Modulation of Sensory Acuity With Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Speech
• Interventions: Device: TMS; Behavioral: Speaking Tasks

• Registration Number: NCT06234059
• Lead Sponsor: University of Wisconsin, Madison

Brief Summary

The purpose of this research study is to understand how the brain processes and controls speech in healthy people. The investigators are doing this research because it will help identify the mechanisms that allow people to perceive their own speech errors and to learn new speech sounds, which may be applied to people who have communication disorders. 15 participants will be enrolled into this part of the study and can expect to be on study for 4 visits of 2-4 hours each.

Detailed Description

The overall study (Establishing the clinical utility of sensorimotor adaptation for speech rehabilitation) aims to understand how cognitive, perceptual, and motor processes are integrated in the control of speech movements. The investigators study how this complex skill is performed in healthy speakers to understand how this system functions, how this skill relates to the perception of speech, and what role different parts of the brain play in this process. Different studies look at how speech motor control is executed, maintained, and changed. Overall, the study will recruit 329 participants over the course of 5 years. Participants can expect to be on study for up to 3 weeks.

The entire study is composed of 8 experiments and 6 interventions. The present record represents the experiments involving transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), i.e. Experiment 8: Modulating sensorimotor adaptation through TMS to somatosensory cortex.

This paradigm uses theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (tbTMS) to modulate the excitability of sensory cortices to examine the effect on sensory acuity and sensorimotor adaptation. Participants will complete three total sessions targeting primary somatosensory cortex (S1): one using intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS), one using continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS), and one with sham stimulation.

The effect of the stimulation on somatosensory adaptation will be measured using a vowel centralization feedback perturbation experiment: after stimulation, participants will produce words under conditions of altered auditory feedback, and the investigators will measure changes in produced vowels as a result of these alterations.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2024-01-22
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-01-22
• Study First Posted: 2024-01-31
• Status Verified: 2024-09
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-05-12
• Last Update Posted: 2025-05-13
• Study Start: 2025-07
• Primary Completion: 2026-07
• Study Completion: 2026-07

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 15

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

• Native language other than English

• Any neurological disorders other than the disorder of interest

• Any history of hearing disorders

• Uncorrected vision problems that prevent participants from seeing visually-presented stimuli

• Significant cognitive impairments that prevent participants from carrying out the task or from giving informed consent

• Vulnerable populations (minors and prisoners)

• Additional exclusionary criteria for TMS:

  • Implanted paramagnetic materials (metal clips, plates, pacemakers, etc.)
  • Increased risk in the event of a seizure
  • Serious heart disease
  • Increased intracranial pressure
  • Pregnancy
  • History of seizures
  • Family history of epilepsy
  • Epileptogenic medications
  • Chronic or transient disruption of sleep (including jet lag)
  • History of fainting
  • Chronic or transient increase in stressful experiences
  • Use of illegal drugs
  • If the TMS visit involves a visual acuity task at the same time as TMS] Use of glasses at the research study visit

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Healthy Adult Speakers	TMS	healthy adult participants across the lifespan in three groups:18-35, 36-55, and 56+
Healthy Adult Speakers	Speaking Tasks	healthy adult participants across the lifespan in three groups:18-35, 36-55, and 56+

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Acoustic vowel space measures: AVS (acoustic vowel spacing)/VSA (vowel space area)	up to 1 hour	For speech production tasks, the primary acoustic measure will be adaptation to the altered feedback, defined here as increases in AVS (average vowel spacing), the mean of pairwise formant distances between vowels. The investigators will also include a global measure of working vowel space, the quadrilateral vowel space area (qVSA). qVSA measures the area (in Hz\^2) between the F1/F2 coordinates of the corner vowels. Both the more local AVS and more global qVSA have been linked to speech intelligibility in various types of dysarthria.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Wisconsin; 🇺🇸 Madison, Wisconsin, United States