Frequency Following Responses in Adults Who Can or Cannot Sing in Tune

Abstract

Background: It is believed that auditory processing occurs normally in people who can sing in tune and improperly in people who cannot. Auditory feedback seems to be a crucial factor in the way the voice is produced and monitored. Evaluation of auditory processing using the Frequency Following Response (FFR) allows fine-grained neural processing to be objectively identified and might be a way of differentiating between those who sing in-tune and those who sing off-tune.The aim of this study was to analyse the FFR responses of people who can sing in-tune and compare them to those who sing off-tune.Material and methods: FFR responses were recorded in 37 adults who were assigned to one of two groups: (i) a control group (CG) consisting of 17 adults who could sing in-tune (ii) an experimental group (EG) consisting of 20 adults who sang off-tune.Results: There were statistically significant differences in the electro-physiological responses of the EG compared to the CG for the latencies of waves A, C, D, and F in the right ear. In contrast, FFR amplitude measurements did not seem to be a suitable parameter for identifying changes in the coding of speech sounds.Conclusions: FFR responses in the EG showed a different pattern from the CG group, with a number of longer latencies in the EG. However, FFR amplitude did not differ significantly between the groups.

The Effects of Monaural Stimulation on Frequency-Following Responses in Adults Who Can Sing in Tune and Those Who Cannot

“…A recent study observed FFR responses only in the right ear of individuals who sing off tune; it also showed that the amplitude values do not seem to be effective in identifying poor vocal tuning. 14 These findings corroborate previous FFR studies, which also highlighted that the amplitude measures are not very reliable in distinguishing between normal and pathological individuals. 30,31 Only one study has been found in the literature associating FFR and tune.…”

“…30,31 Only one study has been found in the literature associating FFR and tune. 14 This study revealed a difference between individuals who can sing in tune and those who cannot in neural processing on FFR response using the syllable /da/. However, the analysis was exclusive to the responses of the right ear.…”

“…Another interesting point highlighted was that the brainstem seemed to have an active role in the neural decoding of sounds, besides that, the musical experience and sound stimulation throughout life could improve skills across the entire auditory trajectory. 14 Frequency-following response is a type of neurophysiological evaluation that allows the investigation and monitoring of the coding of speech sounds in the brainstem, subcortical, and cortical regions. The present study demonstrates that individuals who sing off tune have a deficit in the processing of sound information, which may be one reason that their vocal tuning is also negatively affected.…”

“…Latency and amplitude values of the seven waves elicited by the syllable /da/ (V, A, C, D, E, F and O) were based on the analysis criteria of previous published studies. 14 19 In case a wave was not detected, it was described as absent and the data for this wave was not analyzed. In addition, analysis of the VA complex was done, involving: (i) slope of the VA complex (μV/ms), which is related to the temporal synchronization of the response generators; and (ii) area of the VA complex (μV × ms), which is related to the amount of activity contributing to generation of the wave.…”

“…Studies on the detection of neurophysiological changes resulting from the processing of speech sounds in individuals who sing off tune are scarce. 14 Our study group hypothesized that there could be a difference in FFR responses between the ears, with better performance in the right ear of individuals who sing in tune compared with those who sing off tune. Thus, the objective of the present work is to study FFR responses in individuals who can sing in tune and those who sing off tune.…”