Changes in Relative Fundamental Frequency Under Increased Cognitive Load in Individuals With Healthy Voices

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of cognitive load on relative fundamental frequency (RFF) in individuals with healthy voices. Method Twenty adults with healthy voices read sentences under different cognitive load conditions. Each sentence contained color terms printed in colored ink, creating an embedded Stroop task. Participants read the ink color in which a word was printed, rather than the color term itself. Sentences with mismatched ink colors and printed words constituted an increased cognitive load. RFF, an acoustic correlate of laryngeal tension, was calculated for the 10 voicing cycles preceding (i.e., offset) and following (i.e., onset) voiceless consonants. Repeated measures analyses of variance were constructed to assess the effects of RFF cycle, cognitive load, and their interaction on mean RFF offset and onset. Results There was a significant effect of cognitive load condition on RFF offset. There was no significant effect of condition on RFF onset nor significant interaction between cycle and condition on RFF onset or offset values. Conclusion Reduced mean RFF offset may indicate an increase in laryngeal muscle tension during a cognitively demanding task.

Cognitive Load Increases Spoken and Gestural Hesitation Frequency

“…In recent years, cognitive load has often been investigated from the perspective of its automatic perception or classification (Schuller et al 2014), and with a less strong focus of the fine phonetic details of its acoustic-phonetic and prosodic realization. Where these aspects have been examined, they have often focused on the segmental level, searching for evidence of hyperarticulation or increased overall "tension", also affecting suprasegmental aspects such as fundamental frequency (Dahl and Stepp 2021;Lively et al 1993;Yap et al 2011). However, cognitive load has also been shown to influence pausing patterns such as pause frequency and type (fillers vs. silences) (Montacié and Caraty 2014;Yin and Chen 2007).…”

Метод Підвищення Інформативності Частоти Основного Тону В Задачах Ідентифікації Мовця

“…Визначення частоти основного тону є важливою задачею в області ідентифікації мовця. Існує значна кількість підходів до цієї задачі, що ґрунтуються на недавніх дослідженнях у галузі нейроанатомії, нейрофізіології, поведінкових досліджень та мовотворення [15,18,26,28,29]. Особливістю задач визначення частоти ОТ є неможливість порівняння методів визначення за рахунок особливостей отримання значень визначального параметра, тому задача точності визначення частоти основного є частиною задачі ідентифікації мовця і дуже часто не може розглядатися окремо [23].…”

Effects of different cognitive functions on acoustic voice parameters in young adults

“…Our study is similar to the studies by MacPherson et al [5] and Dahl and Stepp. [13] An increase in F0 under cognitive load may be associated with an increase in longitudinal strain. [13] The reason why F0 did not change in our results may be that the cognitive tasks we used did not affect longitudinal tension enough to increase F0.…”

“…[11] In two studies, the terms cognitive load and mental load were used when a task requiring the use of task-specific cognitive functions was given. [12,13] The sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system responds to tasks that use cognitive functions. [14] The autonomic nervous system inf luences different features of speech during different cognitive functions, such as the timing and stability of speech production, [15] lip kinematics, [8] and rate.…”

“…[16] The human voice represents an important alternative measure of cognitive load, and there are studies showing that cognitive load also affects acoustic voice parameters. [5,12,13] There are different results in the literature regarding the relationship between cognitive functions and acoustic voice parameters. For example, fundamental frequency (F0) has been found to increase, [12] decrease, [17] or remain unchanged [5] with cognitive load.…”