Compensation to real-time temporal auditory feedback perturbation depends on syllable position

Area of Science:

• Speech production and perception research.
• Auditory neuroscience.
• Speech motor control.

Background:

• Auditory feedback significantly impacts speech planning and execution, particularly spectral properties.
• The role of auditory feedback in speech's temporal dynamics remains less understood.
• Understanding speech timing mechanisms is key to addressing speech disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the representation of temporal speech properties.
• To determine the relevance of auditory feedback for speech timing.
• To examine how speakers adapt to temporal perturbations in auditory feedback.

Main Methods:

• Real-time auditory feedback perturbations were applied to consonant-consonant-vowel (CCV) and vowel-consonant-consonant (VCC) structures.
• Temporal domains manipulated included stretching and compressing durations of syllable onsets, nuclei, and codas.
• Speaker compensation and adaptation to these temporal alterations were measured.

Main Results:

• Speakers demonstrated compensation for focal temporal alterations in auditory feedback.
• Responses to VCC perturbations (nucleus + coda) were significantly greater than to CCV perturbations (onset + nucleus).
• CCV compensation appeared reactive, while VCC compensation suggested more adaptive behavior, indicating structural influences on auditory-motor control.

Conclusions:

• Auditory feedback guides the planning and execution of temporal speech properties.
• The response to temporal perturbations is modulated by the syllable's structural position.
• Feedforward timing strategies interact with auditory feedback to shape speech timing adjustments.