View clinical trials related to Essential Voice Tremor.
Filter by:Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is the gold standard treatment for Essential Tremor (ET). ET is a movement disorder which causes the arms, feet, fingers, head or voice to involuntarily shake. The DBS surgical procedure involves implanting an electrode deep within the brain which blocks damaging signals that cause the tremor. Essential Voice Tremor (EVT) is the vocal manifestation of ET and a number of individuals have both ET and EVT, and when these patients are implanted for their ET, their EVT symptoms are often also mitigated. This study aims to quantify the effects of DBS on EVT by testing on these ET+EVT patients. In addition to this, we hope to determine which hemisphere of the brain is responsible for larynx control: left or right.
Essential tremor is the most common adult-onset movement disorder, and essential voice tremor is the vocal manifestation of essential tremor. While nearly all essential tremor patients experience hand tremor, many also manifest head tremor and voice tremor. Essential voice tremor can lead to increased vocal effort, decreased intelligibility, and misconstrued emotional state. Only one medication, propranolol, is FDA-approved to treat essential tremor. Propranolol is not felt to be nearly as effective for axial tremors (head, trunk, neck) as it is for extremity tremors. However, this has not been studied with any objective assessment in a prospective way for EVT. For patients with essential voice tremor, the limited published data suggests that botulinum toxin has been shown to lead to functional voice improvement. Botulinum toxin, though also not well-studied with objective voice outcomes, is a commonly used clinical therapy for treatment of essential voice tremor. While it is used more often for essential voice tremor than propranolol therapy, botulinum toxin also has not been prospectively studied with validated, objective voice outcome measures. The investigators would like to determine if propranolol has any significant effect on vocal tremor. The investigators would also like to determine, in an objective way, the effect of botulinum toxin on vocal tremor. If effective, propranolol would provide an affordable and non-invasive alternative or addition to botulinum toxin injections for patients with essential voice tremor.
Essential voice tremor is a neurological condition that produces a regular, shaking quality in the voice. One form of drug treatment that produces some improvement in tremor of the hands is octanoic acid, which is a food additive that is similar to alcohol. Research suggests that octanoic acid may reduce tremor in the hands/arms with few side effects and no intoxication effects. This study will determine whether octanoic acid may be useful for reducing tremor when it affects the voice. Researchers are hypothesizing that octanoic acid will reduce the effects of tremor on the voice.