Visual Feedback of Tongue by Ultrasound Echography for Speech Trouble Rehabilitation

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Speech is a privileged means of communication for humans: its trouble can thus prove being extremely handicapping. Standard speech therapy is limited in some cases by the lack of sensory feedback available to the patient (hearing, surgery, neural damage, etc.). The present study aims at quantify the contribution of the tongue articulatory visual feedback offered by ultrasound echography to speech trouble rehabilitation. Two complementary populations will be studied : 30 adults with buccopharyngeal surgery, and 10 childrens with important speech troubles due to central nervous system damage. The principle is to conduct standard speech therapy sessions, alternating series of sessions with the use of visual feedback and sessions without visual feedback. The progress will be regularly measured by means of standard batteries of speech articulation tests.

Official Title
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Visual Feedback of Tongue by Ultrasound Echography for Speech Trouble Rehabilitation

Conditions
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Speech Disorders

Intervention / Treatment
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* Device: Visual feedback


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Articulatory troubles needing speech therapy French mother tongue Adult patients [18 ≥ age < 80 years] who underwent buccopharyngeal surgery after cancer diagnostic OR children [8 ≥ age < 18 years] suffering from central nervous system damage Exclusion Criteria: Incapacity to easily understand the speech therapist instructions People protected by the law People deprived from freedom by judiciary decision Potential allergy to the water-based conducting gel used to ensure good skin - probe contact Overweight if large fatty mass under chin Major edema under chin limiting echogenicity Non corrected vision or hearing problems For the adults: central or peripheral neural damage History of Ear, Nose, and Throat surgery or radiotherapy For the adults: isolated articulatory trouble, former articulatory trouble not treated, disfluency Massive orofacial dyspraxia Posture trouble Motor problem in upper limbs

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 8 Years
Maximum Age: 80 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: With visual feedback<br>Session of speech therapy conducted with the additional use of articulatory visual feedback based on ultrasound echography, which allows to visualize the patient's tongue in real time on a computer screen | Device: Visual feedback<br>* Use of ultrasound echography for tongue articulatory visual feedback<br>|
| No Intervention: Without visual feedback<br>Session of speech therapy without use of ultrasound echography | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BECD test score | One of the primary outcome will be measured as the difference of increase of total BECD score between the therapy sessions with and without visual feedback. BECD (Batterie d'Evaluation Clinique de la Dysarthrie, Battery of Clinical Evaluation of Dysarthria) is a French speech articulation test. | 4 months | 
| MBLF test score | The second primary outcome will be measured as the difference of increase of total MBLF score between the therapy sessions with and without visual feedback. MBLF (Motricité Bucco-Linguo-Faciale, Motricity of Mouth, Tongue and Face) is a French speech articulation test. | 4 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Perception test scores | The secondary outcome will be measured as the difference of increase of the scores of perception obtained by a jury listening to a selected set of patients' speech sounds between the therapy sessions with and without visual feedback. The speech sounds are those recorded during the batteries of speech articulation tests. | 4 months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Speech disorders, Speech therapy, Visual feedback, Buccopharyngeal surgery, Central nervous system damage