tDCS for Laryngeal Dystonia

February 6, 2026 updated by: Yale University

Network Targeted Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) as a Treatment for Laryngeal Dystonia (LD)

This project will apply transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to multiple brain areas to evaluate the effects as a potential treatment for laryngeal dystonia (formerly spasmodic dysphonia).

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Baseline neuroimaging data will be acquired from all participants via MRI, EEG. Each participant will be seen for multiple testing sessions over a five day period. LD participants will undergo the neuromodulation (HD-tDCS Stimulation) for twenty minutes while engaged in watching videos/movies or performing a word production task.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

10

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
    • Connecticut
      • New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06511
        • Recruiting
        • Yale University
        • Contact:

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Participants must be clinically evaluated for the diagnosis of LD or have the proof of LD diagnosis. (Not applicable for control participants)
  • No other known or history of speech, voice disorder other than LD.
  • Provision of signed and dated informed consent form.
  • Stated willingness to comply with all study procedures and availability for the duration of the study
  • Must not be pregnant.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • All individuals who do not meet the above mentioned criteria are excluded from the study.
  • Subjects with a history of epilepsy or depression or is claustrophobic.

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Laryngeal Dystonia (LD) tDCS
Adductor, Abductor and Mixed type LD with clinical evaluation of LD or with proof of LD diagnosis
Device: Starstim system
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Cepstral peak prominence (CPP)
Time Frame: daily on Day 1-Day 5
Cepstral peak prominence (CPP) as a robust objective measure of voice quality in the active, sham and no stimulation conditions.
daily on Day 1-Day 5
Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V)
Time Frame: daily on Day 1-Day 5
Its primary purpose is to describe the severity of auditory-perceptual attributes of a voice problem, in a way that can be communicated among clinicians
daily on Day 1-Day 5

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Yale University

Collaborators

National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Nabin Koirala, PhD, Yale University

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)

April 14, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 11, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 11, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

February 17, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 6, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2000032414

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Investigators do not have consent for patients for sharing their data yet, if that changes, de-identified data will be shared.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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