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How deep brain circuits help organise speech

Researchers study brain activity involved in putting speech sounds in order in people who receive implanted brain stimulators.

Testing a treatment or activity · Study reference: NCT07455760

Plain-language introduction written with AI from the registry; not independently checked by a clinician. Read the original details below ↓

This registry record was last updated over six months ago, or its update date is missing. Recruitment may have changed. Confirm with the team before making plans.

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Looking for volunteers

Start (reported actual date)
2026-02-18
Main measurements finished (planned)
2030-08
Study finished (planned)
2030-08

Planned dates can move. A study finishing does not tell us when a paper will be published.

No results summary has been confirmed in the registry records we imported. See connected papers below; we keep checking after recruitment ends.

Changes we have recorded
  • 2026-10-11 — recruiting

These are dates we observed a change, not necessarily the dates it happened.

Papers connected to this study

No connected paper has been found yet. The tracker checks the growing library for study identifiers and registry-linked publications.

Who can join?

Age 18 years and over · Does not accept healthy volunteers

These are starting points, not the full rules. The research team can tell you whether the study is right for your situation.

Read all the rules for taking part

Sex eligibility reported by registry: all

Inclusion Criteria: * Native speakers of American English * Adults at least 18 years of age * A clinically established diagnosis of Parkinson's disease or essential tremor * Able to provide informed consent in the judgment of the investigator * Treated with deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (Parkinson's disease) or ventral intermediate nucleus of the thalamus (essential tremor) * Stable Parkinson's disease or essential tremor medication regimen for at least one month * Stable DBS program settings for at least one month * Nominal DBS system function, including normal impedances at therapeutic DBS contacts, and adequate battery life or adequate IPG charging status for therapy * For DBS sensing, implanted with Medtronic Percept PC or Percept RC implantable pulse generator * Corrected vision adequate to easily read text presented during speech motor task Exclusion Criteria: * Cognitive impairment (Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; Nesreddine et al., 2005) score \< 25) or active psychotic or behavioral symptoms that would, in the judgment of the investigator, preclude proper participation in the study * Hearing impairment that interferes with accurate perception of the speech motor learning stimulus (25dB hearing level threshold at 500, 1k, 2k, and 4kHz frequencies) * Language impairment (aphasia) or speech articulation impairment (dysarthria) that precludes performance of the speech motor learning task * Neurological disorder that interferes with speech motor learning * Inability to tolerate symptoms when DBS is off * Orthodontia or atypical oral structure (e.g., cleft palate) that interferes with speech * Pregnancy * For participants in the sub-syllabic sequence learning study (Study C.2.1), experience with the following languages: Hebrew, Polish, Lithuanian, Romanian, Georgian, Tepehua, Hungarian, and Pima
Full study name & original research details

Official study title

Investigating Subcortical Contributions to Speech Sequencing in Deep Brain Stimulator Recipients

Original description

This study will examine how two important brain circuits - one involving the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and one involving the ventral intermediate nucleus of the thalamus (VIM) - contribute to learning and producing speech sequences. Participants will include two groups: 1. individuals with Parkinson's disease who have deep brain stimulation (DBS) devices targeting the STN and 2. individuals with essential tremor who have DBS devices targeting the VIM. Participants will complete speech tasks involving the learning and repetition of novel sound sequences. During some parts of the study, DBS stimulation will be temporarily turned on or off in a controlled research setting. This will allow researchers to examine how stimulation affects both the learning of new speech sequences and the production of previously learned sequences. All STN participants and most VIM participants will also be equipped with a cutting-edge DBS system, the Percept PC, which will enable the recording of deep brain activity during the tasks. The results of this study will improve our understanding of how different brain circuits support speech learning and production. In particular, this study will help to differentiate the roles of the STN and VIM in learning the ordering of speech sounds within a syllable from learning of speech sequences containing multiple syllables. This knowledge may help guide future approaches to optimizing DBS settings to improve both movement and speech outcomes in individuals with neurological disorders, as well as provide greater general insight into how these brain structures contribute to speech production and learning.

Conditions reported: Parkinson's Disease (PD); Essential Tremor

Registry records for this study

Records are joined using registration identifiers. Titles alone do not establish that two studies are the same.

Study type
Interventional
Interventions
Phoneme sequence learning; Cessation and re-enabling of stimulation of the STN; Cessation and re-enabling of stimulation of the VIM thalamic nucleus; Multisyllabic sequence learning
Phases
NA
Sponsor
Boston University Charles River Campus
Start date reported by registry
2026-02-18 (actual)

Registry updated: 2026-03-09 · Status last verified by the registry submitter: 2026-03

Registry records retrieved 2026-10-13 (UTC). Individual records may have older updates. Recruitment and eligibility must be confirmed with the study team.

Contact the research team

Public study contacts supplied to the registry. Ask whether recruitment is still open and what participation involves.

Frank H Guenther, Ph.D. · 617-353-5765 · guenther@bu.edu

Barbara G Holland, MA · 617-353-6181 · bobbieh@bu.edu

Study locations

Site status can differ from overall study status. “Status not reported” means local availability needs confirmation. Remote participation and travel arrangements must be checked with the team.

Boston University

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Recruiting

Frank H Guenther, Ph.D. · 617-353-5765 · guenther@bu.edu

Barbara G Holland, MA · bobbieh@bu.edu

Frank H Guenther, Ph.D.

Alfonso Nieto-Castanon, Ph.D.

Andrew Meier, Ph.D.

Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Recruiting

Todd Herrington, MD, PHD · 6177265532 · therrington@mgh.harvard.edu

Zeyang Yu, PHD

Robert Richardson, MD, PHD

Todd Herrington, MD, PHD

The original descriptions and participation rules come from the registry. Participation is voluntary and does not guarantee benefit.