The 'Lombard Effect' in Patients Affected by Adductor Laryngeal Dystonia (LoQVAdSD)

Institute of Hospitalization and Scientific Care (IRCCS)

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia

Treatments: Other: Lombard test

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06402214

ID 6117

Details and patient eligibility

About

Adductory spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD) is a rare condition characterised by irregular and uncontrolled voice interruptions, most commonly affecting women around the age of 45. The diagnosis is clinical and usually requires evaluation by several specialists. The exact cause is not known, but a disturbance of the motor system is hypothesised, probably related to various causes such as loss of cortical inhibition or problems with sensory input.

Neuroimaging studies have shown hyperactivity in various brain regions during speech production in patients with AdSD, but it is still unclear whether this hyperactivity is due to a malfunction of auditory and somatosensory feedback or an impairment of motor programming.

Recent research indicates that patients with AdSD show excessive muscle activation during phonation, probably due to abnormal processing of auditory feedback. This suggests that intervention in the auditory system may offer new treatment opportunities.

The proposed study aims to describe the acoustic, auditory-perceptual and subjective voice and speech changes in AdSD subjects during the Quick-Lombard Test (LT), a test that assesses vocal response under noisy conditions.

Enrollment: 18 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Native Italian-speaking patients;
• Normal hearing, hearing threshold < 20 dB HL for frequencies from 0.5 to 4 KHz;
• Age >18 years and <65 years;
• Written informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• Non-Italian-speaking patients.
• Patients undergoing treatment for dystonia.
• Previous laryngeal surgery.
• Patient undergoing speech therapy.
• Patient undergoing dopaminergic therapy.
• Inability to sustain phonation of sufficient duration >3 seconds or to perform sufficient tests to assess vocal outcomes.
• Lack of written informed consent.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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18 participants in 2 patient groups

Case group

Experimental group

Description:

patients affected by adductor laryngeal dystonia

Treatment:

Other: Lombard test

Control group

Active Comparator group

Description:

healthy patients

Treatment:

Other: Lombard test