Assessing speech intonation after a right-side stroke

Development of a Tool to Assess Receptive Prosody in the Aftermath of a Right Stroke: Use of the Inverse Correlation Paradigm

This project tests a new audio-based method to detect and measure problems with speech intonation (prosody) in adults who had a recent right-hemisphere stroke compared with matched control participants.

Quick facts

• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 150 (estimated)
• Ages: 18 Years and up
• Sex: All
• Sponsor: Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (Academic / other)
• Locations: 1 site (Paris)
• Trial ID: NCT05874011 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this trial studies

The study will apply a data-driven psychoacoustic technique called reverse correlation to uncover how listeners mentally represent prosodic patterns and to quantify perceptual deficits after right supratentorial stroke. Investigators plan a prospective diagnostic cohort of about 150 stroke patients and matched controls to determine whether reverse-correlation measures reliably mark prosodic impairment. Collected patient data will be used for lesion-symptom mapping to relate brain lesions to specific prosodic processing changes. The project also aims to develop a mobile audio-health platform to deliver the test remotely and to provide a day-to-day metric for tracking response to speech therapy.

Who should consider this trial

Good fit: Adults (18+) who are right-handed French native speakers with a first right supratentorial stroke within the past year, able to give informed consent, without dementia or severe dysarthria, and who pass basic comprehension testing (BDAE command score ≥10/15) are ideal candidates.

Not a fit: People with significant language comprehension deficits, known dementia, severe dysarthria, illiteracy, non–French speakers, or those more than one year after their first right-sided stroke are unlikely to benefit or be eligible.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could provide a more sensitive diagnostic tool for prosody problems and a portable metric to monitor recovery and guide speech therapy.

How similar studies have performed: Reverse-correlation methods have been used in healthy volunteers and small pilot data in stroke patients are promising, but larger clinical validation is still needed.

Eligibility criteria

--\>Inclusion Criteria: Inclusion criteria for patients

Patient:

* with a right supratentorial stroke (1st clinical episode of deficit) confirmed on imaging and less than 1 year old at the time of inclusion
* right-handed
* male and female over 18 years of age
* french mother tongue
* affiliated or beneficiary of a social security plan
* free, informed and written consent signed
* Inclusion criteria for control subjects:

Subject:

* no known history of stroke
* right-handed
* over 18 years of age and matched with a case on age (plus or minus 10 years)
* french mother tongue
* affiliated or beneficiary of a social security plan
* free, informed and written consent signed

  --\>Exclusion Criteria: Non-inclusion criteria for patients and controls subjects
* comprehension disorders: score less than 10/15 on the BDAE (Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination) command execution test
* known dementia
* illiteracy
* severe dysarthria
* psychiatric history requiring hospitalization in a specialized environment for more than two months
* history of brain injury
* major visual or auditory perceptual disorder (hearing loss greater than 40 dB HL)

Where this trial is running

Paris

• Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière — Paris, France (Recruiting)

Study contacts

• Principal investigator: Marie VILLAIN, Ms. — Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
• Study coordinator: Marie VILLAIN, Ms.

Conditions Right Hemisphere Stroke; Prosody; Reverse correlation; Stroke