Poster Presentation

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Speaking-induced suppression possibly drives auditory change deafness in the vicinity of one's own voice

Poster Session D, Thursday, October 1, 4:30 - 6:30 pm, Wangari Maathai

Hakam Neamaalkassis¹, Yves Boubenec², Christian J. Fiebach¹, R. Muralikrishnan³, Alessandro Tavano¹; ¹Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, ²École Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, ³Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main

Own actions send a corollary discharge (CD) signal, that is a copy of the planned motor programme, to sensory-specific brain areas to suppress the anticipated sensory response, providing a neural basis for the sense of self. When we speak, the sensory consequences of the fundamental frequency (𝑓0) of our own voice, generated by vocal fold vibrations, are suppressed. This effect is known as speaking-induced suppression (SIS), a special case of motor-induced suppression (MIS). However, due to bone/air conduction filtering effects, the 𝑓0 we self-generate is measurably different from the 𝑓0 we subjectively perceive as defining our own voice. Accordingly, we hypothesised 1) a reduced frequency discrimination resolution in the vicinity of one’s 𝑓0, as a long-term byproduct of frequent SIS in response to self-generated speech; and 2) similar effect magnitudes for the subjectively and objectively measured 𝑓0, assuming that the transfer function between both 𝑓0s is known to the brain. Using an auditory local odd-ball paradigm with multiple deviation magnitudes, we parametrically tested the sensitivity to auditory change in the frequency neighbourhoods of objective and subjective own voice pitch 𝑓0s, as well as a control 𝑓0. A mixed-effects model of the behavioural data showed that participants experience change deafness for both own-pitch 𝑓0s to a similar extent, relative to a control pitch condition. Additionally, neither the estimated marginal means nor pairwise contrasts between the subjective and objective 𝑓0 conditions produced a significant difference in the behavioural profiles. We conclude that when we listen attentively, we are likely to filter out small pitch changes in the vicinity of our own objective and subjective voice 𝑓0, possibly as a long-term consequence of speaking-induced suppression mechanisms integrated with individual, perceptual bodily priors. Quantifying the role of such interactions between bodily priors and perceptual processes could complement our understanding of the dynamic, task-driven models of sensory-motor interactions. Ongoing work aims to test the reproducibility of the behavioural effects and, paired with EEG, deliver corroborative findings from neural data.

Topic Areas: Speech Perception,