Degree
Master of Science
Program
Neuroscience
Supervisor
Dr. David Purcell
Abstract
Responses to altered auditory feedback during speech production are highly variable. The extent to which auditory encoding influences this varied use is not well understood. Thirty-nine normal hearing adults completed a first formant (F1) manipulation paradigm where F1 of the vowel /ε/ was shifted upwards in frequency towards an /æ/–like vowel in real-time. Frequency following responses (FFRs) and envelope following responses (EFRs) were used to measure neuronal activity to the same vowels produced by the participant and a prototypical talker. Cochlear tuning, measured by SFOAEs and a psychophysical method, was also recorded. Results showed that average F1 production changed to oppose the manipulation. Three metrics of EFR and FFR encoding were evaluated. No reliable relationship was found between speech compensation and evoked response measures or measures of cochlear tuning. Differences in brainstem encoding of vowels and sharpness of cochlear tuning do not appear to explain the variability observed in speech production.
Recommended Citation
Beamish, Laura E., "Investigation of Auditory Encoding and the Use of Auditory Feedback During Speech Production" (2013). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 1591.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/1591