Sensory Mechanisms of Voice Control

摘要 语音障碍是影响人们交流的最常见的障碍之一 残疾人士。患有这些障碍的人与他人沟通有困难，这些障碍可能 对他们的职业生涯产生不利影响，人们往往会在社会上变得孤立。我们几乎不能做什么来防止 这些障碍对其原因没有扎实的了解。这种缺乏理解的部分原因是 因为缺乏正常语音控制机制的基本知识。最近的研究表明， 感觉反馈在语音控制中起着重要的作用。 这项研究项目的总体目标是了解声音所涉及的神经机制。 控制力。我们在过去的几年里了解到，当人们发声或说话时， 他们的声音听觉反馈的实验操作导致他们的声音基础的反射性变化 频率(F0)或幅度。我们还了解到，帕金森氏症患者或自闭症儿童 对这些操纵有异常大的反应。这些观察表明，神经机制 参与产生对声音听觉反馈干扰的反应在某些神经学上是不正常的 精神错乱。出于这个原因，有必要了解大脑如何控制对声音干扰的反应 反馈。 在拟议的研究中，我们将记录患者大脑表面的电势 患有癫痫的人。我们还将获得受试者在接受治疗时血流变化的图像 语音听觉反馈(FMRI)中的扰动。然后，我们将对大脑的这些区域进行磁刺激 在这一过程中表现活跃，这将暂时改变这些已知区域的神经功能 在反射时是活跃的。我们将开发一个模型，基于对磁刺激的反应， 参与反射反应的大脑内的连接。这些数据将使我们能够开发 关于大脑几个区域中的每一个如何参与对 声音听觉反馈中的扰动。

Abstract Voice disorders are among the most prevalent disorders affecting people with communication disabilities. People afflicted with these disorders have difficulty communication with others, the disorders may adversely affect their careers, and the people often become socially isolated. There is little we can do to prevent these disorders without a solid understanding of their cause. Part of the reason for this lack of understanding is because of the lack of basic knowledge of normal voice control mechanisms. Recent research has shown that sensory feedback plays an important role in voice control. The overall goal of this research project is to understand the neural mechanisms involved in voice control. We have learned over the past several years that as people are vocalizing or speaking, that experimental manipulation of their voice auditory feedback causes a reflexive change in their voice fundamental frequency (F0) or amplitude. We have also learned that people with Parkinson's disease or children with autism have unusually large responses to these manipulations. These observations indicate that neural mechanisms involved in generating responses to perturbations in voice auditory feedback are abnormal in some neurological disorders. For this reason it is necessary to learn how the brain controls the responses to perturbations in voice feedback. In the proposed studies, we will record electrical potentials from the brain surface in patients being treated with epilepsy. We will also obtain images of the blood flow changes in subjects as they respond to perturbations in voice auditory feedback (fMRI). We will then magnetically stimulate those areas of the brain shown to be active in this process, which will temporarily change neural functioning in those areas known to be active during the reflexes. We will develop a model, based on the responses to magnetic stimulation, of the connections within the brain that are involved in the reflexive responses. These data will allow us to develop more specific hypotheses on how each of several areas of the brain are involved in the responses to perturbations in voice auditory feedback.