An interventional study of Stress induction in Voice Disorders and Voice Fatigue, sponsored by University Hospital, Bonn. Recruiting at 1 site in Germany. Open to female participants aged 21 Years to 39 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-08-27.
Sponsored by University Hospital, Bonn · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
Primary muscle tension dysphonia voice disorder with symptoms of vocal strain and vocal fatigue is common and can have a significant negative impact on quality of Life. Yet, primary muscle tension dysphonia's causes are unknown precluding precise diagnostic classification. Stress and personality are thought to play a role and thus, the project aims to determine the practical and clinical effect of stress on the control of voice and speech in the brain. Participants are female early career teachers and student teachers with symptoms of vocal fatigue, as well as control participants without vocal fatigue, who perform speech tasks on two different occasions. Neural (imaging of brain), psychobiological (saliva, personality), and voice and speech (muscle activity of voice muscles on the neck with surface sensors, audio recordings) data will compare reactivity patterns of teachers who are stressresponders with those who are nonresponders as well as control participants. The central hypothesis is that voice box stress responders have heightened emotion-motor activations involving the emotional voice production pathway, which correlate with changes in voice muscle activity in the anterior neck. The results will provide fundamentally missing data in our understanding of the role of stress in vocal complaints and will yield new insights about the neural underpinnings of primary muscle tension dysphonia. The study findings will have a significant impact on how clinicians identify so-called laryngoresponders to help them prevent voice disorders.
77 studies on the registry are indexed under Voice Disorders; 17 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 100 is above the median of 41 across 54 interventional studies indexed under Voice Disorders.
Browse Voice Disorders studies →University Hospital, Bonn is the lead sponsor of 154 studies on the registry; 28 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
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.
Teachers (max. 10 years full-time) or student teachers in good health between 21 and 39 years with symptoms of vocal fatigue.
Control participants in good health between 21 and 39 years without symptoms of vocal fatigue.
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
BMI (body mass index)
Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.
What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Teachers/student teachers with vocal fatigue based on Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI, German). Pre-Screening and Screening. Experiment 1: MRI with MRI-compatible surface electrodes on the neck and audio recordings during MRI with and without stress induction. Prior to MRI, questionnaires on voice, personality, and stress and practice oft the tasks. During experiment, collection of saliva samples (before, during, and after MRI). During MRI, multiple subjective ratings of emotional state by the participants. Experiment 2 (approximately 2 weeks later): Speech tasks with surface electromyographic sensors applied to the neck with concurrent audio recordings. Prior to the experiment questionnaires on voice and practice of tasks. Subjective ratings of vocal and cognitive effort during the experiment by the participants.
Behavioral: Stress induction
Control participants without vocal fatigue based on Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI, German). Same experimental procedures as in arm 1.
Behavioral: Stress induction
Induction of anticipatory stress to compare voice and speech control and production with and without exposure to stress.
Vocal fatigue
Raw scores, Vocal Fatigue Index, VFI Factor 1
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
BOLD MRI area 4p
MRI activation in regions of interest (BOLD area 4p in mean %) as a function of speech tasks with and without stress induction
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Salivary cortisol
Salivary cortisol (nmol/L) to determine stressresponders and nonresponders
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Suprahyoid muscle activity
Suprahyoid muscle activity (RMS)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Infrahyoid muscle activity
Infrahyoid muscle activity (RMS)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Personality, Social Potency
Personality trait Social Potency (T-scores, Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, MPQ)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Personality, Stress Reaction
Personality trait Stress Reaction (T-scores, Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, MPQ)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Personality, social anxiety
Personality trait social anxiety (T-scores, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, LSAS-fear)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Vocal fatigue
Raw scores, Vocal Fatigue Index, VFI Factor 2 and 3
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Voice quality of life
Raw data, Voice Handicap Index, VHI
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Vocal tract discomfort
Raw data, Vocal Tract Discomfort Scale, VTD
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Informal questionnaire on vocal health
Raw data informal questionnaire on vocal health
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
BOLD MRI SMA
MRI activation in regions of interest (BOLD area SMA in mean %) as a function of speech tasks with and without stress induction
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
BOLD MRI ACC
MRI activation in regions of interest (BOLD area ACC in mean %) as a function of speech tasks with and without stress induction
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
BOLD MRI MCC
MRI activation in regions of interest (BOLD area MCC in mean %) as a function of speech tasks with and without stress induction
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
BOLD MRI Amygdala
MRI activation in regions of interest (BOLD area Amygdala in mean %) as a function of speech tasks with and without stress induction
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
BOLD MRI PAG
MRI activation in regions of interest (BOLD area PAG in mean %) as a function of speech tasks with and without stress induction
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Personality, Wellbeing
Personality trait Wellbeing (T-scores, Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, MPQ)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Personality, Social Closeness
Personality trait Social Closeness (T-scores, Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, MPQ)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Personality, social anxiety
Personality trait social anxiety (T-scores, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, LSAS-total)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Personality, self-esteem
Personality self-esteem (raw data, Rosenberg self-esteem scale)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Behavioral inhibition and exhibition
Behavioral inhibition and exhibition (raw data, BIS/BAS scales, BIS subscale)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Chronic Stress
Chronic stress (T-scores, Trier Inventory of Chronic Stress, TICS)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Handedness
Handedness (raw data, Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, EHI)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
State positive and negative affect
State positive and negative affect (raw data, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, PANAS)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Voice quality, relative fundamental frequency
Voice quality, relative fundamental frequency (relative fundamental frequency, RFF in semitones \[ST\])
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Voice quality, cepstral-spectral analysis
Voice quality, cepstral-spectral analysis (cepstral peak prominence in dB)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Perceived vocal effort
Perceived vocal effort (raw data, BORG-CR-10)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Cognitive effort
Cognitive effort (raw data, NASA-TLX)
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 month
Plan to share: Yes — The raw data, on which the conclusions are based, will be shared by the authors without any inadmissible caveats starting 6 months post publication with any qualified researcher upon request.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Aug 2023 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jun 2026, 34 months after the start.
Of 30 interventional studies with no phase under Voice Disorders, half reached primary completion within 37 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 8 and three quarters within 48. This study's planned 34 months is close to that.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.