Clinical trial NCT03645265: Rhythmic Entrainment in Bilingual Speakers With Dysarthria
Official title: Rhythmic Entrainment in Bilingual Speakers With Dysarthria
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: TERMINATED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Parkinson Disease
Ataxia
Keywords: speech rhythm
speech therapy
Lead sponsor: Herbert H. Lehman College, City University of New York
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of Utah
First posted: 2018-08-24
Enrollment: 6
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 21
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Single case experimental design
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The objectives of this study are to determine i) the effect of rhythmic entrainment of speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues on intelligibility and speech naturalness in Spanish-accented speakers of English in two pathology groups: ataxic dysarthria and hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to idiopathic Parkinson's disease; and ii) the extent to which speech rate and effort are control parameters of entrainment. These objectives will be achieved with the following specific aims:

Specific Aim 1: Determine the effect of three rates of hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues and the degree to which learning and carry-over occur.

Specific Aim 2: Determine the effect of increased speech effort, operationalized as clear speech, and the interaction effect of clear speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues.

Specific Aim 3: Investigate the perception of speech rhythm and its relationship to entrainment.

Detailed description: The objectives of this study are to determine i) the effect of rhythmic entrainment of speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues on intelligibility and speech naturalness in Spanish-accented speakers of English in two pathology groups: ataxic dysarthria and hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to idiopathic Parkinson's disease; and ii) the extent to which speech rate and effort are control parameters of entrainment. These objectives will be achieved with the following specific aims:

Specific Aim 1: Determine the effect of three rates of hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues and the degree to which learning and carry-over occur.

Specific Aim 2: Determine the effect of increased speech effort, operationalized as clear speech, and the interaction effect of clear speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues.

Specific Aim 3: Investigate the perception of speech rhythm and its relationship to entrainment.

The protocol calls for 12 talkers to participate in a single case experimental design: 6 Spanish-accented speakers of English and 6 native English speakers, and each language group consisting of 2 healthy controls, 2 adults diagnosed with ataxic dysarthria and 2 adults diagnosed with hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Sixty monolingual healthy adult listeners will rate intelligibility, accentedness, and ease of understanding.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (4) or dysarthria secondary to ataxia (4) or healthy (4)
* monolingual speaker of American English (6) or native speaker of Spanish who speaks English with a Spanish accent (6)
* age 21 or older

Exclusion Criteria:

* Cognitive impairment that prevents participation in the therapy
* Fluent speakers of languages other than English or Spanish
* younger than 21 years

Primary outcomes:
measure: Intelligibility
timeFrame: immediately upon completion of the therapy
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Ease of understanding
timeFrame: Immediately upon completion of the therapy
measure: Speech naturalness
timeFrame: immediately upon completion of the therapy
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Bronx
country: United States
facility: Lehman College
state: New York
Study officials:
affiliation: Lehman College
name: Alison Behrman, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: