Could a Head-Zap and online therapy slow speech loss?
NCT ID NCT05901233
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study tests whether combining speech therapy with a gentle brain stimulation technique (tDCS) can help people with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) communicate better. Ten participants will receive treatment at home via video calls. The goal is to see if this approach is feasible and improves naming or script production.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 10 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jul 2023
- Expected to finish
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Sep 2026
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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Children (under 18), adults (18 to 64) and older adults (65 and over)
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Because PPA is a rare disease, the study aims to recruit all eligible participants with PPA who are referred to the Aphasia Research and Treatment Lab at the University of Texas (UT) Austin, the UT/Dell Medical School Department of Neurology, and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) Memory and Aging Center, as well as individuals with PPA from other clinical and research sites. The study will aim to include males, females, and transgender or non-binary individuals. Great efforts will be made to recruit participants from minority populations, subject to the limitation that participants need to be fluent speakers of English. Inclusion Criteria: * Meets diagnostic criteria for PPA * Meets diagnostic criteria for a specific variant of PPA * Score of 20 or higher on the Mini-Mental State Examination * Adequate hearing and vision (with hearing or vision aids, if needed) * Has a study partner that can co-enroll in the study and attend pre-treatment training as well as continue to be present for weekly teleconference meetings * Able and willing to undergo MRI brain scan * Access to high speed internet Exclusion Criteria: * Speech and language deficits better accounted for by another neurological disorder * Does not meet diagnostic criteria for a specific variant of PPA * Score of less than 20 on the Mini-Mental State Examination * Does not have a study partner who can co-enroll in the study * Contraindications for tDCS or MRI scan (History of seizures, head injury, craniotomy, skull surgery or fracture; History of severe or frequent migraines; Metallic implant in head or any metal in head; Pacemaker or cardioverter-defibrillator or any other stimulator; Chronic skin problems; Pregnancy) * History of stroke, epilepsy, or significant brain injury
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
2 sites. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
The full official record for this study. This one lists no contact details, but it is the first place any would appear.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, California, 94158, United States
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University of Texas
Austin, Texas, 78712, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Can retraining word meanings restore lost speech?
- Can a synthetic cannabinoid calm agitation in frontotemporal dementia?
- Zapping the brain to save words: new hope for PPA?
- Zap your brain to sharper thinking? new trial tests TIS for memory loss
- New support program aims to help spanish-speaking families facing progressive aphasia
- Can speech therapy help those losing their words? new trial aims to find out