Regulation of vocal intensity in the presence of feedback filtering and amplification

Subjects read while their voices were fed back with 0 and 20 dB of amplification. In Experiment I, feedback was returned unfiltered or low-pass filtered with cut-off frequencies of 1000, 500, and 300 Hz. Subjects decreased vocal intensity with amplified feedback when the feedback was unfiltered or low-pass filtered with cut-off frequencies of 1000 or 500 Hz. The amplification effect disappeared when the cut-off frequency was 300 Hz. In Experiment II, feedback was low-pass filtered and amplified in the presence of a steady background noise. The presence of noise potentiated the amplification effect in the unfiltered condition. When filtering was introduced and/or the cut-off frequency was lowered, the amplification effect decreased. In Experiment III, subjects heard their voices unfiltered and high-pass filtered with cut-off frequencies of 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz. The amplification effect was the same across filtering conditions. It is suggested that subjects respond differently and high- and low-pass filtering because air- and bone-conducted feedback interact differentially in these conditions. It is hypothesized that changes may be mediated by self-perception of loudness or intelligibility.