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Electrolarynx for Enabling Communication in the CHrOnically Critically Ill (EECCHO)

NCT05604079 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 24

Last updated 2022-11-03

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

All critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation experience a period of inability to speak due to the need for cuffed endotracheal or tracheostomy tubes. Consequences of the inability to speak include: significant emotional distress; unrecognized pain; sleeplessness; increased use of restraints, self-extubation and line removal, as well as injury to self and healthcare professionals. Communication methods such as word mouthing, gesticulating, and writing may be ineffective and result in frustration. Recent technological innovations include communication boards and electronic speech generating devices however these require fine motor skills and coordination which may not be intact in the chronically critically ill. The Electrolarynx was recently shown to be effective in establishing communication in a case study of an intubated patient. Despite the well-recognized deleterious consequences of speech incapacity, few studies have evaluated communication strategies in the critically ill and no published study has evaluated the Electrolarynx in this patient population.

In this study, the investigators aim to assess the feasibility and patient acceptability of establishing speech with an Electrolarynx for intubated or tracheostomized patients experiencing difficult weaning and unable to tolerate cuff deflation. Feasibility will be determined by the proportion of participants able to produce intelligible and comprehensible speech. The investigators will also collect data on consent rates, reasons for refusal, the proportion of eligible patients and the time required for research procedures to inform future studies. The investigators will provide participants with a maximum of five Electrolarynx training sessions. On completion the investigators will measure speech intelligibility, comprehensibility, and patient acceptability using the Assessment of Intelligibility of Dysarthric Speech and the Ease of Communication scale. Satisfaction with communication and anxiety will be measured before and after Electrolarynx training. To the investigators' knowledge, this study will be the first to rigorously evaluate, using previously validated measures, the feasibility of the Electrolarynx for establishing communication for mechanically ventilated patients.

Conditions

  • Communication

Interventions

DEVICE

Electrolarynx

The device transmits electronic sound source vibrations through soft tissue, either the neck at the level of the glottis, or less commonly the check. Speech is created through movements of articulators including the lips, tongue and jaw.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

    collaborator OTHER

  • Unity Health Toronto

    collaborator OTHER

  • Michael Garron Hospital

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
100 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2014-11-30
Primary Completion
2017-12-31
Completion
2017-12-31

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05604079 on ClinicalTrials.gov