Processing of auditory feedback in perisylvian and insular cortex

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Auditory Neuroscience
• Speech Processing

Background:

• Speech production involves motor control and auditory/sensory feedback.
• Auditory responses are modulated during speech production versus perception.
• The spatiotemporal dynamics of this modulation are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate auditory response modulation during speech production.
• To examine how speech production affects auditory processing in the brain.
• To identify brain regions involved in auditory feedback control during speech.

Main Methods:

• Recorded intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) in 17 patients (pediatric, adolescent, adult) with epilepsy.
• Patients performed a reading/listening task.
• Analyzed neural responses to speech perception and production.

Main Results:

• Identified onset and sustained speech responses in bilateral auditory cortex.
• Observed selective suppression of onset responses during speech production compared to perception.
• Found stable phonological feature tuning in suppressed electrodes.
• Detected responses in the posterior insula during both speech perception and production onset.

Conclusions:

• Speech production involves selective suppression of auditory onset responses in the auditory cortex.
• Onset suppression may relate to predictive coding mechanisms in speech.
• The posterior insula plays a role in multisensory integration for speech feedback control.