No influence of hypoglycaemia on voice pitch (F0)

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event No influence of hypoglycaemia on voice pitch (F0) Debora E. Plein1*, Stuart Brody2, Ulrich Keller3, Lukas Degen4, Daniel J. Cox5 and Hartmut Schachinger1 1 University of Trier, Institute of Psychobiology, Germany 2 University of Tubingen, Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, Germany 3 University Hospital Basel, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Clinical Nutrition, Department of Internal Medicine, Switzerland 4 University Hospital Basel, Clinical Research Center and Gastroenterology, Switzerland 5 University of Virginia, Behavioral Medicine Research Center, United States Hypoglycaemia may lead to severe undernutrition of the brain and represents the limiting factor of insulin treatment. Although hypoglycaemia provokes a strong sympathetic stress response as well as neuroglycopenic and adrenergic symptoms, some type 1 diabetes patients become unaware to the symptoms of hypoglycaemia and subsequently fail to administer oral glucose when blood glucose falls below normal. Not surprisingly, hypoglycaemia unawareness represents a risk factor for severe hypoglycaemia, coma or even death. Such patients would greatly benefit from an early detection of hypoglycaemia. The voice is an important carrier of paralinguistic information. It is generally assumed that sympathetic arousal raises the voice pitch (F0). Since hypoglycaemia is known to induce sympathetic activation it may also increase the voice pitch (F0). Thus, we investigated in 12 healthy young adults (six female, mean age 28 years, mean BMI 22.5 kg/m²) if insulin-induced hypoglycaemia increases the mean voice pitch (F0). Two sessions were scheduled in counter-balanced order within a 4-week interval. In one session, a hyperinsulinemic clamp procedure was applied to achieve normoglycemic (4.7 mmol/l), in the other hypoglycaemic (2.7 mmol/l) plasma glucose target levels. There was no significant difference in the mean voice pitch (F0) between the two conditions when analysing half-spontaneous speech samples acquired during non-stressful vocal Stroop testing. From these small and preliminary data sample we conclude that hypoglycaemia stress does not increase mean voice pitch (F0), and hence F0-analysis does not seem to represent a suitable method for early-detection of hypoglycaemia. Conference: 41st European Brain and Behaviour Society Meeting, Rhodes Island, Greece, 13 Sep - 18 Sep, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster presentations Citation: Plein DE, Brody S, Keller U, Degen L, Cox DJ and Schachinger H (2009). No influence of hypoglycaemia on voice pitch (F0). Conference Abstract: 41st European Brain and Behaviour Society Meeting. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.08.2009.09.259 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 12 Jun 2009; Published Online: 12 Jun 2009. * Correspondence: Debora E Plein, University of Trier, Institute of Psychobiology, Trier, Germany, debbieplein@hotmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Debora E Plein Stuart Brody Ulrich Keller Lukas Degen Daniel J Cox Hartmut Schachinger Google Debora E Plein Stuart Brody Ulrich Keller Lukas Degen Daniel J Cox Hartmut Schachinger Google Scholar Debora E Plein Stuart Brody Ulrich Keller Lukas Degen Daniel J Cox Hartmut Schachinger PubMed Debora E Plein Stuart Brody Ulrich Keller Lukas Degen Daniel J Cox Hartmut Schachinger Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.