Perceptual calibration of F0 production: Evidence from feedback perturbation

Hearing one's own speech is important for language learning and maintenance of accurate articulation. For example, people with postlinguistically acqu ired deafness often show a gradual deterioration of many aspects of speech production. In this manuscript, data are presented that address the role pl ayed by acoustic feedback in the control of voice fundamental frequency (F0 ). Eighteen subjects produced vowels under a control (normal F0 feedback) a nd two experimental conditions: F0 shifted up and F0 shifted down. In each experimental condition subjects produced vowels during a training period in which their F0 was slowly shifted without their awareness. Following this exposure to transformed F0, their acoustic feedback was returned to normal. Two effects were observed. Subjects compensated for the change in F0 and s howed negative aftereffects. When F0 feedback was returned to normal, the s ubjects modified their produced F0 in the opposite direction to the shift. The results suggest that fundamental frequency is controlled using auditory feedback and with reference to an internal pitch representation. This is c onsistent with current work on internal models of speech motor control. (C) 2000 Acoustical Society of America rr. [S0001-4966(00)03009-5].