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Misericordia group offers support for those who stutter

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Seat in Pittsburgh locker room a nice start to training camp for Tom Kuhnhackl

<p>DALLAS &#8212; After six months of working on a study monitoring what happens in the brain of people who speak fluently during various tasks, Misericordia University professors and students have published their work and are preparing to present their findings at conferences in October and November.</p><p>One of the authors of the study, Glen Tellis &#8212; a board-certified specialist in stuttering as well as chairman of the university&#8217;s speech-language pathology department &#8212; said he hopes the research will lead to better assessment and treatment methods <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/591072/misericordia-group-offers-support-for-those-who-stutter" target="_blank">for stuttering</a> and other communication disorders.</p><p>The study, titled &#8220;Using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIR) with Fluent Speakers to Determine Hemoglobin Changes in the Brain during Speech and non-Speech Tasks,&#8221; was published in the NIR news online edition in March.</p><p>The authors of the study are Tellis and his wife, Cari Tellis, a voice specialist and an associate professor of speech-language pathology at Misericordia.</p><p>Glen Tellis explained that fNIR technology is when light penetrates the scalp, allowing researchers to measure changes in hemoglobin concentration in the brain during certain tasks.</p><p>Hemoglobin refers to a protein responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood.</p><p>Tellis described this technology as &#8220;ideal&#8221; for the research at hand, which is looking at speech and language areas of the brain, because the light penetrates only the organ&#8217;s first 2&#189; centimeters, the depth where most speech and language areas are located.</p><p>This technology is &#8220;very practical,&#8221; he continued, as it allows researchers to see, in real time, what happens in the brain during certain tasks in a non-invasive manner. It also is inexpensive compared to other techniques, such as MRIs.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re one of the pioneering departments in the U.S. that uses fNIRS in stuttering and voice disorders,&#8221; Glen Tellis said of the university&#8217;s program, one of five communication-disorders programs in the country that have the labs and equipment needed to perform this research.</p><p>The other universities with such programs, Tellis said, are Utah State, Purdue, James Madison and Virginia.</p><p>Specifically, in the research, the Tellises and the students helping them worked with 50 volunteers &#8212; 28 women and 22 men &#8212; to study the brains of typically fluent people to determine whether there were differences in brain activation during several speech and non-speech tasks.</p><p>Glen Tellis described the process, explaining that volunteers had a cap placed on their heads with probes connected to different areas of their scalps. Without knowing what would come next, the volunteers first saw a blank screen with a black dot for 20 seconds. This was to bring the hemoglobin blood concentration in the brain to baseline level. Then, the volunteers were asked to perform each task for five seconds. Tasks involved reading silently, reading aloud, speaking and finger tapping.</p><p>The blank screen with the black dot then immediately returned. These random sequences of tasks were performed numerous times during the experiment. Usually, right after the task that was shown during the five-second period, a hemodynamic response was seen. That response refers to delivery of blood to neuronal tissues.</p><p>Initial findings from this pilot study showed no gender differences in the brain during any of the tasks; however, hemoglobin changes between the four tasks were noted.</p><p>Spontaneous speech had the greatest increases in oxygenated hemoglobin when compared to the other three tasks, Tellis said. It appears that silent reading had the least amount of oxygenated hemoglobin changes when compared to the other tasks. Interestingly, as task complexity increased &#8212; for example, spontaneous speech vs. silent reading &#8212; the magnitude of the hemoglobin concentration changes increased (concentration changes increased for free speech).</p><p>Danielle Spagnuolo, a junior in the five-year speech-pathology master&#8217;s program at Misericordia, helped to collect and analyze the data for the study. She worked alongside four other student researchers, all of whom had to go through a training process to learn how to work the equipment before aiding with research.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s an important study because there&#8217;s still so much that&#8217;s not understood (about stuttering),&#8221; Spagnuolo said.</p><p>She went on to say that the study has the potential to help researchers gain an understanding about the differences and similarities in the brains of fluent speakers and those who stutter, which will help figure out the best therapy for those with the condition.</p><p>So where do Misericordia&#8217;s researchers go from here?</p><p>&#8220;We want to expand the study to stuttering and look at the brain before, during and after stuttering treatment to see if there are any differences,&#8221; Tellis said. &#8220;That&#8217;s what we aim for down the line.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;This research with fluency and fluency disorders is in its infancy,&#8221; he added.</p><p>In the more immediate future, however, Glen Tellis, Spagnuolo and others will travel to Paris in October and Philadelphia in November to present their findings at neuroscience and speech-language conferences, respectively.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Misericordia University students demonstrate equipment used in their research. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_technology01-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Misericordia University students demonstrate equipment used in their research. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_technology02-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Misericordia grad student Kyle Pelkey performs a task while his peers study his brainwaves. The tasks involved reading silently, reading aloud, speaking and finger tapping. The university hopes its research will lead to better assessment and treatment methods for stuttering and other communication disorders.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_technology02-3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Misericordia grad student Kyle Pelkey performs a task while his peers study his brainwaves. The tasks involved reading silently, reading aloud, speaking and finger tapping. The university hopes its research will lead to better assessment and treatment methods for stuttering and other communication disorders.  </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Misericordia profs, students publish their findings</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Alyssa Mursch</p><p>For the Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Misericordia research aims for better treatment of stuttering