Improving Aphasia Using Electrical Brain Stimulation

NCT ID: NCT04963803

Last Updated: 2025-05-30

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

39 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2021-07-12

Study Completion Date

2024-12-31

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

Language and communication are essential for almost every aspect of human life, but for people who have aphasia, a language processing disorder that can occur after stroke or brain injury, even simple conversations can become a formidable challenge. Speech and language therapy can help people recover their language ability, but often requires months or even years of therapy before a person is able to overcome these challenges. This research will investigate non-invasive brain stimulation as a way to enhance the effects of speech and language therapy, which may ultimately lead to better and faster recovery from stroke and aphasia. The investigators hypothesize that participants with aphasia who receive speech and language therapy paired with active electrical brain stimulation will improve significantly more on a language comprehension task than those who receive speech and language therapy paired with sham stimulation.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Stroke Aphasia

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Participants Caregivers

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

Active transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) paired with speech-language therapy

Active transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) will be delivered using a Soterix mini-CT device. Participants receiving this treatment will be administered 2 milliamperes (mA) of current for 20 minutes/session with the anode electrode placed over F3 and the cathode electrode placed over Fp2 (according to the 1020 system). The tDCS will be paired with 60 minutes of speech-language therapy focusing simultaneously improving auditory comprehension and behavioral attention. All study participants will receive 10 sessions of this combination treatment with no more than one session per day 2-3 times per week.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Active transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Intervention Type DEVICE

Active transcranial direct current stimulation will be delivered using a Soterix mini-CT device. Participants receiving this treatment will be administered 2 milliamperes (mA) of current for 20 minutes/session for 10 sessions.

Language Specific Attention Treatment

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

This is a specific type of speech-language therapy that focuses on simultaneously improving auditory comprehension and behavioral attention. All study participants will receive 10 sessions of this treatment.

Sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) paired with speech-language therapy

Sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) will be delivered using a Soterix mini-CT device. Participants receiving this treatment will be administered 2 milliamperes (mA) of current for 1 minute to simulate the experience of tDCS, after which the current will be ramped down to zero for the remaining 19 minutes of the session with the anode electrode placed over F3 and the cathode electrode placed over Fp2 (according to the 1020 system). The tDCS will be paired with 60 minutes of speech-language therapy focusing simultaneously improving auditory comprehension and behavioral attention. All study participants will receive 10 sessions of this combination treatment with no more than one session per day 2-3 times per week.

Group Type SHAM_COMPARATOR

Sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Intervention Type DEVICE

Sham transcranial direct current stimulation will be delivered using a Soterix mini-CT device. Participants receiving this treatment will be administered 2 milliamperes (mA) of current for 1 minute to simulate the experience of tDCS, after which the current will be ramped down to zero for the remaining 19 minutes of the session. Participants in this arm will receive sham stimulation for 10 sessions.

Language Specific Attention Treatment

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

This is a specific type of speech-language therapy that focuses on simultaneously improving auditory comprehension and behavioral attention. All study participants will receive 10 sessions of this treatment.

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Active transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Active transcranial direct current stimulation will be delivered using a Soterix mini-CT device. Participants receiving this treatment will be administered 2 milliamperes (mA) of current for 20 minutes/session for 10 sessions.

Intervention Type DEVICE

Sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Sham transcranial direct current stimulation will be delivered using a Soterix mini-CT device. Participants receiving this treatment will be administered 2 milliamperes (mA) of current for 1 minute to simulate the experience of tDCS, after which the current will be ramped down to zero for the remaining 19 minutes of the session. Participants in this arm will receive sham stimulation for 10 sessions.

Intervention Type DEVICE

Language Specific Attention Treatment

This is a specific type of speech-language therapy that focuses on simultaneously improving auditory comprehension and behavioral attention. All study participants will receive 10 sessions of this treatment.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

1. 18 years or older.
2. No diagnosis of neurological disorder (other than stroke).
3. No diagnosis of psychiatric disorder.
4. No seizure within the past 6 months.
5. Not pregnant.
6. In chronic phase of recovery, defined as at least 6 months post-stroke.
7. Not undergoing speech and language therapy targeting auditory comprehension or attention for the duration of the study.
8. No metal implants in the head.
9. No unhealed skull fractures.
10. Onset of aphasia related to left hemisphere stroke.
11. Damaged brain tissue from stroke does not overlap with left hemisphere dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
12. Mild to moderate aphasia.
13. Cognitive ability minimally within functional limits.
14. Able to pass vision and hearing screening (with use of corrective aids if needed; eyeglasses, hearing aids).
15. Willing to allow audio-recording of study sessions.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Younger than 18 years old.
2. Diagnosis or history of neurological disorder other than stroke.
3. Diagnosis or history of psychiatric disorder.
4. History of seizures within the past 6 months.
5. Pregnant.
6. \<6 months post-stroke (however, if this is only exclusionary criterion met, participant can be re-evaluated at the 6-month mark if still interested in the study)
7. Currently undergoing speech and language therapy targeting auditory comprehension or attention.
8. Metal implants in the head.
9. Currently has a skull fracture.
10. Onset of aphasia related to etiology other than left hemisphere stroke.
11. Damaged brain tissue includes left hemisphere dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
12. No aphasia or severe aphasia.
13. Cognitive ability below functional limits.
14. Unable to pass vision and/or hearing screening with use of corrective aids.
15. Unwilling to allow audio-recording of study sessions.
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

NIH

Sponsor Role collaborator

Syracuse University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

Syracuse University

Syracuse, New York, United States

Site Status

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

United States

References

Explore related publications, articles, or registry entries linked to this study.

Peach RK, Nathan MR, Beck KM. Language-Specific Attention Treatment for Aphasia: Description and Preliminary Findings. Semin Speech Lang. 2017 Feb;38(1):5-16. doi: 10.1055/s-0036-1597260. Epub 2017 Feb 15.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 28201833 (View on PubMed)

Peach RK, Beck KM, Gorman M, Fisher C. Clinical Outcomes Following Language-Specific Attention Treatment Versus Direct Attention Training for Aphasia: A Comparative Effectiveness Study. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2019 Aug 15;62(8):2785-2811. doi: 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-L-18-0504. Epub 2019 Jul 25.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31348732 (View on PubMed)

Fridriksson J, Rorden C, Elm J, Sen S, George MS, Bonilha L. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation vs Sham Stimulation to Treat Aphasia After Stroke: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Neurol. 2018 Dec 1;75(12):1470-1476. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2018.2287.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 30128538 (View on PubMed)

Riley EA, Wu Y. Artificial grammar learning with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): A pilot study. Brain Stimul. 2019 Sep-Oct;12(5):1307-1308. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2019.07.002. Epub 2019 Jul 2. No abstract available.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 31300247 (View on PubMed)

Petersen SE, Posner MI. The attention system of the human brain: 20 years after. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2012;35:73-89. doi: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-062111-150525. Epub 2012 Apr 12.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 22524787 (View on PubMed)

Woods AJ, Antal A, Bikson M, Boggio PS, Brunoni AR, Celnik P, Cohen LG, Fregni F, Herrmann CS, Kappenman ES, Knotkova H, Liebetanz D, Miniussi C, Miranda PC, Paulus W, Priori A, Reato D, Stagg C, Wenderoth N, Nitsche MA. A technical guide to tDCS, and related non-invasive brain stimulation tools. Clin Neurophysiol. 2016 Feb;127(2):1031-1048. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2015.11.012. Epub 2015 Nov 22.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 26652115 (View on PubMed)

Floel A, Rosser N, Michka O, Knecht S, Breitenstein C. Noninvasive brain stimulation improves language learning. J Cogn Neurosci. 2008 Aug;20(8):1415-22. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2008.20098.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 18303984 (View on PubMed)

Chhatbar PY, Chen R, Deardorff R, Dellenbach B, Kautz SA, George MS, Feng W. Safety and tolerability of transcranial direct current stimulation to stroke patients - A phase I current escalation study. Brain Stimul. 2017 May-Jun;10(3):553-559. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2017.02.007. Epub 2017 Feb 27.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 28279641 (View on PubMed)

Fan J, McCandliss BD, Sommer T, Raz A, Posner MI. Testing the efficiency and independence of attentional networks. J Cogn Neurosci. 2002 Apr 1;14(3):340-7. doi: 10.1162/089892902317361886.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 11970796 (View on PubMed)

Ishigami Y, Eskes GA, Tyndall AV, Longman RS, Drogos LL, Poulin MJ. The Attention Network Test-Interaction (ANT-I): reliability and validity in healthy older adults. Exp Brain Res. 2016 Mar;234(3):815-27. doi: 10.1007/s00221-015-4493-4. Epub 2015 Dec 8.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 26645310 (View on PubMed)

Bikson M, Grossman P, Thomas C, Zannou AL, Jiang J, Adnan T, Mourdoukoutas AP, Kronberg G, Truong D, Boggio P, Brunoni AR, Charvet L, Fregni F, Fritsch B, Gillick B, Hamilton RH, Hampstead BM, Jankord R, Kirton A, Knotkova H, Liebetanz D, Liu A, Loo C, Nitsche MA, Reis J, Richardson JD, Rotenberg A, Turkeltaub PE, Woods AJ. Safety of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation: Evidence Based Update 2016. Brain Stimul. 2016 Sep-Oct;9(5):641-661. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2016.06.004. Epub 2016 Jun 15.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 27372845 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

1R21DC017787-01A1

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

1R21DC017787-01A1

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

View Link

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.

tDCS to Treat Subacute Aphasia
NCT04048668 WITHDRAWN NA
tDCS and Aphasia Treatment
NCT01922245 COMPLETED NA