An interventional study of active taVNS and sham taVNS in Dyslexia, sponsored by University of Florida. Enrolling by invitation at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 10 Years to 12 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-09.
Sponsored by University of Florida · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
This is a pilot study to establish feasibility of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) for improving letter-learning in adolescents with dyslexia. The main goals of the study are to 1) evaluate whether children in this age range will tolerate low level stimulation over the course of multiple sessions, 2) determine whether low level taVNS improves novel letter learning in dyslexia, and 3) evaluate the effect of low level taVNS on the brain's response to letters. Participants will complete fMRI before training, immediately after training, and a few weeks after training ends. Training will consist of six 30-minute lessons during which participants will learn novel letter-sound relationships while receiving either active or sham taVNS. Researchers will compare stimulation conditions to determine effect of this device on learning and neural plasticity.
127 studies on the registry are indexed under Dyslexia; 27 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 100 is above the median of 71 across 106 interventional studies indexed under Dyslexia.
Browse Dyslexia studies →University of Florida is the lead sponsor of 1,287 studies on the registry; 199 are open to participants now.
Of its 180 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 143 (79%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Participants will receive custom current at 5 Hz to the left auricular branch of the vagus nerve while learning new letter-sound relationships.
Device: active taVNS
Participants will undergo current thresholding but device will be turned off without their knowledge during the training.
Device: sham taVNS
low level stimulation to the auricular branch of the vagus nerve
device placed with no current administered
Adverse events
Frequency and severity of adverse events will be monitored and evaluated for severity and impact on attrition.
Time frame: 4 weeks
Compliance
Percentage of the population that remains engaged in the study and completes all stimulation sessions.
Time frame: 4 weeks
Letter ID
Percent correct of learned letter-sound relationships
Time frame: 6 weeks
Decoding
Percent correct of pseudowords read in 45 seconds
Time frame: 6 weeks
Automaticity
This measure is based on a standardized measure for rapid letter naming in English (CTOPP-Rapid Automatized Naming) in which the participant is shown a grid of many letters in Hebrew and are asked to read the grid as quickly and accurately as possible while being timed.
Time frame: 6 weeks
fMRI
Strength of the brain's response to learned letters in the visual word form area
Time frame: 6 weeks
Started Nov 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Aug 2028, 21 months after the start.
Of 62 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Dyslexia, half reached primary completion within 24 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 57. This study's planned 21 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 69 studies reached it within 24 months; a quarter within 9 and three quarters within 57.
Start moved once since we started tracking on Sep 25, 2026: Sep 2026 → Nov 2026, on Nov 9, 2026.
Earlier changes are on the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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