Starting over: Speech & Hearing Sciences helps stroke survivors regain speech
December 21, 2022 - Savannah Peat
The ability to say words, form sentences, and openly speak with people around you may seem like a very normal part of everyday life. In fact, you may even dread certain conversations with certain people.
Not everyone has that luxury, however.
When someone experiences a stroke, oftentimes, the left side of the brain, the speech and language center, is damaged. The brain automatically must use new, healthy areas to regain the very basics of speaking, as if for the first time.
Loss of the ability to use spoken language because of this damage is characterized as aphasia–a reality over one-third of stroke survivors face.
It’s a challenging recovery process researchers at UNM’s Speech & Hearing Sciences are trying to make easier.
“The inspiration for this project and others came after more and more experience with people with aphasia,” Lead Researcher and Associate Professor Jessica Richardson said. “The impact ripples out also to the family as well. It's not just the patient. I was seeing that need and that we needed to do something about that.”
Richardson and her team are focusing on rebuilding speaking, understanding, reading and writing beyond a normal rehabilitation period through noninvasive stimulation of specific areas of the brain.
It’s thanks to a $2 million National Institute of Health (NIH) grant awarded in Nov. 2021. Now, over one year later, plenty is being learned when it comes to aphasia, treatment and brain stimulation.
