Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Brain Activity Associated With Pitch Adaptation During Phonation in Healthy Women Without Voice Disorders

Abstract

This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated the brain activity associated with pitch adaptation during phonation in healthy women without voice disorders. This is an interventional prospective study. Sixteen healthy women (mean age: 24.3 years) participated in a blocked design fMRI experiment involving two phonation (comfortable phonation and high-pitched phonation) and exhalation (prolonged exhalation) tasks. BrainVoyager QX Version 2.4 software was used for group-level general linear model analysis (q[FDR] < 0.05). Analyses showed a significant main effect of phonation with pitch adaptation compared with rest period in the bilateral precentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, superior and middle temporal gyrus, insula and cerebellum, left middle and inferior frontal gyrus, right lingual gyrus, cingulate gyrus, and thalamus. Statistical results also identified a significant main effect of exhalation compared with rest period in the bilateral precentral gyrus, cerebellum, right lingual gyrus, thalamus, and left supramarginal gyrus. In addition, a significant main effect of phonation was found in the bilateral superior temporal gyrus and right insula, as well as in the left midbrain periaqueductal gray for high-pitched phonation only. We demonstrated that a blocked design fMRI is sensitive enough to define a widespread network of activation associated with phonation involving pitch variation. The results of this study will be implemented in our future research on phonation and its disorders.