Auditory Prediction and Error Evaluation in the Speech of Individuals Who Stutter

August 19, 2025 updated by: Arizona State University
Stuttering negatively impacts communication and reduces the overall quality of life and well-being of individuals who stutter. This study will provide a strong foundation for developing neural and behavioral interventions for stuttering. Participants will be asked to name pictures, read words/sentences silently or aloud, and listen to speech and nonspeech sounds while their speech, muscle, and brain signals are collected. Some participants may also receive brain stimulation while reading and speaking.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

300

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Arizona
      • Tempe, Arizona, United States, 85287
        • Recruiting
        • Arizona State University
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Ayoub Daliri, PhD
    • Washington
      • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98105
        • Recruiting
        • Univeristy of Washington
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Ludo Max, PhD

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • being a monolingual, native speaker of American English
  • absence of developmental, psychological, neurological, or communication disorders (other than developmental stuttering) as confirmed by a certified research SLP
  • normal (age-appropriate) binaural pure-tone hearing threshold (0.5-4k Hz; ≤25 dB HL for younger than 70 years, and ≤35 dB HL for older than 70 years)
  • not taking any medications that affect the central nervous system
  • absence of safety contra-indication for tDCS, TMS and MRI (for adults)
  • scoring at the 20th percentile or higher on standardized speech-language tests (for children)

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Group 2
Behavioral: Auditory errors and pre-speech auditory modulation
This intervention will examine the contributions of auditory errors to pre-speech auditory modulation. Participants will receive auditory perturbations while speaking, and we will collect their brain activities throughout the study.
Experimental: Group 1
Behavioral: Delaying speech initiation
This intervention will examine the effects of misalignment between prediction and auditory feedback in participants. We will use transcranial magnetic stimulation to induce a temporal misalignment between prediction and auditory feedback while participants produce speech.
Experimental: Group 3
Behavioral: Contributions of the speech premotor cortex to pre-speech auditory modulation
This intervention will examine the effects of stimulation of the left ventral premotor cortex on pre-speech auditory modulation. Participants will receive electrical stimulation while speaking.
Experimental: Group 4
Behavioral: Delaying auditory feedback
This intervention will examine the effects of misalignment between prediction and auditory feedback in participants. We will use delayed auditory feedback to induce a temporal misalignment between prediction and auditory feedback while participants produce speech.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in brain activity before and during speaking
Time Frame: within each session of the study that may last up to 2 hours
Participants will hear speech sounds in each trial before speaking or reading words. Participants' brain activity will be recorded while completing the speaking or reading tasks. The investigators will measure how the participant's brain activity in response to the played sounds changes during speaking and reading tasks. For this purpose, the investigators will measure the amplitude of the brain activity (in microvolts; µV) measured using a commercial electroencephalography system. The amplitude (µV) of the brain signals will be examined both before speaking and during speaking at two time points.
within each session of the study that may last up to 2 hours
change in speech when participants experience auditory errors
Time Frame: within each session of the study that may last up to 2 hours
In each trial, participants will experience an auditory error while they produce speech (e.g., they may say "head" but hear "had"). The investigators will measure how the participants' speech changes due to auditory errors that they experience in the current trial. For this p[purpose, the investigators will use commercial microphones to record speech signals and then examine the amplitude of the speech in specific frequency ranges (measured in Hertz; Hz). The frequencies (Hz) of speech in trials with auditory errors will be compared with those without auditory errors.
within each session of the study that may last up to 2 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Arizona State University

Collaborators

University of Washington
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 30, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 7, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 22, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

December 26, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 21, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 19, 2025

Last Verified

August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R01DC020162 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • 1R01DC020162-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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