Objective The present study investigated whether self-vocalization enhances auditory neural responsiveness to voice pitch feedback perturbation and how this vocalization-induced neural modulation can be affected by the extent of the feedback deviation. Method Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in 15 subjects in response to +100, +200 and +500 cents pitch-shifted voice auditory feedback during active vocalization and passive listening to the playback of the self-produced vocalizations. Result The amplitude of the evoked P1 (latency: 73.51 ms) and P2 (latency: 199.55 ms) ERP components in response to feedback perturbation were significantly larger during vocalization than listening. The difference between P2 peak amplitudes during vocalization vs. listening was shown to be significantly larger for +100 than +500 cents stimulus. Conclusion Results indicate that the human auditory cortex is more responsive to voice F0 feedback perturbations during vocalization than passive listening. Greater vocalization-induced enhancement of the auditory responsiveness to smaller feedback perturbations may imply that the audio-vocal system detects and corrects for errors in vocal production that closely match the expected vocal output. Significance Findings of this study support previous suggestions regarding the enhanced auditory sensitivity to feedback alterations during self-vocalization, which may serve the purpose of feedback-based monitoring of one’s voice.

Auditory sensory processing is an important element of the neural mechanisms controlling human vocalization. We evaluated which components of Event Related Potentials (ERP) elicited by the unexpected shift of fundamental frequency in a subject’s own voice might correlate with his/her ability to process auditory information. A significant negative correlation between the latency of the N1 component of the ERP and the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia scores for Melodic organization was found. A possible functional role of neuronal activity underling the N1 component in voice control mechanisms is discussed.

It has been shown that applying perturbation to the real-time voice auditory feedback evokes compensatory responses that minimize the vocal output error. Auditory feedback-based control of the voice fundamental frequency involves the integration of multiple neural substrates that take part in the process of vocal output error detection and correction. Previous studies have shown that the cortical brain potentials are modulated during active vocalization versus passive listening to the self-generated voice in the absence of auditory feedback perturbation. To learn more about these central mechanisms, the present study tested the effect of vocalization condition across different pitch-shifted auditory feedback magnitudes. Twenty English speaking young adults vocalized a vowel sound and received pitch-shifted feedback of +100, 200, or 500 cents while scalp potentials were recorded. Results show that the middle-latency P50 responses were significantly larger during the active vocalization task only at 200 cents frequency shifts. Long-latency N100 and P200 peaks were significantly larger during vocalization for 100 cents and 100 cents/200 cents, respectively. The overall conclusion is that the middle- and long-latency cortical responses are significantly greater during vocalization, but the difference between response peak magnitudes across vocalization and passive listening conditions diminishes with larger pitch frequency shifts in the voice auditory feedback.