behavioral and neural outcomes will be studied compared to placebo.
Placebo will be compared against aripiprazole for effect on stuttering and various behavioral and neural markers.
Biomagentic Imaging Lab
San Francisco, California, United States
RECRUITINGPre-speech auditory modulation
Pre-speech auditory modulation (PSAM) is a measure of auditory cortical activity (as collect via magnetoencephalography) in response to a speaking and and matching silent reading task.
Time frame: 3-4 hours after intervention dose is delivered
Speaking Induced Suppression (SIS)
SIS is a phenomenon measured through magnetoencephalography that is a marker of auditory cortical response to self-produced speech compared with playback of the same speech.
Time frame: 3-4 hours after intervention
Centering
This is a speech behavior associated with SIS involving a reduction of speech variability from speech onset to mid-utterances. This is derived from auditory recordings occurring during magnetoencephalography collection.
Time frame: 3-4 hours after intervention
Feedback alterations
This is a measure of fluency enhancement by altered speech feedback (manipulated by methods such as masking noise, frequency shifted feedback,. etc.) This is measured through audio recordings and brain activation patterns during magnetoencephalography.
Time frame: 3-4 hours after intervention
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