Neurobiological and Psychobiological Signatures of Vocal Effort in Early Career Teachers

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Behavioral
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

Primary muscle tension dysphonia voice disorder with symptoms of vocal strain and vocal fatigue is common and can have a significant negative impact on quality of Life. Yet, primary muscle tension dysphonia's causes are unknown precluding precise diagnostic classification. Stress and personality are thought to play a role and thus, the project aims to determine the practical and clinical effect of stress on the control of voice and speech in the brain. Participants are female early career teachers and student teachers with symptoms of vocal fatigue, as well as control participants without vocal fatigue, who perform speech tasks on two different occasions. Neural (imaging of brain), psychobiological (saliva, personality), and voice and speech (muscle activity of voice muscles on the neck with surface sensors, audio recordings) data will compare reactivity patterns of teachers who are stressresponders with those who are nonresponders as well as control participants. The central hypothesis is that voice box stress responders have heightened emotion-motor activations involving the emotional voice production pathway, which correlate with changes in voice muscle activity in the anterior neck. The results will provide fundamentally missing data in our understanding of the role of stress in vocal complaints and will yield new insights about the neural underpinnings of primary muscle tension dysphonia. The study findings will have a significant impact on how clinicians identify so-called laryngoresponders to help them prevent voice disorders.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: Female
Minimum Age: 21
Maximum Age: 39
Healthy Volunteers: t
View:

• Teachers (max. 10 years full-time) or student teachers in good health between 21 and 39 years with symptoms of vocal fatigue.

• Control participants in good health between 21 and 39 years without symptoms of vocal fatigue.

Locations
Other Locations
Germany
University Hospital Bonn
RECRUITING
Bonn
Contact Information
Primary
Maria Dietrich, PhD
Maria.Dietrich@ukbonn.de
+49228287
Backup
Lisa Sindermann, PhD
Lisa.Sindermann@ukbonn.de
+49228287
Time Frame
Start Date: 2023-08-01
Estimated Completion Date: 2026-07-31
Participants
Target number of participants: 100
Treatments
Experimental: Teachers/student teachers with vocal fatigue
Teachers/student teachers with vocal fatigue based on Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI, German). Pre-Screening and Screening. Experiment 1: MRI with MRI-compatible surface electrodes on the neck and audio recordings during MRI with and without stress induction. Prior to MRI, questionnaires on voice, personality, and stress and practice oft the tasks. During experiment, collection of saliva samples (before, during, and after MRI). During MRI, multiple subjective ratings of emotional state by the participants. Experiment 2 (approximately 2 weeks later): Speech tasks with surface electromyographic sensors applied to the neck with concurrent audio recordings. Prior to the experiment questionnaires on voice and practice of tasks. Subjective ratings of vocal and cognitive effort during the experiment by the participants.
Active_comparator: Control group
Control participants without vocal fatigue based on Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI, German). Same experimental procedures as in arm 1.
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Leads: University Hospital, Bonn

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov