R01DC018523

Neural Bases of Vocal Sensorimotor Impairment in Aphasia - Project Summary/Abstract

Aphasia is a common and devastating effect of left hemisphere stroke and is one of the most debilitating communication disorders characterized by speech/language production and comprehension deficits. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), approximately one million individuals in the U.S. suffer from aphasia. This number is anticipated to rise as life expectancy increases and life-saving procedures in acute stroke decrease mortality rates.

Although speech therapy can improve communication in aphasia, most patients with chronic stroke never fully recover and are left with lifelong disability, and some only experience minimal return of communicative function. Therefore, a major public health need is to identify biomarkers to inform targeted treatment and improve its long-term outcomes in aphasia.

A major shortcoming of currently existing treatment approaches is that they primarily focus on enhancing the outcome measures associated with vocal motor production, without taking into account that targeting deficits in sensory feedback and/or sensorimotor integration mechanisms may significantly increase treatment efficiency and effectiveness. Therefore, a key step toward refining treatment strategies is to develop objective biomarkers that can probe the integrity of vocal sensorimotor mechanisms and identify their impaired function in stroke patients with aphasia.

This proposed project is significant in that it takes a key step toward examining the biomarkers of impaired vocal sensorimotor function in patients with post-stroke aphasia, with a particular focus on understanding the role of auditory feedback mechanisms in vocal communication. The central hypothesis is that distinct patterns of brain damage and diminished connectivity within the audio-vocal networks lead to patient-specific impairment of feedforward motor, sensory feedback, and/or sensorimotor integration mechanisms.

The main objective is to incorporate multimodality measures, including the behavioral biomarkers of altered auditory feedback (AAF), lesion anatomy, white matter tractography, functional neuroimaging (MRI), and neurophysiological (EEG/ERP) data, to build integrative computational models for examining impaired vocal sensorimotor function in stroke patients with aphasia. We also aim to use an innovative visual feedback training paradigm to provide a secondary source of sensory information via the visual modality to improve audio-vocal integration function in patients with aphasia.

The validation of the visual feedback training paradigm will pave the way toward developing individually tailored targeted therapies that focus on patient-specific functional deficits for vocal communication. The long-term goal of this research is to identify the source and modality (motor, sensory, and/or sensorimotor) of vocal communication deficits to provide information for clinicians on how to fine-tune their strategies to maximize the long-term treatment outcomes and improve the communicative function and quality of life in patients suffering from aphasia.

This proposed research is relevant to the NIH's mission pertaining to developing fundamental knowledge that will help to reduce the burdens of human disability.

University Of Texas At Dallas

TO INVESTIGATE SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO INDIVIDUALS WITH DEAFNESS OR DISORDERS OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION IN THE AREAS OF HEARING, BALANCE, SMELL, TASTE, VOICE, SPEECH, AND LANGUAGE. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS (NIDCD) SUPPORTS RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING, INCLUDING INVESTIGATION INTO THE ETIOLOGY, PATHOLOGY, DETECTION, TREATMENT, AND PREVENTION OF DISORDERS OF HEARING AND OTHER COMMUNICATION PROCESSES, PRIMARILY THROUGH THE SUPPORT OF BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH IN ANATOMY, AUDIOLOGY, BIOCHEMISTRY, BIOENGINEERING, EPIDEMIOLOGY, GENETICS, IMMUNOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, THE NEUROSCIENCES, OTOLARYNGOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, PHARMACOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY, PSYCHOPHYSICS, SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY, AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES. THE NIDCD SUPPORTS: (1) RESEARCH INTO THE EVALUATION OF TECHNIQUES AND DEVICES USED IN DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT, REHABILITATION, AND PREVENTION OF DISORDERS OF HEARING AND OTHER COMMUNICATION PROCESSES, (2) RESEARCH INTO PREVENTION AND EARLY DETECTION AND DIAGNOSIS OF HEARING LOSS AND SPEECH, VOICE, AND LANGUAGE DISORDERS AND RESEARCH INTO PREVENTING THE EFFECTS OF SUCH DISORDERS BY MEANS OF APPROPRIATE REFERRAL AND REHABILITATION, (3) RESEARCH INTO THE DETECTION, TREATMENT, AND PREVENTION OF DISORDERS OF HEARING AND OTHER COMMUNICATION PROCESSES IN THE ELDERLY POPULATION AND ITS REHABILITATION TO ENSURE CONTINUED EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS, AND (4) RESEARCH TO EXPAND KNOWLEDGE OF THE EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL AGENTS THAT INFLUENCE HEARING OR OTHER COMMUNICATION PROCESSES. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM: TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO ENCOURAGE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM: TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

93.173 - Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) [HHS - NIH]

Richardson, Texas 750803021 United States

Single Zip Code

NIDCD Clinical Trials in Communication Disorders (R01-Clinical Trial Required) (PA-18-334)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 370% from $747,991 to $3,516,123.