Recruiting

Cough Skill Training

Sponsor:

Boston University Charles River Campus

Code:

NCT07756684

Conditions

Head and Neck Cancers

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Handheld cough device

Study Details

Brief summary:

This preliminary study will examine the feasibility of a cough skill training treatment approach to rehabilitate voluntary cough function in people with head and neck cancer. Cough skill training focuses on practicing cough as a compensatory strategy for when food or liquid enters the airway. Primary outcomes will be feasibility and immediate treatment effects. The investigators hypothesize that the treatment will be feasible and will result in improvements to voluntary cough peak expiratory flow rate.

Conditions

Head and Neck Cancers

Study ID

NCT07756684

Start date

Oct 28, 2026

Status verified date

Oct, 2026

Completion date

Sep, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Sep, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Prior diagnosis of head and neck cancer at least 6 months post-diagnosis
  • Completed treatment for head and neck cancer, including surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy
  • Medically stable and able to follow commands and produce a voluntary cough
  • English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unable to provide informed consent assessed by a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score of <20
  • Unable to follow study instructions
  • Unable to produce a voluntary cough
  • History of neurologic disease
  • Recent laryngeal surgery or vocal fold injury
  • Active respiratory infection or febrile illness within the past 14 days
  • Chronic, severe, or unstable respiratory disease
  • Asthma or bronchitis
  • Smoking within the past five years
  • Uncontrolled hypertension
  • Recent myocardial infarction, unstable angina, stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure within the past 6 months
  • Significant uncontrolled arrhythmia

Study Design

Enrollment

10 participants

Anticipated

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Device Feasibility

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Cough skill training

Participants will use a handheld cough device to produce voluntary coughs during 5 one hour treatment sessions.

Interventions

Handheld cough device

During each treatment session with study personnel and during home practice, participants will complete 25 repetitions (5 sets of 5) of a voluntary coughs.

Primary outcome measure

  • Feasibility of cough skill training [ Time Frame: 6 weeks ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

James Borders, PhD CCC-SLP

617-353-3379bordersj@bu.edu

Locations

Airway Protection Research Lab at Boston University

Recruiting

Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02215

Contacts

James Borders, PhD CCC-SLP

617-353-3379bordersj@bu.edu

More Information

Sponsor

Boston University Charles River Campus

Last update posted

Oct 30, 2026

Last verified

Oct, 2026

Keywords

  • cough skill training

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-10-31. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Boston University Charles River Campus on 2026-10-30. Recruitment status is synced daily from ClinicalTrials.gov and may not reflect the sponsor's current status. Confirm during your call.