Short-Term Neurobehavioral Effects of Acute Respiratory Illness on Auditory-Motor Integration During Speech...

COVID-19 is an acute respiratory illness that has been shown to impair speech and voice, yet its effects on the neural dynamics of speech production remain largely unknown. This longitudinal study investigated the short-term neurobehavioral impact of COVID-19 on sensorimotor control of speech production.

Before and after COVID-19 infection, participants in the experimental group produced sustained vowels while hearing their voice unexpectedly pitch-shifted in auditory feedback. An age- and sex-matched control group without intervening COVID-19 infection underwent identical testing across a comparable interval. Vocal compensations and event-related potentials (ERPs), together with source localization and Granger causality analyses, were used to characterize the neurobehavioral effects of COVID-19 on vocal feedback control.

Compared to pre-infection state, the experimental group exhibited reduced vocal compensations, decreased N1 amplitudes, and increased P2 amplitudes with shortened latencies at post-infection state. Enhanced P2 responses were significantly correlated with suppressed vocal compensations and received contributions from the superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyri; the premotor cortex; and the inferior frontal gyrus. Directed causal connectivity was identified from temporal to frontal regions. In contrast, the control group showed no significant changes in vocal or ERP responses between the two sessions.

These findings provide the first evidence for short-term neurobehavioral effects of COVID-19 on auditory feedback control of vocal production. Reduced vocal compensation, together with decreased N1 responses, enhanced P2 responses, and strengthened frontotemporal connectivity, suggests a functional reorganization of auditory-vocal integration following recent COVID-19 infection.