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CompletedNCT02752425REVISONUpdated Sep 9, 2025

Visual Feedback of Tongue by Ultrasound Echography for Speech Trouble Rehabilitation

An interventional study of Visual feedback in Speech Disorders, sponsored by Hospices Civils de Lyon. Completed at 2 sites in France. Open to participants aged 8 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-09-09.

Sponsored by Hospices Civils de Lyon · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
18
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
8 Years to 80 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

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.

02

Conditions studied

  • Speech Disorders

Keywords

  • Speech disorders
  • Speech therapy
  • Visual feedback
  • Buccopharyngeal surgery
  • Central nervous system damage
03

Who can participate

Ages eligible
8 Years to 80 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

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

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
04

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
18 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    With visual feedback

    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

  • No intervention
    Without visual feedback

    Session of speech therapy without use of ultrasound echography

Interventions

  • DeviceVisual feedback

    Use of ultrasound echography for tongue articulatory visual feedback

05

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. 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.

    Time frame: 4 months

  2. 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.

    Time frame: 4 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. 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.

    Time frame: 4 months

06

Study locations

2 sites
  • Institut d'Education Motrice
    Eybens, 38320, France
  • Centre Médical Rocheplane
    Saint-Martin-d'Hères, 38400, France
07

References and documents

Publications

  • Girod-Roux M, Hueber T, Fabre D, Gerber S, Canault M, Bedoin N, Acher A, Beziaud N, Truy E, Badin P. Rehabilitation of speech disorders following glossectomy, based on ultrasound visual illustration and feedback. Clin Linguist Phon. 2020 Sep 1;34(9):826-843. doi: 10.1080/02699206.2019.1700310. Epub 2020 Jan 28. PubMed 31992079 ↗
08

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02752425
Lead sponsor
Hospices Civils de Lyon
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Apr 27, 2016
Start date
May 30, 2016
Primary completion
May 15, 2018
Completion
May 15, 2018
Last update
Sep 9, 2025

Study contacts

Pierre BADIN, PhD
study director · GIPSA-lab, CNRS, Univ. Grenoble Alpes

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
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