Recruiting

Voice Personalization

Sponsor:

University of South Florida

Code:

NCT06829420

Conditions

Aphasia Non Fluent

Stroke

Aphasia

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Mirror speech entrainment

Traditional speech entrainment: auditory-only

Traditional speech entrainment: auditory-visual

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the use of voice personalization through artificial intelligence (AI) voice cloning on speech entrainment tasks to improve language production of persons with aphasia (PWA). The main question the study aims to answer is:

\- What is the impact of personalized voice on speech entrainment in PWA compared to traditional speech entrainment?

Speech entrainment is a technique used by speech-language pathologists to improve the speech production of PWA. Traditionally, speech therapists act as the model for participants to speak along with to improve their speech production. This study proposes the use of one's own voice (digitally altered) to improve speech production.

The study uses a mobile health approach to administer speech entrainment treatment through a mobile app.

  • Smartphones with the mobile app pre-installed will be mailed to participants at no cost.
  • Participants will complete treatment in the comfort of their homes.
  • The experimental treatments involve: mirror speech entrainment (speaking along to one's own voice) and traditional speech entrainment (speaking along to someone else's voice).

Conditions

Aphasia Non Fluent

Stroke

Aphasia

Study ID

NCT06829420

Start date

May 1, 2025

Status verified date

Apr, 2026

Completion date

Aug 1, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 31, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults between the ages of 18-70 years old
  • Dominant English-speaking
  • Aphasia due to left hemisphere stroke

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals with aphasia due to other causes such as dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinsonism
  • Non-dominant English adult speakers
  • Persons with significant difficulties with language comprehension
  • Persons with concomitant cognitive disability
  • Persons with uncorrected sensory deficits.

Study Design

Enrollment

20 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Experiment 1: Feasibility Study

Participants will receive two treatments sequentially: mirror speech entrainment using the auditory-only modality followed by mirror speech entrainment using the auditory-visual modality.

experimental: Experiment 2: Mirror SE versus Traditional SE (Auditory-only)

This arm investigates the use of mirror speech entrainment using auditory only feedback and traditional speech entrainment using auditory only feedback.

experimental: Experiment 3: Mirror SE versus Traditional SE (Auditory-visual)

This arm will investigate the effect of mirror speech entrainment in the auditory-visual modality versus traditional speech entrainment in the auditory-visual modality.

Interventions

Mirror speech entrainment

Speech entrainment with the user's own voice using auditory-only and auditory-visual modalities.

Traditional speech entrainment: auditory-only

Traditional speech entrainment (speech entrainment using an external agent's voice) using the auditory-only modality (users only listen and speak along to auditory stimuli)

Traditional speech entrainment: auditory-visual

Traditional speech entrainment (speech entrainment using an external agent's voice) using the auditory-visual modality (users listen and speak along to both auditory and visual stimuli (mouth movements)

Primary outcome measure

  • Speaking rate [ Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 6 weeks ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Locations

University of South Florida

Recruiting

Tampa, Florida, United States, 33614

Contacts

Celine Davis

3523617297celinedavis@usf.edu

Gerald C. Imaezue, Ph.D

gimaezue@usf.edu

Principal Investigator:

Gerald C. Imaezue, Ph.D

More Information

Sponsor

University of South Florida

Last update posted

Apr 21, 2026

Last verified

Apr, 2026

Keywords

  • Aphasia
  • Nonfluent aphasia
  • Speech entrainment
  • Speech synchronization

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 South Florida on 2026-04-21.