Speech Signals in Stuttering

NCT ID: NCT05668923

Last Updated: 2025-09-15

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 600 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-09-21
• Study Completion Date: 2027-12-31

Brief Summary

The purpose of this research study is to understand how speech and language are processed in the brain. This study will provide information that may help with the understanding how speech and language are processed in children and whether there may be differences between children who stutter and children who do not stutter. This project will evaluate these neural processes for speech signals in children who stutter and control subjects through a battery of behavioral speech and language tests, electroencephalography-based (EEG) tasks, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and computational modeling.

Detailed Description

The study will evaluate the integrity of neural processes underlying speech sound encoding and the ways in which these processes are modulated by task demands using neuroimaging and computational modeling.

Age-appropriate standardized tests for assessing speech, language, and cognitive skills will be administered by a certified speech language pathologist or trained lab member.

The investigators will also measure electroencephalography (EEG) via frequency following responses (FFRs) and temporal response functions (TRFs) while children complete speech-sound tasks of varying difficulty including syllable listening and identification and continuous speech narrative comprehension tasks. Both tasks will be presented in both quiet and in background noise. EEG signals will be collected using Ag-AgCl scalp electrodes, and responses will be recorded at a sampling rate of 25 kHz using Brain Vision Recorder (Brain Products, Gilching, Germany).

The investigators will also leverage functional MRI (fMRI) to assess multiple neural systems underlying speech sound processing in children who stutter in a 3T scanner. Employing similar speech-sound tasks in the same participants as the EEG tasks will allow for quantifying neural activations and representations in auditory, speech motor articulatory, and attention networks during simple and complex speech tasks. A series of MRI scans will be recorded to provide data regarding the participant's brain anatomy. These scans will be analyzed on their own and also used in combination with functional scans. All participants will be screened for metal and other objects that are not appropriate for the MRI scanner room. Participants will be given earplugs and/or headphones to wear.

Conditions

Stuttering, Childhood

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Speech sound stimulation

Speech sound stimulation via behavioral, electrophysiological, and magnetic resonance imaging-based tasks

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Speech sound stimulation

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Behavioral-, electrophysiological-, and magnetic resonance imaging-based speech sound testing

Interventions

Speech sound stimulation

Behavioral-, electrophysiological-, and magnetic resonance imaging-based speech sound testing

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Speaks English as primary language
• Language abilities within the typical range
• Cognitive abilities within the typical range
• No contraindications for MRI

• Presence of developmental stuttering (onset in childhood)
• No history of other communication disorder

• No family history of stuttering
• No history of other communication disorders (e.g., hearing impairment, language impairment, cognitive impairment/injury)

Exclusion Criteria

• Taking medication that alters neural function
• Cognitive skills below the typical range
• Major medical illness
• Not a fluent speaker of English
• Pregnant or possibly pregnant
• Metal implants in your body (including pacemakers, neurostimulators, or other metal objects)
• Shrapnel injuries
• Ocular foreign bodies (e.g., metal shavings)
• Metal piercings that cannot be removed for the scan
• Tattoos containing iron or metal pigments
• Prone to claustrophobia
• For fMRI, those with head circumference greater than 60cm or whose weight is more than 300 pounds will be excluded due to the size of the fMRI magnet bore

• Minimum Eligible Age: 5 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 17 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of Michigan

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Pittsburgh

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Amanda Hampton Wray

Associate Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Amanda Hampton Wray, PhD, CCC-SLP

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Pittsburgh

Locations

University of Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Site Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Brittany Coleman, MS, CCC-SLP

Role: CONTACT

bmc162@pitt.edu

412-710-6028

Ashley Parker, PhD

Role: CONTACT

ashley.parker@pitt.edu

412-710-6028

Facility Contacts

Emily Garnett, PhD, CCC-SLP

Role: primary

emilyog@med.umich.edu

Brittany Coleman, MS, CCC-SLP

Role: primary

bmc162@pitt.edu

412-710-6028

Other Identifiers

1R01DC019904-01

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

STUDY21120103

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id