Compensations to auditory feedback perturbations in congenitally blind and sighted speakers: Acoustic and articulatory data

PLoS One. 2017 Jul 5;12(7):e0180300. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180300. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of visual deprivation on the relationship between speech perception and production by examining compensatory responses to real-time perturbations in auditory feedback. Specifically, acoustic and articulatory data were recorded while sighted and congenitally blind French speakers produced several repetitions of the vowel /ø/. At the acoustic level, blind speakers produced larger compensatory responses to altered vowels than their sighted peers. At the articulatory level, blind speakers also produced larger displacements of the upper lip, the tongue tip, and the tongue dorsum in compensatory responses. These findings suggest that blind speakers tolerate less discrepancy between actual and expected auditory feedback than sighted speakers. The study also suggests that sighted speakers have acquired more constrained somatosensory goals through the influence of visual cues perceived in face-to-face conversation, leading them to tolerate less discrepancy between expected and altered articulatory positions compared to blind speakers and thus resulting in smaller observed compensatory responses.

MeSH terms

  • Acoustic Stimulation
  • Adult
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Auditory Perception / physiology*
  • Auditory Threshold
  • Blindness / physiopathology
  • Feedback, Sensory / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lip / physiology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Phonetics
  • Speech Acoustics
  • Speech Perception / physiology*
  • Speech Production Measurement / methods
  • Tongue / physiology
  • Visually Impaired Persons*

Grants and funding

Funded by Grant number: 766-2014-0255 - Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Canada Graduate Scholarships-Master’s Program) - http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/home-accueil-eng.aspx (PTF), Grant number: 410-2010-1785 - Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Insight Grant) - http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/home-accueil-eng.aspx (LM), Grant number: RGPIN-2015-06544 - Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Grant) - http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/index_eng.asp (LM). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.