Vocal and Neural Responses to Unexpected Changes in Voice Pitch Auditory Feedback During Register Transitions.
Sona Patel, Anjli Lodhavia, Saul Frankford and 2 others
PMID 26739860WHAT IT FOUND
Trained singers' pitch correction size did not differ when feedback shifted toward or away from a register boundary, but brain-wave responses differed, especially at the low fry boundary.
Key findings
01The size of singers' vocal responses did not significantly differ by pitch-shift direction or register boundary.
02Peak vocal response timing was significantly faster at the high register boundary than at the low register boundary.
03The N1 brain-wave component was larger at the low register boundary and differed with shift direction at the low boundary; the P2 component differed with shift direction at both boundaries on some electrodes.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only nine singers were analysed after eight were dropped because EEG signals failed, so the sample is very small and may not represent singers or patients. The participants were healthy, experienced singers with no voice or speech disorders, so the study does not show what happens in patients with voice problems. The study tested laboratory feedback shifts during sustained singing, not a treatment or patient outcome. The upper register boundary was hard to identify, and the notes chosen may not have been uniform across singers. Scalp EEG cannot identify the exact brain locations or mechanisms behind the responses. The conclusion that responses were greatest when pitch entered the fry register is not supported by the vocal magnitude results, which showed no significant differences.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this paper shows a clinical voice treatment works or that the brain-wave differences can be used to assess patients. The study tested nine healthy trained singers in a laboratory, not patients, and no treatment was tested.