Visual Feedback of Tongue by Ultrasound Echography for Speech Trouble Rehabilitation (REVISON)

Speech is a privileged means of communication for humans: its trouble can thus prove being extremely handicapping. Standard speech therapy is limited in some cases by the lack of sensory feedback available to the patient (hearing, surgery, neural damage, etc.).

The present study aims at quantify the contribution of the tongue articulatory visual feedback offered by ultrasound echography to speech trouble rehabilitation.

Two complementary populations will be studied : 30 adults with buccopharyngeal surgery, and 10 childrens with important speech troubles due to central nervous system damage.

The principle is to conduct standard speech therapy sessions, alternating series of sessions with the use of visual feedback and sessions without visual feedback.

The progress will be regularly measured by means of standard batteries of speech articulation tests.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Speech Disorders
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Visual feedback

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 18
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Eybens, France, 38320
    • Institut d'Education Motrice
  • Saint-Martin-d'Hères, France, 38400
    • Centre Médical Rocheplane

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 8 years to 80 years (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Articulatory troubles needing speech therapy
• French mother tongue
• Adult patients [18 ≥ age < 80 years] who underwent buccopharyngeal surgery after cancer diagnostic OR children [8 ≥ age < 18 years] suffering from central nervous system damage

Exclusion Criteria:

• Incapacity to easily understand the speech therapist instructions
• People protected by the law
• People deprived from freedom by judiciary decision
• Potential allergy to the water-based conducting gel used to ensure good skin - probe contact
• Overweight if large fatty mass under chin
• Major edema under chin limiting echogenicity
• Non corrected vision or hearing problems
• For the adults: central or peripheral neural damage
• History of Ear, Nose, and Throat surgery or radiotherapy
• For the adults: isolated articulatory trouble, former articulatory trouble not treated, disfluency
• Massive orofacial dyspraxia
• Posture trouble
• Motor problem in upper limbs

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: With visual feedback; Session of speech therapy conducted with the additional use of articulatory visual feedback based on ultrasound echography, which allows to visualize the patient's tongue in real time on a computer screen	Device: Visual feedback; Use of ultrasound echography for tongue articulatory visual feedback
No Intervention: Without visual feedback; Session of speech therapy without use of ultrasound echography

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
BECD test score	One of the primary outcome will be measured as the difference of increase of total BECD score between the therapy sessions with and without visual feedback. BECD ("Batterie d'Evaluation Clinique de la Dysarthrie, Battery of Clinical Evaluation of Dysarthria") is a French speech articulation test.	4 months
MBLF test score	The second primary outcome will be measured as the difference of increase of total MBLF score between the therapy sessions with and without visual feedback. MBLF ("Motricité Bucco-Linguo-Faciale, Motricity of Mouth, Tongue and Face") is a French speech articulation test.	4 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perception test scores	The secondary outcome will be measured as the difference of increase of the scores of perception obtained by a jury listening to a selected set of patients' speech sounds between the therapy sessions with and without visual feedback. The speech sounds are those recorded during the batteries of speech articulation tests.	4 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Hospices Civils de Lyon
• Investigators: Study Director: Pierre BADIN, PhD, GIPSA-lab, CNRS, Univ. Grenoble Alpes

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Girod-Roux M, Hueber T, Fabre D, Gerber S, Canault M, Bedoin N, Acher A, Beziaud N, Truy E, Badin P. Rehabilitation of speech disorders following glossectomy, based on ultrasound visual illustration and feedback. Clin Linguist Phon. 2020 Sep 1;34(9):826-843. doi: 10.1080/02699206.2019.1700310. Epub 2020 Jan 28.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 30, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 15, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): May 15, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 21, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 22, 2016
• First Posted (Estimated): April 27, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): September 9, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 8, 2025
• Last Verified: January 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Speech therapy; Speech disorders; Visual feedback; Buccopharyngeal surgery; Central nervous system damage
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Language Disorders; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Speech Disorders; Communication Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 69HCL15_0736