Recruiting

TDCS with Semantic Al.

Sponsor:

University of New Mexico

Code:

NCT04432883

Conditions

Stroke

Aphasia

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 25 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Active Comparator: Experimental: Active cathodal tDCS + language training

Sham Comparator: Placebo cathodal tDCS + Speech and language

Study Details

Brief summary:

62 patients who are one year post stroke and have Aphasia as a result of that stroke will be recruited. Participants will have 4 assessment sessions and 15 treatment sessions. The TDCS will be to right Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) (25 active, 25 sham) for 15 days. A combined semantic feature analysis/phonological components analysis treatment will be paired with the stimulation. Two assessment sessions will be pretreatment, 1 session immediately post-treatment, and 1 session at 3 months follow-up.

Conditions

Stroke

Aphasia

Study ID

NCT04432883

Start date

Oct 18, 2022

Status verified date

May, 2026

Completion date

Apr 30, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Mar 26, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 25 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

1. aged 25-85
2. must be greater than 6 months post-stroke
3. must have a diagnosis of aphasia based on impaired performance on the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised, Boston Naming Test, or during discourse production
4. must be left-hemisphere dominant as demonstrated by aphasia onset subsequent to left hemisphere damage
5. must be stimulable for naming

Exclusion Criteria:

1. comorbid neurological disease.
2. damage to the anterior right hemisphere.
3. significant mood disorder.
4. substance/alcohol dependence or abuse within the past year
5. presence of any implanted electrical device or contraindications to tDCS or MRI
6. recent medical instability (within 4 weeks)
7. pregnancy

Study Design

Enrollment

50 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

active comparator: Experimental: Active cathodal tDCS + Speech-language training

In this arm, 31 patients with stroke induced Aphasia will undergo 15 sessions of active tDCS (x 30 minutes of stimulation) combined with 1 hour simultaneous speech-language training on consecutive weekdays.

sham comparator: Comparator: Placebo cathodal tDCS + Speech-language training

In this arm, 31 patients with stroke induced Aphasia will undergo 15 sessions of sham tDCS (x 30 minutes sham) combined with 1 hour simultaneous speech-language training on consecutive weekdays..

Interventions

Active Comparator: Experimental: Active cathodal tDCS + language training

Cathodal tDCS raises neuronal membrane potentials, leading to decreased probability of depolarization from incoming stimuli.

Speech and Language training involves a combined semantic feature analysis and phonological components analysis treatment.

Sham Comparator: Placebo cathodal tDCS + Speech and language

Speech and Language training involves a combined semantic feature analysis and phonological components analysis treatment. .

Primary outcome measure

  • Picture Naming of trained items [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
  • Naming Response Time of trained items Scales - IV (WAIS-IV; Wechsler, Coalson, & Railford, 2008) [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
  • Naming Efficiency of trained items [ Time Frame: 3 months ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Jessica Richardson, Ph.D.

505 277-1765jdrichardson@unm.edu

Honey Hubbard

505-433-7766hhubbard@unm.edu

Locations

University of New Mexico Center for Brain Recovery and Repair

Recruiting

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, 87106

Contacts

Darbi Gill

505-925-4043DMGill@salud.unm.edu

More Information

Sponsor

University of New Mexico

Last update posted

May 22, 2026

Last verified

May, 2026

Keywords

  • Stroke
  • Aphasia
  • brain stimulation
  • communication problems
  • speech and language therapy

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of New Mexico on 2026-05-22.