Virtual Reality in Aphasia Telerehabilitation

Combining Immersive Virtual Reality With Telerehabilitation to Provide Language Intervention for People With Aphasia: A Randomized Waitlist Controlled Trial

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of the immersive 3D HMD VR technology in the language intervention with a home-based telerehabilitation approach for people with aphasia. The assessments will be conducted at the baseline (prior the intervention periods) and after each intervention period (i.e. after the VR-intervention period and the waitlist period).

The purpose of the present project is to study the effects, feasibility, and the participants' experiences of this novel kind of language intervention. The effects of the intervention will be studied with various outcome measures in terms of language performance, functional communication, and quality of life. The aim is to explore the VR-intervention on the group level and with a randomized waitlist control group design (or delayed crossover design). In this study, the people with aphasia will be practicing at their home with support of their relatives, and participants will also receive regular remote guidance by a speech and language therapist (SLT) during the intervention. The relatives are also involved in the assessment process.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Post-stroke aphasia ≥ 3 months from stroke
• Age 18-75 years
• Finnish as a native language
• Relative have the motivation and willingness to support person with aphasia in rehabilitation process
• At least some level of spoken output
• Moderate-to-severe aphasia
• Deficit in a word retrieval process

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participation in other intervention study during the study
• Participation in other traditional speech and language therapy during the VR-intervention (i.e. 9-10 weeks period).
• Severe and current psychotic disorder
• Dementia/other neurodegenerative disease
• History of previous stroke (/strokes) if not recovered, excluding TIAs (the criteria for the recovery: no residual aphasia or other disabilities caused by stroke which would affect in significant manner on everyday life)
• Active epilepsy / migraine (< 3 years)
• Severe apraxia of speech
• Inability to act according to given instruction
• Severe neuropsychological disorder or the decline of cognitive / memory functions, which would significantly affect for training during the VR-intervention
• Vision or hearing impairment which would prevent the use of VR HMD
• if the participant's treatment or medication is unsuitable with the use of VR HMD device as assessed by the physician
• if the participant has the pacemaker or implantable (electric) medical device