Control Of Voice Fundamental Frequency Research Articles

Impaired auditory discrimination and auditory-motor integration in hyperfunctional voice disorders

Hyperfunctional voice disorders (HVDs) are the most common class of voice disorders, consisting of diagnoses such as vocal fold nodules and muscle tension dysphonia. These speech production disorders result in effort, fatigue, pain, and even complete loss of voice. The mechanisms underlying HVDs are largely unknown. Here, the auditory-motor control of voice fundamental frequency (fo) was examined in 62 speakers with and 62 speakers without HVDs. Due to the high prevalence of HVDs in singers, and the known impacts of singing experience on auditory-motor function, groups were matched for singing experience. Speakers completed three tasks, yielding: (1) auditory discrimination of voice fo; (2) reflexive responses to sudden fo shifts; and (3) adaptive responses to sustained fo shifts. Compared to controls, and regardless of singing experience, individuals with HVDs showed: (1) worse auditory discrimination; (2) comparable reflexive responses; and (3) a greater frequency of atypical adaptive responses. Atypical adaptive responses were associated with poorer auditory discrimination, directly implicating auditory function in this motor disorder. These findings motivate a paradigm shift for understanding development and treatment of HVDs.

Bioelectrical brain effects of one's own voice identification in pitch of voice auditory feedback.

Control of voice fundamental frequency (F0) relies in part on comparison of the intended F0 level and auditory feedback. This comparison impacts "sense of agency", or SoA, commonly defined as being the agent of one's own actions and plays a key role for self-awareness and social interactions. SoA is aberrant in several psychiatric disorders. Knowledge about brain activity reflecting SoA can be used in clinical practice for these disorders. It was shown that perception of voice feedback as one's own voice, reflecting the recognition of SoA, alters auditory sensory processing. Using a voice perturbation paradigm we contrasted vocal and bioelectrical brain responses to auditory stimuli that differed in magnitude: 100 and 400 cents. Results suggest the different magnitudes were perceived as a pitch error in self-vocalization (100 cents) or as a pitch shift generated externally (400 cents). Vocalizations and neural responses to changes in pitch of self-vocalization were defined as those made to small magnitude pitch-shifts (100 cents) and which did not show differential neural responses to upward versus downward changes in voice pitch auditory feedback. Vocal responses to large magnitude pitch shifts (400 cents) were smaller than those made to small pitch shifts, and neural responses differed according to upwards versus downward changes in pitch. Our results suggest that the presence of SoA for self-produced sounds may modify bioelectrical brain responses reflecting differences in auditory processing of the direction of a pitch shift. We suggest that this modification of bioelectrical response can be used as a biological index of SoA. Possible neuronal mechanisms of this modification of bioelectrical brain response are discussed.

The influence of attentional focus on voice control

The present study tested the role of attentional focus on control of voice fundamental frequency (F0). Subjects vocalized an “ah” sound while hearing their voice auditory feedback randomly shifted upwards or downwards in pitch. In the “UP” condition, subjects vocalized, listened for and pressed a button for each upward pitch shift stimulus. In the “DOWN” condition, subjects listened for and pressed a button for each downward shift. In the CONTROL condition, subjects vocalized without paying attention to the stimulus direction or pressing a button. Data were analyzed by averaging voice F0 contours across several trials for each pitch shift stimulus in all conditions. Response magnitudes were larger for the CONTROL than for the UP or DOWN conditions. Responses for the UP and DOWN conditions did not differ. Results suggest that when subjects focus their attention to identify specific stimuli and produce a non-vocal motor response conditional upon the identification, the neural mechanisms involved in voice control are reduced, possibly because of a reduction in the error signal resulting from the comparison of the efference copy of voice output with auditory feedback. Thus, focusing attention away from vocal control reduces neural resources involved in control of voice F0.

Sensorimotor control of vocal pitch production in Parkinson's disease

The present study was designed to investigate the sensorimotor control of voice fundamental frequency (F0) in individuals with Parkinson's diseases (PD). Fifteen Cantonese individuals with PD, and fifteen age- and sex-matched healthy Cantonese individuals participated in the experiment. Participants were asked to vocalize a vowel sound while hearing their voice auditory feedback unexpectedly pitch-shifted upwards or downwards through headphones. The size of pitch shifts varied from 50, 100, to 200 cents. One novel averaging method was used to categorize the individual trials such that only those trials that opposed the perturbation direction were averaged to generate an overall response. The results showed that Cantonese individuals with PD produced significantly larger magnitudes of vocal compensation for pitch perturbations than healthy participants. Both groups showed systematic changes in compensation magnitude as a function of perturbation size and direction: larger perturbation size or upward direction elicited greater compensation magnitude. Moreover, pitch variability indexed by the standard deviations of the baseline F0 was significantly correlated with the magnitude of vocal compensation in individuals with PD, whereas this correlation failed to reach significance for healthy participants. This study presents the first data demonstrating the abnormal processing of auditory feedback in the sensorimotor control of voice F0 for Cantonese individuals with PD. It is suggested that the abnormal sensorimotor integration of voice F0 control in PD may be caused by the increased weighting of auditory feedback control resulting from dysfunction of feedforward control and somatosensory feedback caused by the impairment of the basal ganglia.

Modulation of effective connectivity during vocalization with perturbed auditory feedback

The integration of auditory feedback with vocal motor output is important for the control of voice fundamental frequency (F0). We used a pitch-shift paradigm where subjects respond to an alteration, or shift, of voice pitch auditory feedback with a reflexive change in F0. We presented varying magnitudes of pitch shifted auditory feedback to subjects during vocalization and passive listening and measured event related potentials (ERPs) to the feedback shifts. Shifts were delivered at +100 and +400 cents (200ms duration). The ERP data were modeled with dynamic causal modeling (DCM) techniques where the effective connectivity between the superior temporal gyrus (STG), inferior frontal gyrus and premotor areas were tested. We compared three main factors: the effect of intrinsic STG connectivity, STG modulation across hemispheres and the specific effect of hemisphere. A Bayesian model selection procedure was used to make inference about model families. Results suggest that both intrinsic STG and left to right STG connections are important in the identification of self-voice error and sensory motor integration. We identified differences in left-to-right STG connections between 100 cent and 400 cent shift conditions suggesting that self- and non-self-voice error are processed differently in the left and right hemisphere. These results also highlight the potential of DCM modeling of ERP responses to characterize specific network properties of forward models of voice control.

Effects of vocal training on voluntary responses to pitch-shifted voice auditory feedback

Control of voice fundamental frequency (F0) relies on the interaction between various forms of sensory feedback and neural motor control mechanisms. Several studies have shown that unexpected changes in pitch in the auditory feedback lead to reflexive compensatory vocal responses. We examined voluntary vocal responses to unpredictable perturbations in pitch auditory feedback. Ten subjects were trained over a five-day period to change their voice F0 in the opposite direction to the pitch-shifted feedback (±100 cents, 1000 ms) and 10 in the same direction as the feedback. Results showed that responses that followed the stimulus direction had significantly shorter latencies (200 ms) than opposing responses (324 ms). The reduced latency of the following responses suggests a switch from a feedback to a feedforward control strategy. The feedback strategy requires monitoring feedback and correcting for errors between the feedback signal and the intended vocal goal. The feedforward strategy relies less on auditory feedback and more on an internal model of the desired vocal pitch goal. Furthermore, feedback systems generally are slower than feedforward strategies, which would explain the shorter latencies of the responses that followed the stimulus direction. Results of this study will be discussed in terms of the differing strategies that may be used in various vocal contexts.

Auditory-motor adaptation to frequency-altered auditory feedback occurs when participants ignore feedback

BackgroundAuditory feedback is important for accurate control of voice fundamental frequency (F0). The purpose of this study was to address whether task instructions could influence the compensatory responding and sensorimotor adaptation that has been previously found when participants are presented with a series of frequency-altered feedback (FAF) trials. Trained singers and musically untrained participants (nonsingers) were informed that their auditory feedback would be manipulated in pitch while they sang the target vowel [/ɑ /]. Participants were instructed to either ‘compensate’ for, or ‘ignore’ the changes in auditory feedback. Whole utterance auditory feedback manipulations were either gradually presented (‘ramp’) in -2 cent increments down to -100 cents (1 semitone) or were suddenly (’constant‘) shifted down by 1 semitone.ResultsResults indicated that singers and nonsingers could not suppress their compensatory responses to FAF, nor could they reduce the sensorimotor adaptation observed during both the ramp and constant FAF trials.ConclusionsCompared to previous research, these data suggest that musical training is effective in suppressing compensatory responses only when FAF occurs after vocal onset (500-2500 ms). Moreover, our data suggest that compensation and adaptation are automatic and are influenced little by conscious control.

Understanding the neural mechanisms involved in sensory control of voice production

Auditory feedback is important for the control of voice fundamental frequency (F0). In the present study we used neuroimaging to identify regions of the brain responsible for sensory control of the voice. We used a pitch-shift paradigm where subjects respond to an alteration, or shift, of voice pitch auditory feedback with a reflexive change in F0. To determine the neural substrates involved in these audio-vocal responses, subjects underwent fMRI scanning while vocalizing with or without pitch-shifted feedback. The comparison of shifted and unshifted vocalization revealed activation bilaterally in the superior temporal gyrus (STG) in response to the pitch shifted feedback. We hypothesize that the STG activity is related to error detection by auditory error cells located in the superior temporal cortex and efference copy mechanisms whereby this region is responsible for the coding of a mismatch between actual and predicted voice F0.

Auditory Feedback Control of Vocal Pitch during Sustained Vocalization: A Cross-Sectional Study of Adult Aging

BackgroundAuditory feedback has been demonstrated to play an important role in the control of voice fundamental frequency (F0), but the mechanisms underlying the processing of auditory feedback remain poorly understood. It has been well documented that young adults can use auditory feedback to stabilize their voice F0 by making compensatory responses to perturbations they hear in their vocal pitch feedback. However, little is known about the effects of aging on the processing of audio-vocal feedback during vocalization.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn the present study, we recruited adults who were between 19 and 75 years of age and divided them into five age groups. Using a pitch-shift paradigm, the pitch of their vocal feedback was unexpectedly shifted ±50 or ±100 cents during sustained vocalization of the vowel sound/u/. Compensatory vocal F0 response magnitudes and latencies to pitch feedback perturbations were examined. A significant effect of age was found such that response magnitudes increased with increasing age until maximal values were reached for adults 51–60 years of age and then decreased for adults 61–75 years of age. Adults 51–60 years of age were also more sensitive to the direction and magnitude of the pitch feedback perturbations compared to younger adults.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate that the pitch-shift reflex systematically changes across the adult lifespan. Understanding aging-related changes to the role of auditory feedback is critically important for our theoretical understanding of speech production and the clinical applications of that knowledge.

Effect of tonal native language on voice fundamental frequency responses to pitch feedback perturbations during sustained vocalizations

The purpose of this cross-language study was to examine whether the online control of voice fundamental frequency (F(0)) during vowel phonation is influenced by language experience. Native speakers of Cantonese and Mandarin, both tonal languages spoken in China, participated in the experiments. Subjects were asked to vocalize a vowel sound /u/at their comfortable habitual F(0), during which their voice pitch was unexpectedly shifted (± 50, ± 100, ± 200, or ± 500 cents, 200 ms duration) and fed back instantaneously to them over headphones. The results showed that Cantonese speakers produced significantly smaller responses than Mandarin speakers when the stimulus magnitude varied from 200 to 500 cents. Further, response magnitudes decreased along with the increase in stimulus magnitude in Cantonese speakers, which was not observed in Mandarin speakers. These findings suggest that online control of voice F(0) during vocalization is sensitive to language experience. Further, systematic modulations of vocal responses across stimulus magnitude were observed in Cantonese speakers but not in Mandarin speakers, which indicates that this highly automatic feedback mechanism is sensitive to the specific tonal system of each language.

Rapid Change in Articulatory Lip Movement Induced by Preceding Auditory Feedback during Production of Bilabial Plosives

BackgroundThere has been plentiful evidence of kinesthetically induced rapid compensation for unanticipated perturbation in speech articulatory movements. However, the role of auditory information in stabilizing articulation has been little studied except for the control of voice fundamental frequency, voice amplitude and vowel formant frequencies. Although the influence of auditory information on the articulatory control process is evident in unintended speech errors caused by delayed auditory feedback, the direct and immediate effect of auditory alteration on the movements of articulators has not been clarified.Methodology/Principal FindingsThis work examined whether temporal changes in the auditory feedback of bilabial plosives immediately affects the subsequent lip movement. We conducted experiments with an auditory feedback alteration system that enabled us to replace or block speech sounds in real time. Participants were asked to produce the syllable /pa/ repeatedly at a constant rate. During the repetition, normal auditory feedback was interrupted, and one of three pre-recorded syllables /pa/, /Φa/, or /pi/, spoken by the same participant, was presented once at a different timing from the anticipated production onset, while no feedback was presented for subsequent repetitions. Comparisons of the labial distance trajectories under altered and normal feedback conditions indicated that the movement quickened during the short period immediately after the alteration onset, when /pa/ was presented 50 ms before the expected timing. Such change was not significant under other feedback conditions we tested.Conclusions/SignificanceThe earlier articulation rapidly induced by the progressive auditory input suggests that a compensatory mechanism helps to maintain a constant speech rate by detecting errors between the internally predicted and actually provided auditory information associated with self movement. The timing- and context-dependent effects of feedback alteration suggest that the sensory error detection works in a temporally asymmetric window where acoustic features of the syllable to be produced may be coded.

Auditory feedback control of voice fundamental frequency in school children

The present study was intended to address how the online control of voice fundamental frequency (F(0)) during vocalization develops from school children to young adults. Nineteen school children (7-12 years old) and twenty-one young adults (19-27 years old) participated in this experiment. They were asked to sustain a vowel sound /u/ while their voice pitch feedback was randomly shifted (+/-50, +/-100, +/-200, and +/-500 cents) and fed back to them instantaneously over headphones. Results showed that school children produced significantly larger but slower compensatory responses to voice pitch feedback perturbations than young adults. Response latencies became longer with the increase in pitch perturbation magnitude, but no systematic changes were found as a function of stimulus direction. In addition, the number of responses "following" the stimulus direction across different stimulus magnitudes for school children was greater than for young adults. These findings demonstrate developmental changes of vocal responses to pitch feedback perturbations during vocalization from school children to young adults, and suggest that vocal responses can serve as an objective index of the maturation of the audio-vocal system.

2008 Zemlin Award in Speech Sciences Memorial Lecture: The Role of Auditory Feedback for the Control of Voice Fundamental Frequency and Amplitude

Abstract Previous research has failed to identify precise neural mechanisms involved in auditory feedback regulation of vocalization. The goal of this research project was to improve our understanding of neural mechanisms controlling the voice. Participants were instructed to sustain a vowel or repeat phrases during which perturbations in voice pitch or loudness feedback were presented. Voice signal averaging, neuroimaging, laryngeal electromyography, and cortical event-related potential techniques were used to measure vocal and neural responses to perturbed feedback. Pitch- and loudness-shifted voice feedback triggers small automatic corrective responses in voice fundamental frequency and amplitude during vowel or speech production. Larger responses during speech suggest task modulation of these responses. Larger responses were also recorded in individuals with Parkinson's disease and children with autism than in normal controls. Neural recording techniques revealed cortical activation during these responses. Cortical mechanisms are involved in generating corrective vocal responses to perturbations in voice auditory feedback. This system helps control the voice during speech and dynamically adjusts responses to meet vocal goals. Abnormally large responses in individuals with Parkinson's disease and autism suggest that the audio-vocal mechanisms just described may be involved in the speech and vocalizations of these individuals as well.

P.2.b.014 Chronic stress in rats as model for depression: effects of citalopram on expression of TPH isoforms 1 and 2

The present study was designed to investigate the sensorimotor control of voice fundamental frequency (F0) in individuals with Parkinson's diseases (PD). Fifteen Cantonese individuals with PD, and fifteen age- and sex-matched healthy Cantonese individuals participated in the experiment. Participants were asked to vocalize a vowel sound while hearing their voice auditory feedback unexpectedly pitch-shifted upwards or downwards through headphones. The size of pitch shifts varied from 50, 100, to 200 cents. One novel averaging method was used to categorize the individual trials such that only those trials that opposed the perturbation direction were averaged to generate an overall response. The results showed that Cantonese individuals with PD produced significantly larger magnitudes of vocal compensation for pitch perturbations than healthy participants. Both groups showed systematic changes in compensation magnitude as a function of perturbation size and direction: larger perturbation size or upward direction elicited greater compensation magnitude. Moreover, pitch variability indexed by the standard deviations of the baseline F0 was significantly correlated with the magnitude of vocal compensation in individuals with PD, whereas this correlation failed to reach significance for healthy participants. This study presents the first data demonstrating the abnormal processing of auditory feedback in the sensorimotor control of voice F0 for Cantonese individuals with PD. It is suggested that the abnormal sensorimotor integration of voice F0 control in PD may be caused by the increased weighting of auditory feedback control resulting from dysfunction of feedforward control and somatosensory feedback caused by the impairment of the basal ganglia.

Interactions between auditory and somatosensory feedback for voice F 0 control

Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of both kinesthetic and auditory feedback for control of voice fundamental frequency (F0). In the present study, a possible interaction between auditory feedback and kinesthetic feedback for control of voice F0 was tested by administering local anesthetic to the vocal folds in the presence of perturbations in voice pitch feedback. Responses to pitch-shifted voice feedback were larger when the vocal fold mucosa was anesthetized than during normal kinesthesia. A mathematical model incorporating a linear combination of kinesthesia and pitch feedback simulated the main aspects of our experimental results. This model indicates that a feasible explanation for the increase in response magnitude with vocal fold anesthesia is that the vocal motor system uses both pitch and kinesthesia to stabilize voice F0 shortly after a perturbation of voice pitch feedback has been perceived.

Voice F responses to pitch-shifted voice feedback during English speech

Previous studies have demonstrated that motor control of segmental features of speech rely to some extent on sensory feedback. Control of voice fundamental frequency (F0) has been shown to be modulated by perturbations in voice pitch feedback during various phonatory tasks and in Mandarin speech. The present study was designed to determine if voice Fo is modulated in a task-dependent manner during production of suprasegmental features of English speech. English speakers received pitch-modulated voice feedback (+/-50, 100, and 200 cents, 200 ms duration) during a sustained vowel task and a speech task. Response magnitudes during speech (mean 31.5 cents) were larger than during the vowels (mean 21.6 cents), response magnitudes increased as a function of stimulus magnitude during speech but not vowels, and responses to downward pitch-shift stimuli were larger than those to upward stimuli. Response latencies were shorter in speech (mean 122 ms) compared to vowels (mean 154 ms). These findings support previous research suggesting the audio vocal system is involved in the control of suprasegmental features of English speech by correcting for errors between voice pitch feedback and the desired F0.

Control of voice fundamental frequency in speaking versus singing.

In order to investigate control of voice fundamental frequency (F0) in speaking and singing, 24 adults had to utter the nonsense word ['ta:tatas] repeatedly, while in selected trials their auditory feedback was frequency-shifted by 100 cents downwards. In the speaking condition the target speech rate and prosodic pattern were indicated by a rhythmic sequence made of white noise. In the singing condition the sequence consisted of piano notes, and subjects were instructed to match the pitch of the notes. In both conditions a response in voice F0 begins with a latency of about 150 ms. As predicted, response magnitude is greater in the singing condition (66 cents) than in the speaking condition (47 cents). Furthermore the singing condition seems to prolong the after-effect which is a continuation of the response in trials after the frequency shift. In the singing condition, response magnitude and the ability to match the target F0 correlate significantly. Results support the view that in speaking voice F0 is monitored mainly supra-segmentally and controlled less tightly than in singing.

Effect of duration of pitch-shifted feedback on vocal responses in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Study of the pitch-shift reflex is useful for the investigation of how auditory feedback is used in the control of voice fundamental frequency. The present study was an attempt to learn if the basal ganglia are involved in central mechanisms of the pitch-shift reflex by comparing measures of the reflex in a group of Parkinson's disease patients with those measures in a group of control participants. The effect of varying duration of the pitch-shift stimulus (PSS) on the voice fundamental frequency (F0) response in 10 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and 10 age-matched unaffected participants was investigated. Participants were instructed to vocalize into a microphone while their voice was fed back to them over headphones. This feedback of the vocal signal was shifed in pitch either up or down, with the duration of this shift systematically manipulated at 100 ms, 500 ms, and 1000 ms. Although the participants were on medication, making interpretation of the results problematic with regard to basal ganglia function, it was reasoned that positive effects could nevertheless suggest basal ganglia involvement in this reflex and motivate further research. Results indicated that both groups responded to increased stimulus duration of the pitch-shift stimulus with increases in reflex peak time, magnitude, and end times. However, PD patients had significantly longer peak times and end times than control participants for stimulus durations of 100 ms. These results suggest that basal ganglia dysfunction may affect mechanisms relating to the execution and termination of the pitch-shift reflex for brief stimulus durations. The results also support hypotheses of impaired sensory integration of auditory feedback in PD patients.

Perceptual calibration of F0 production: evidence from feedback perturbation.

Hearing one's own speech is important for language learning and maintenance of accurate articulation. For example, people with postlinguistically acquired deafness often show a gradual deterioration of many aspects of speech production. In this manuscript, data are presented that address the role played by acoustic feedback in the control of voice fundamental frequency (F0). Eighteen subjects produced vowels under a control (normal F0 feedback) and two experimental conditions: F0 shifted up and F0 shifted down. In each experimental condition subjects produced vowels during a training period in which their F0 was slowly shifted without their awareness. Following this exposure to transformed F0, their acoustic feedback was returned to normal. Two effects were observed. Subjects compensated for the change in F0 and showed negative aftereffects. When F0 feedback was returned to normal, the subjects modified their produced F0 in the opposite direction to the shift. The results suggest that fundamental frequency is controlled using auditory feedback and with reference to an internal pitch representation. This is consistent with current work on internal models of speech motor control.

The effects of two different speech-coding strategies on voice fundamental frequency control in deafened adults

Control of voice fundamental frequency (Fx) during reading of a standard passage was assessed for four profoundly deafened adults receiving auditory feedback in one of two conditions: (i) with an extended low-frequency response amplifying aid; (ii) with the SiVo aid, which provided only Fx information. A third condition, where the subjects were unaided, was also included. For each feedback condition, quantitative analyses of laryngograph recordings were used to provide measures of Fx mode, 90% Fx range and the regularity of vocal fold vibration. In baseline unaided recordings, three subjects (S1, S2 and S4) showed some aspects of Fx control outside the normal range, while the other (S3) had appropriate Fx control. In the three subjects with impaired control, simplified Fx feedback led to better control than feedback from amplified speech. In two of these subjects, these differences were statistically significant. S3, who showed unimpaired Fx control, did not show any changes in Fx control under the different feedback conditions. Although the patterns of data were different in the individual subjects, simplified Fx feedback led to either improved or unimpaired control of Fx relative to speech feedback or to not feedback. These findings have important implications for speech-processing strategies implemented in hearing aids and cochlear implants, where the effects of different speech-coding strategies on production have been largely ignored.