Modifications of auditory feedback and its effects on the voice of adult subjects: a scoping review.
Moisés do Carmo Alves, Patrícia Cotta Mancini, Leticia Caldas Teixeira
PMID 38126424WHAT IT FOUND
Masking your own voice with noise tends to make adults speak louder; amplifying it tends to make them speak softer.
Pitch shifts trigger reflexive pitch corrections. This is a scoping review of experiments, not evidence that a voice therapy works.
Key findings
01When adults heard their own voice masked by noise, they generally spoke with higher intensity.
02When adults heard their own voice amplified, sound pressure level generally decreased, and participants in at least one study reported less vocal effort.
03Pitch-shifted feedback produced reflexive corrections, but most included studies were in people without voice complaints.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Most included studies were experiments in adults without voice complaints, so they do not show what happens in your voice-disordered patients. Noise and amplification levels were not standardized across studies, so there is no clinical dose or setting to copy. The review did not find studies testing these feedback manipulations as part of voice therapy, so it cannot support a treatment effect. Many studies used sustained vowels, singing, or reading tasks, not everyday clinical voice use, so carryover to clinic is uncertain. Some included studies had small samples.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the decreased loudness in sidetone studies as proof that voice amplification treats voice disorders. The review found no study that tested amplification together with voice therapy, and most evidence was from people without voice complaints.