DESIPHER_Speech Degradation as an Indicator of Physiological Degeneration in ALS

Completed

Conditions studied: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

In brief

A disease called Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (or ALS), which leads to difficulty swallowing, breathing, and movement, has been found to be higher for those serving in the military than in the general population. There are approximately 4,200 Veterans with ALS and roughly 1,000 new cases each year. When doctors attempt to determine the degree to which an ALS patient is suffering from the disease, they apply tests that are "graded" by experts. However, this approach to testing patients may not be very accurate. Researchers aim to use a system called DESIPHER to "listen" to ALS patients and find speech mistakes related to their condition. Researchers believe that, by detecting different types of errors, DESIPHER serves as a new kind of indicator of medical problems such as difficulty breathing or swallowing, without human "grading". This may also lead to a better system for automatically understanding ALS patients' speech.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02675075

Run by

VA Office of Research and Development

People needed

34

Starts

2016-01-01

Expected to finish

2017-12-31

Last updated by the study team

2020-08-18

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Veterans will be diagnosed with ALS
• Native speakers of U.S. English
• Will have bulbar involvement identified during initial ALS inpatient evaluation
• Forced vital capacity (FVC) of greater than 50% of the expected value for age
• An Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R) Score of 40 or greater

You may not qualify if…

• A diagnosis of dementia
• FVC less than 50%
• Inability to speak
• Or inability to follow directions

Where it is running

• James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, FL — Tampa, Florida, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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