Active clinical trials for "Communication Disorders"

RECOVERNOW is A MULTICENTRE PHASE II RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL OF EARLY MOBILE TABLET-BASED SPEECH THERAPY FOR ACUTE STROKE PATIENTS WITH APHASIA. Using a novel futility design, investigators will randomize acute care in-patients with stroke to mobile tablet-based speech therapy applications vs the standard of care. Primary outcome is improvement in the Western Aphasia Battery Aphasia (WAB-R) Overall Study Aim: The primary study aim is to determine the futility and potential efficacy of mobile tablet-based speech therapy for post stroke aphasia. Primary Endpoint: The primary outcome measure is change in the Aphasia quotient (AQ) from the WAB-R at 90 days. The WAB-R is a standardized aphasia battery. The AQ is calculated from four language sub-tests measuring spontaneous speech, word comprehension, repetition, and word finding.) Secondary Endpoints: The results of the cost-effectiveness analysis will be expressed as the incremental cost per one-unit improvement in AQ and the incremental cost per one quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. Population: 226 participants will be enrolled over 3 years. Males and females, >18 years of age, with diagnosis of acute ischemic/hemorrhagic stroke confirmed by routine head computerized tomography (CT) scan with mild to moderate aphasia. Phase: II Number of Sites: It is anticipated that this will be a multi-center study, with the following facilities participating: The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, ON, Foothills Medical Centre, Calgary, Alberta and Toronto Western Hospital. Protocol Therapy: Patients will be randomized 1:1 to receive either tablets with speech therapy apps (intervention group) or standard of care. Study Duration: It is estimated that recruitment will take place over 3 years in the three participating centers. Subject Participation Duration: All patients will be assessed clinically at baseline and Day 90 (+/-10).

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the score of the Evaluation of the Impact of Deafness in Adults(ERSA)/150 questionnaire obtained at 3 months compared to the inclusion score.

Background: Up to 70% of the patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) experience speech problems, which cause a diminished intelligibility. A reduced intelligibility has a profound negative impact on social interaction and quality of life. Since pharmacological treatment only has limited effects on speech, non-pharmacological treatment, like speech therapy, is particularly relevant. Cochrane reviews (Herd et al., 2012a; Herd et al., 2012b) showed that evidence for speech therapy in PD is increasing, but is still inconclusive. Moreover, only very intensive standardized treatment programs have been studied, which are only feasible for people with mild to moderate PD, but too intensive for people with advanced PD. Here, the investigators will perform the first large-scale study to demonstrate the efficacy of speech therapy in PD patients in all disease stages on quality of life and speech quality. Objective: The aim is to demonstrate the effectiveness of personalized and home-based speech therapy on quality of life, intelligibility and social participation for people with Parkinson's disease who have a reduced intelligibility of speech. Methods: The investigators will perform a single blind, randomized and controlled trial. A total of 215 patients (18 years and older) with PD in all disease stages who have difficulty with intelligibility affecting daily communication will participate in this study. The patients will be randomly allocated to either speech therapy or a waiting list control group (1:1 ratio). Speech therapy using telerehabilitation will be provided for 8 weeks which consists of 12-16 sessions. The control group will receive deferred treatment after 8 weeks. The measurements will take place before the randomization (To), after 8 weeks (T1), and for the experimental group also after 24 weeks (T2). The primary outcome measure is quality of life, as measured using the total score on the PDQ-39. Secondary outcome measures include speech and voice, speech intelligibility, non-motor symptoms and caregiver burden. Hypothesis: The investigators hypothesize that patients in all disease stages can improve their speech intelligibility by using the explicit feedback from external cues provided by instructed caregivers plus a dedicated smartphone/ tablet app (the Voice Trainer app).

Every year thousands of persons suffer from brain damage resulting in anomia, that is, word finding difficulties affecting their ability to talk to other people. Anomia may be a result of stroke or of progressive neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis (MS). Word retrieval is dependent on a complex system of different neural networks and to name objects and activities can be affected to different degrees. The present project explores different aspects of naming ability in altogether 90 persons that has anomia related to stroke or to Parkinson's disease or MS. Furthermore, the communicative strategies and resources used by conversation partners in everyday conversational interaction and in care situations, affected by anomia are studied. Finally, the project includes a study of the effectiveness of a word finding training program based on stimulation of semantic and phonological networks in the brain, involved in the production of words. There is a lack of research on effects on communication from anomia in Parkinson's disease and MS and there is no research on anomia that investigates both object and action naming using a material adapted to the Swedish language. In the project quantitative and qualitative methods are used to explore and describe how persons with different neurogenic communication disorders can use different resources and communicative strategies to express themselves.

Speech and language intervention (speech therapy) is one of the few methods which seem to be useful in management of persistent chronic cough. This method has not been available for patients with cough in Poland so far.The aim of the study is to implement speech therapy to the management plan of patients with difficult-to-treat chronic cough and to analyze its efficacy in this particular group. Patients with difficult-to treat chronic cough will be offered speech and language intervention as an added therapy. The effectiveness of speech therapy will be measured by changes in cough severity, its influence on quality of life and cough challenge test before and after speech therapy measured in every patient.

People over 55 years are high-risk with voice disorders. Voice disordered elderly need vocal training in order to improve communication efficiency and quality of life. However, participation in vocal training of elderly is often restricted by motivation, time of practice, and availability to hospital, which thus reduces treatment effects. The purpose of the study is to design a telecommunication vocal training system and a vocal training program for voice disordered elderly in Taiwan. The investigator proposed a 3-year consecutive study, including a single-blind, randomized controlled trial, to test the hypothesis that vocal training via telepractice for voice disordered elderly are not inferior to the standard face to face training.

The transition period to full oral feeding in infants with perinatal asphyxia is important in predicting long-term outcomes. The transition to independent oral feeding is accepted as a discharge criterion by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the long transition from tube feeding to oral feeding prolongs the discharge process. Prolonged transition to oral feeding increases maternal stress as it delays gastrointestinal problems, mother-infant interaction and attachment, as well as increasing health expenditures. Due to long-term feeding tube use; Infection, leakage, delay in wound healing, trauma caused by repeated placement, as well as oral reluctance are observed. In asphyxia infants, in whom oral-motor dysfunction is common, the transition to oral feeding takes a long time and tube feeding support is required. The effect of hypothermia, which is a general therapeutic intervention that reduces the risk of mortality and morbidity in infants with asphyxia, on oral feeding has been previously studied and shown to have a positive effect. They also found that MR imaging in infants with asphyxia and the need for gastrostomy and tube feeding in those with brainstem involvement were associated. Various interventions that affect the transition to oral nutrition positively and shorten the discharge time are included in the literature. Stimulation of non-nutritive sucking (NNS) is the most frequently preferred method among these interventions. It has been shown in studies that there are no short-term negative effects of NNS stimulation with the help of a pacifier or gloved finger, and some clinical benefits such as better bottle feeding performance, acceleration of discharge and transition to oral feeding. The effect of the NNS stimulation method, which has been shown to be effective in preterm infants with large-scale randomized controlled studies, is not known exactly. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of NNS stimulation applied to oral feeding, feeding skills, weight gain and discharge in asphyxia infants receiving hypothermia treatment.

In studies of children born at term, language delay at the age of 2 years exhibits a spontaneously favourable course in 30 to 50% by the age of 3 years. In France, there is no recommendation for speech therapy before the age of 3 years. However, for term-born children, parent-implemented language interventions conducted during the third year of life have already shown a positive short-term effect on language skills. In these interventions, a skilled interventionist, generally a speech therapist, teaches parents how to use specific language strategies with their child. The investigators' hypothesis is that such parent-implemented interventions would be particularly appropriate at short and medium term for the improvement of linguistic performances in very preterm children, a population with a high prevalence of early language delay. Currently, there is an opportunity to partly nest an intervention trial in a national prospective population-based cohort of very preterm children, the EPIPAGE (Etude EPIdémiologique sur les Petits Ages GEstationnels) 2 cohort, which has included 5 000 babies born alive in France in 2011. This situation provides considerable methodological advantages.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of a specialized iPad application designed to treat difficulties with intonation (e.g., melody in voice) in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other communication disorders.

The purpose of this study is to assess subjects with muscle tension dysphonia for perceived effort and acoustic effects of gargle phonation compared to baseline and a sham water swallow.