The Cortical Contribution to the Speech-Frequency-Following Response Is Not Modulated by Visual Information

Seeing a speaker's face can significantly aid understanding, particularly in challenging acoustic environments. An early neural response implicated in audiovisual speech processing is the frequency-following response (speech-FFR), which occurs at the fundamental frequency of the speech signal. This response arises from both subcortical areas and the auditory cortex. A previous study showed that subcortical responses to speech can be enhanced when a listener can see the talker's face. Here, we examined the cortical contribution to the speech-FFR and its potential modulation by visual information, motivated in part by the growing use of artificially generated talking-face avatars to support speech comprehension. We recorded MEG responses to four types of audiovisual signals: a still image, an artificially generated avatar, a degraded video, and a natural video. The audio stimuli were presented in a substantial level of background noise to make behavioral audiovisual effects stand out. Speech-in-noise comprehension increased significantly from the audio-only condition to the avatar and the degraded video, and further to the natural video. Moreover, we found that all types of audiovisual stimuli yielded robust speech-FFRs in the auditory cortex at an early latency of around 30 ms. However, the magnitude of this neural response was neither enhanced nor attenuated by the videos, nor could the cortical contribution of the speech-FFR explain a significant portion of the variance in the behavioral comprehension scores. Our results suggest that visual modulation of the speech-FFR in the auditory cortex is, if existent, too small to be measurable in scenarios where speech occurs in considerable background noise.