Susceptibility to auditory feedback manipulations and individual variability.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Speech Science
• Auditory Perception

Background:

• Auditory feedback is crucial for speech monitoring and error correction.
• Manipulations like delayed auditory feedback (DAF) and pitch-perturbed auditory feedback (PAF) reveal individual differences in speech susceptibility.
• Previous research has not systematically compared DAF and PAF susceptibility within the same population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate individual differences in susceptibility to DAF and PAF in neurotypical individuals.
• To determine if susceptibility to DAF and PAF are independent.
• To examine the effect of visual feedback on speech production under DAF conditions.

Main Methods:

• 40 neurotypical participants completed DAF and PAF tasks.
• DAF involved repeating sentences with delayed auditory feedback, affecting speech rate.
• PAF involved sustained vowel phonation with pitch perturbations, assessed by compensatory pitch adjustments.

Main Results:

• Susceptibility to DAF and PAF varied significantly across participants.
• No consistent overlap was found between individuals sensitive to DAF and those sensitive to PAF.
• Visual feedback during the DAF task unexpectedly amplified the reduction in speech rate.

Conclusions:

• DAF and PAF likely engage distinct neural mechanisms due to independent susceptibility patterns.
• Individual differences in auditory feedback reliance may explain susceptibility variations.
• Visual feedback does not mitigate, but may exacerbate, the effects of DAF on speech production in neurotypical individuals.