ClinicalTrials.gg
Enrolling by invitationNCT05435859Updated Jun 23, 2026

Functional Organization of the Superior Temporal Gyrus for Speech Perception

An interventional study of Speech Tasks in Epilepsy, Brain Tumor and Speech, sponsored by University of California, San Francisco. Enrolling by invitation at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 70 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-23.

Sponsored by University of California, San Francisco · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
60
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 70 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The basic mechanisms underlying comprehension of spoken language are still largely unknown. Over the past decade, the study team has gained new insights to how the human brain extracts the most fundamental linguistic elements (consonants and vowels) from a complex and highly variable acoustic signal. However, the next set of questions await pertaining to the sequencing of those auditory elements and how they are integrated with other features, such as, the amplitude envelope of speech. Further investigation of the cortical representation of speech sounds can likely shed light on these fundamental questions. Previous research has implicated the superior temporal cortex in the processing of speech sounds, but little is known about how these sounds are linked together into the perceptual experience of words and continuous speech. The overall goal is to determine how the brain extracts linguistic elements from a complex acoustic speech signal towards better understanding and remediating human language disorders.

Read the detailed description

Intracranial high-density electrodes make it possible to record neural activity directly from the brain surface with unparalleled spatial and temporal resolution to unravel both local and population encoding of speech sounds. This study proposes to assess speech perception in patients who are undergoing surgery for seizure localization or awake intraoperative brain mapping. Electrode placement is based on the clinical needs of each patient. The research study team will examine the mechanisms of phonetic encoding to reveal both the organization of auditory speech feature selectivity and the distributed population-level processing that give rise to the emergent properties of spoken language perception. The aims of this study seeks to determine the cortical encoding of phonological sequencing (Aim 1), representation of amplitude landmark coding in speech (Aim 2), and the shared and distinct mechanisms for speech and music melody encoding (Aim 3). Together, these aims will advance our understanding of speech encoding in the human brain beyond consonants and vowels, addressing questions pertaining to sequencing, amplitude coding, and auditory specialization. These results should heavily impact current theories of speech processing and, therefore, will have significant implications for understanding and remediating human language disorders.

02

Conditions studied

  • Epilepsy
  • Brain Tumor
  • Speech
03

In context

Epilepsy

1,848 studies on the registry are indexed under Epilepsy; 422 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 60 is above the median of 50 across 1,239 interventional studies indexed under Epilepsy.

Browse Epilepsy studies →

Lead sponsor

University of California, San Francisco is the lead sponsor of 2,169 studies on the registry; 372 are open to participants now.

Of its 267 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 202 (76%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 70 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Participants with epilepsy or brain tumors at UCSF undergoing surgical electrode implantation for seizure localization or awake intraoperative brain mapping for resection of brain tumors or epilepsy and
  • Participants with electrodes implanted in at least two regions of interest who are willing and able to cooperate with study tasks.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants who lack capacity or decline to provide ,
  • Participants who have significant cerebral lesions or
  • Participants with cognitive deficits that preclude reliable completion of study tasks.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
60 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Electrocorticography (ECoG) recording during Speech Tasks

    Participants listened to 25-minute Speech Tasks while ECoG signals for neural activity was recorded during their intraoperative procedure or inpatient hospitalization at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

    Behavioral: Speech Tasks

Interventions

  • BehavioralSpeech Tasks

    Listen to 25-minutes of speech sounds in English.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of Participants with Electrocorticography (ECoG) Signals for Neural Activity Identified During Intraoperative Procedure or Inpatient Hospitalization

    Number of participants with ECoG signals for neural activity identified during intraoperative procedure or inpatient hospitalization, between 10-30 minutes.

    Time frame: During Procedure

07

Study locations

1 site
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 23, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05435859
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jun 28, 2022
Start date
Aug 16, 2022
Primary completion
Jul 31, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Jul 31, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Jun 23, 2026

Study contacts

Edward F Chang, MD
principal investigator · University of California, San Francisco

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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No contact was published for this record. The registry link below has the sponsor’s details.

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