VOICE F-0 RESPONSES TO PITCH-SHIFTED AUDITORY-FEEDBACK - A PRELIMINARY-STUDY

Auditory feedback has been suggested to be important for voice fundame ntal frequency (F-0) control. The present study featured a new techniq ue for testing this hypothesis by which the pitch of a subject's voice was modulated, fed back over earphones, and the resultant change in t he emitted voice F-0 was measured. The responses of 67 normal, healthy young adults were recorded as they attempted to ignore intermittent u pward or downward shifts in pitch feedback while they sustained steady vowel sounds (/a/) or sang musical scales. Ninety-six percent of subj ects increased their F-0 when the feedback pitch was decreased, and 78 % of subjects decreased their F-0 when the pitch feedback was increase d. Latencies of responses ranged from 104 to 223 ms. Results indicate people normally rely on pitch feedback to control voice F-0. Key Words : Voice F-0-Pitch feedback.