Dear Hopefuls,
I just stumbled on a blog brain stimulation for your stammer. Below is the article.
Brain stimulation for your stammer
OXFORD SCIENCE BLOG
Pete Wilton
22 Oct 2014
Stammering is a common condition
in children that may last into
adulthood and can affect people's
self-esteem, education and
employment prospects.
22 October is International
Stammering Awareness Day
and sees the launch of a new Oxford
University trial investigating whether
a form of non-invasive brain
stimulation could help people who
stammer achieve fluent speech more
easily and make this fluency last
longer.
I asked Kate Watkins and Jen
Chesters of Oxford University's
Department of Experimental
Psychology, who are leading the new
trial, about the science of
stammering, what the trial will
involve, and how brain stimulation
could improve current therapies…
OxSciBlog: What is stuttering/
stammering? How many people have a
stammer?
Kate Watkins: Stammering (also
known as stuttering) affects one in
twenty children and one in a hundred
adults. About four or five times more
men than women are affected.
The normal flow of speech is
disrupted when people stammer. The
speaker knows what he or she wants
to say but has problems saying it.
The characteristics of stammering
include production of frequent
repetitions of speech sounds, and
frequent hesitations when speech
appears blocked. Children and adults
who stammer can sometimes
experience restrictions in their
academic and career choices. Some
people some suffer anxiety as a
result of their speech difficulties.
OSB: What do we think causes people
to stammer?
KW: The cause of stammering is
unknown. Using MRI scans we have
noticed small differences in the
brains of people who stammer when
compared with those of people who
speak fluently. For example, we found
differences in the amount of brain
activity that occurs during speech
production in people who stammer
even when they are speaking fluently.
These brain imaging studies indicate
abnormal function of brain areas
involved in planning and producing
speech, and in monitoring speech
production. We have also used MRI
scans to look at how these brain
areas are connected and found that
the white matter connections
between these regions are disrupted
in people who stammer.
A striking feature of stammering is
that complete fluency can be
achieved by changing the way a
person perceives his or her own
speech (so by altering the way the
speaker hears his or her own voice).
For example, masking speech
production with noise (or loud music
as demonstrated in the film The
King's Speech or by Musharraf on
Educating Yorkshire) can temporarily
eliminate stuttering. Delaying auditory
feedback of speech, altering its pitch,
singing, speaking in unison with
another speaker, or speaking in time
with a metronome are all ways of
temporarily enhancing fluency in
people who stammer. These
observations tell us that the cause of
stammering may be due to a problem
in combining motor and auditory
information.
OSB: What treatments/therapies can
people currently get for stammering?
Jen Chesters: Speech and Language
Therapy for people who stammer
may involve learning to reduce
moments of stammering, or decrease
the amount of tension when
stammering. Techniques such as
speaking in time with a metronome
beat, or lengthening each speech
sound can immediately increase
fluency.
However, these approaches make
speech sound unnatural, so moving
towards fluent yet natural-sounding
speech is the main challenge during
therapy. Even when these methods
are mastered within the speech
therapy clinic, continual ongoing
practice is needed for fluency to be
maintained in everyday life. The
fluency-enhancing effects can also
just 'wear off' over time, even when
these techniques are practised
regularly. For all these reasons,
therapy for adults who stammer often
focuses instead on learning to live
with the disorder.
OSB: How might brain stimulation
improve on these?
JC: Non-invasive brain stimulation is
a promising new method for treating
disorders that affect the brain's
function. The method we use is
called transcranial direct current
stimulation (or TDCS for short). TDCS
involves passing a very weak
electrical current across surface
electrodes placed on the scalp, and
through the underlying brain tissue
(it doesn't hurt!). This stimulation
changes the excitability of the
targeted brain area. TDCS applied
during a task that engages the
stimulated brain region, can increase
and prolong task performance or
learning.
TDCS has been used in rehabilitation
studies, for example it has been
applied to brain regions involved in
speech and language to increase
these functions in patients who have
problems with speech ( aphasia )
following a stroke. We are interested
in how TDCS could help people who
stammer to achieve fluent speech
more easily, and maintain their
fluency for longer. TDCS may have
the potential to increase speech
therapy outcomes, or to reduce the
high levels of effort and practice that
are needed in traditional speech
therapy for stammering. Our research
aims to explore this potential.
OSB: What is the aim of your new trial?
JC: In this study, we want to see how
the effects of a brief course of
fluency therapy might be increased or
prolonged by using TDCS. We will
use some techniques that we know
will immediately increase fluency in
most people who stammer, such as
speaking in unison with another
person or in time with a metronome.
However, these techniques would
normally need to be combined with
other methods to help transfer this
fluency into everyday speech. We will
investigate how TDCS might help
maintain the fluent speech that is
produced using these methods.
OSB: What will volunteers be asked to
do?
JC: Volunteers will be invited to have
fluency therapy over five consecutive
days, whilst receiving TDCS. In order
to measure the effects of this
intervention, they will also be asked
to do some speech tasks before the
fluency therapy, one week after the
fluency therapy, and again six weeks
later. We are also interested in how
this combination of therapy and TDCS
may change brain function and
structure. So, volunteers will also be
invited for MRI scans before and after
the therapy.
OSB: How do you hope the trial results
will benefit patients/your research?
JC: The results of the trial will give
us a first indication about whether
TDCS might be a useful method to
develop for stammering therapy. The
research is in its early stages, so the
results of this study will not cross
over into the speech therapy clinic
just yet. However, we are hoping to
see whether TDCS shows promise for
improving speech therapy outcomes.
If it does, further research would be
needed to explore how TDCS can be
combined with speech therapy to
achieve the greatest improvements
for people who stammer.
The researchers are looking for 30 male
volunteers, aged 18-50, who have a
moderate to severe stammer. The trial
will take place at Oxford University's
Department of Experimental
Psychology.
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