ClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT06416553Updated May 16, 2024

Effect of Speech Therapy in Combination With Non-invasive Brain Stimulation on Speech of Patients With Parkinson's Disease

An interventional study of Home-based transcranial direct current stimulation- real tDCS and Home-based transcranial direct current stimulation- sham tDCS in Parkinson Disease, sponsored by Masaryk University. Status unknown at 1 site in Czechia. Open to participants aged 50 Years to 85 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-05-16.

Sponsored by Masaryk University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified May 2024), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 1 year after the study started (first participant enrolled Jan 2023, registered Feb 2024).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
40
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
50 Years to 85 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Up to 90% of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have hypokinetic dysarthria (HD) in the early phase of the illness. HD is characterized by a harsh breathy voice quality, reduced variability of pitch and loudness and imprecise articulation. This project investigates the novel combination of speech therapy and home-based non-invasive brain stimulation (tDCS) treatment in order to increase overall positive effects on HD in PD. Using a novel multimodal analysis approach based on functional magnetic resonance and acoustic signal processing, we will be able to monitor changes in different domains of speech, as well as associated changes in brain plasticity.

Read the detailed description

Study will investigate the long-term effects of repeated (20) sessions of home-based tDCS as an add-on to well-established remote LSVT (i.e. the gold standard procedure for HD treatment) as compared to LSVT alone (coupled with sham stimulation) in patients with PD in their "on" dopaminergic condition without dyskinesias.

A two parallel-group, double-blinded, randomized, sham-stimulation-controlled design will be used. Forty PD patients will be randomized into two parallel groups by independent researcher by a computer-generated random number list, 20 subjects in each arm. Participants in the real tDCS group and the sham tDCS group will undergo a baseline assessment (V0), a follow-up assessment after four weeks of combined tDCS and LSVT treatments (V1) and another follow-up assessment 8 weeks after the baseline assessment (V2). Each visit will consist of EEG, speech tasks recording and speech evaluation by a speech therapist; MR scanning will be done at V0 and V1. Both groups will undergo the same speech therapy (LSVT) via telepractice as the gold standard treatment for HD, in combination with real or sham tDCS.

02

Conditions studied

  • Parkinson Disease

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03

In context

Parkinson Disease

4,585 studies on the registry are indexed under Parkinson Disease; 1,097 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 40 is close to the median of 40 across 3,365 interventional studies indexed under Parkinson Disease.

Browse Parkinson Disease studies →

Lead sponsor

Masaryk University is the lead sponsor of 45 studies on the registry; 20 are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
50 Years to 85 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

  • patients with clinically established PD (Postuma et al. 2016)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • psychiatric disorders, including major depression, hallucinations
  • any MRI-incompatible metal in the body
  • epilepsy
  • lack of cooperation
  • presence of dementia
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Care provider, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
40 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    PD patients with real tDCS and speech therapy

    Patients will receive real tDCS during 4 weeks, 5 sessions per week. Altogether 20 sessions, each 20 minutes long. Stimulation is combined with Lee-Silverman voice treatment, 4 sessions per week. Altogether 16 sessions, each 1 hour long.

    Device: Home-based transcranial direct current stimulation- real tDCS · Behavioral: Lee-Silverman voice treatment

  • Sham comparator
    PD patients with sham tDCS and speech therapy

    Patients will receive sham tDCS during 4 weeks, 5 sessions per week. Altogether 20 sessions, each 20 minutes long. Stimulation is combined with Lee-Silverman voice treatment, 4 sessions per week. Altogether 16 sessions, each 1 hour long.

    Device: Home-based transcranial direct current stimulation- sham tDCS · Behavioral: Lee-Silverman voice treatment

Interventions

  • DeviceHome-based transcranial direct current stimulation- real tDCS

    Home-based transcranial direct current stimulation- anode over right STG, cathode over left STG, 2 mA stimulation with 1x1 tDCS mini-CT device by Soterix Medical

  • DeviceHome-based transcranial direct current stimulation- sham tDCS

    Home-based transcranial direct current stimulation- anode over right STG, cathode over left STG, sham stimulation with tDCS mini-CT device by Soterix Medical

  • BehavioralLee-Silverman voice treatment

    Remote Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) delivered via telepractice by speech therapist. LSVT is a high-effort speech therapy that is primarily focused on improving speech loudness during 16 individual one-hour sessions in one month.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Changes in score of the 3F Test (the unabbreviated title- "the 3F Test Dysarthric Profile")

    The 3F Test Dysarthric Profile enables clinicians to characterize a wide range of signs and symptoms of dysarthria. The minimum value of this scale is 0 (anarthria), the maximum value is 90 (no disorder). Higher scores of this scale mean better outcome. This test will be administrated by speech pathologist.

    Time frame: At baseline assessment (Visit- V0), after completion of 4 weeks of intervention (stimulation+ speech therapy) (Visit V1) and 4 weeks after completion of intervention (Visit V2)

Secondary outcomes

  1. Resting state fMRI

    The effect of stimulation on the resting state networks will be studied using fMRI measurement.

    Time frame: At baseline assessment (Visit- V0), after completion of 4 weeks of intervention (stimulation+ speech therapy) (V1) and 4 weeks after completion of intervention (V2)

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Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
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Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Started Jan 2023 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Nov 2025, 34 months after the start.

Of 1,296 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Parkinson Disease, half reached primary completion within 24 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 11 and three quarters within 45. This study's planned 34 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 1,369 studies reached it within 24 months; a quarter within 11 and three quarters within 44.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Feb 8, 2024
First posted
May 16, 2024
StartActual
Jan 10, 2023
Primary completionEst.
Nov 15, 2025
CompletionEst.
Dec 30, 2025
Last update
May 16, 2024
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 16, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06416553
Lead sponsor
Masaryk University
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 16, 2024
Start date
Jan 10, 2023
Primary completion
Nov 15, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 30, 2025 (estimated)
Last update
May 16, 2024

Study contacts

Lubos Brabenec
Contact
lubos.brabenec@ceitec.muni.cz
+420731076102

Oversight

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

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This study is status unknown, as verified in May 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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