The Prevalence of Creak Across Breath Groups in Adductor Laryngeal Dystonia.

Objective: Creak is an acoustic feature found to discriminate speakers with adductor laryngeal dystonia (AdLD) from typical speakers with outstanding diagnostic accuracy. Yet creak is also used by typical speakers as a phrase-boundary marker. This study aims to compare the prevalence of creak across estimated breath groups in speakers with AdLD and controls to delineate physiological mechanisms underlying creak in AdLD.

Contributions of Speech Timing and Articulatory Precision to Listener Perceptions of Intelligibility and Naturalness in Parkinson's Disease.

Purpose: Parkinson's disease (PD) results in hypokinetic dysarthria in as many as 90% of cases. Among the most distinctive features of hypokinetic dysarthria are atypical timing and articulatory imprecision in speech production. Here, we examined the contributions of perceived speech timing typicality and articulatory precision, both on their own and while controlling for the other, on intelligibility and naturalness in speakers with PD.

Sensory processing in the auditory and olfactory domains is normal in laryngeal dystonia.

Abnormal sensory discriminatory processing has been implicated as an endophenotypic marker of isolated dystonia. However, the extent of alterations across the different sensory domains and their commonality in different forms of dystonia are unclear. Based on the previous findings of abnormal temporal but not spatial discrimination in patients with laryngeal dystonia, we investigated sensory processing in the auditory and olfactory domains as potentially additional contributors to the disorder pathophysiology.

Symptom Expression Across Voiced Speech Sounds in Adductor Laryngeal Dystonia.

Objectives: Differential diagnosis for adductor laryngeal dystonia (AdLD) is often carried out by comparing symptom expression during sentences with either all voiced or voiced and voiceless consonants. However, empirical research examining the effects of phonetic context on symptoms is sparse. The purpose of this study was to examine whether symptom probabilities varied across voiced speech segments in an all-voiced sentence, and whether this variability was systematic with respect to phonetic features.

Auditory feedback control in adults who stutter during metronome-paced speech I. Timing Perturbation.

Purpose: This study determined whether adults who stutter (AWS) exhibit deficits in responding to an auditory feedback timing perturbation, and whether external timing cues, which increase fluency, attenuate any disruptions due to altered temporal auditory feedback.

Methods: Fifteen AWS and sixteen adults who do not stutter (ANS) read aloud a multisyllabic sentence either with normal pacing or with each syllable paced at the rate of a metronome. On random trials, an auditory feedback timing perturbation was applied, and timing responses were compared between groups and pacing conditions.

Auditory feedback control in adults who stutter during metronome-paced speech II. Formant Perturbation.

Purpose: Prior work has shown that Adults who stutter (AWS) have reduced and delayed responses to auditory feedback perturbations. This study aimed to determine whether external timing cues, which increase fluency, resolve auditory feedback processing disruptions.

Methods: Fifteen AWS and sixteen adults who do not stutter (ANS) read aloud a multisyllabic sentence either with natural stress and timing or with each syllable paced at the rate of a metronome.

Behavioral and neural correlates of speech motor sequence learning in stuttering and neurotypical speakers: an fMRI investigation.

Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired production of coordinated articulatory movements needed for fluent speech. It is currently unknown whether these abnormal production characteristics reflect disruptions to brain mechanisms underlying the acquisition and/or execution of speech motor sequences. To dissociate learning and control processes, we used a motor sequence learning paradigm to examine the behavioral and neural correlates of learning to produce novel phoneme sequences in adults who stutter (AWS) and neurotypical controls.

The Neural Circuitry Underlying the "Rhythm Effect" in Stuttering.

Purpose Stuttering is characterized by intermittent speech disfluencies, which are dramatically reduced when speakers synchronize their speech with a steady beat. The goal of this study was to characterize the neural underpinnings of this phenomenon using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Method Data were collected from 16 adults who stutter and 17 adults who do not stutter while they read sentences aloud either in a normal, self-paced fashion or paced by the beat of a series of isochronous tones ("rhythmic").

Reliability of single-subject neural activation patterns in speech production tasks.

Speech neuroimaging research targeting individual speakers could help elucidate differences that may be crucial to understanding speech disorders. However, this research necessitates reliable brain activation across multiple speech production sessions. In the present study, we evaluated the reliability of speech-related brain activity measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging data from twenty neuro-typical subjects who participated in two experiments involving reading aloud simple speech stimuli.

Vocal and Neural Responses to Unexpected Changes in Voice Pitch Auditory Feedback During Register Transitions.

Objective/hypothesis: It is known that singers are able to control their voice to maintain a relatively constant vocal quality while transitioning between vocal registers; however, the neural mechanisms underlying this effect are not understood. It was hypothesized that greater attention to the acoustical feedback of the voice and increased control of the vocal musculature during register transitions compared with singing within a register would be represented as neurological differences in event-related potentials.

Study Design/methods: Nine singers sang musical notes at the high end of the modal register (the boundary between the modal and the head/falsetto registers) and at the low end (the boundary between the modal and the fry/pulse registers).