Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

University of Ottawa

Code:

NCT06368323

Conditions

Aphasia

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Choir singing

Usual care

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this randomized controled trial is to test the effects of assigning people with chronic post-stroke aphasia to 12 weekly choir sessions, compared to usual care.

The main question it aims to answer is:

Does the assignment to a choir singing program causes a beneficial effect on functional communication and language recovery as well as psychosocial outcomes compared to usual care in the rehabilitation of people with chronic post-stroke aphasia?

Participants will have:

12 in-person choir-singing sessions (1 session/week, 1,5 h/session, total 18h) conducted by a choir master, and home singing training (3 x 30-minutes-sessions/week, total 18h)

Conditions

Aphasia

Study ID

NCT06368323

Start date

Apr 22, 2024

Status verified date

Feb, 2026

Completion date

Sep 30, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Sep 30, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • People with chronic aphasia following stroke
  • English or French as language of daily use
  • Last stroke must have occurred at least 6 months before the start of the first assessments in the study protocol.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Regular music making in the past 6 months
  • Visual deficit that cannot be corrected and might impair testing
  • Hearing deficit that cannot be corrected and might impair testing
  • Presence of neurological/psychiatric co-morbidity or substance abuse
  • No ability to produce vocal sound through singing/humming
  • Legally considered unable to make decisions for oneself

Study Design

Enrollment

50 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: AB Group

First choir, then usual care

experimental: BA Group

First usual care, then choir

Interventions

Choir singing

The 12-week intervention will consist of 12 in-person choir-singing sessions (1 session/week, 1,5 h/session, total 18h) conducted by a choir master in addition to home training (3 x 30-minutes-sessions/week, total 18h). In total, participants will undergo the intervention for 3 hours/week for 12 weeks (i.e., 36 hours).

Usual care

Rehabilitation services received by patients and social activities will be monitored and documented.

Primary outcome measure

  • Communication Index [ Time Frame: T1 (baseline, week 1), T2 (week 15), T3 (week 16), T4 (week 30), T5 (week 31) ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Anna Zumbansen, PhD

613-562-5800azumbans@uottawa.ca

Narges Bayat, Master

613-562-5800nbaya063@uottawa.ca

Locations

Toronto Metropolitan University

Recruiting

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5B 0C3

Contacts

Arla Good, Ph.D.

arla.good@torontomu.ca

More Information

Sponsor

University of Ottawa

Last update posted

Feb 17, 2026

Last verified

Feb, 2026

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 Ottawa on 2026-02-17.