Amplitude envelope onset characteristics modulate phase locking for speech auditory-motor synchronization

The spontaneous speech-to-speech synchronization (SSS) test has been shown to be an effective behavioral method to estimate cortical speech auditory-motor coupling strength through phase-locking value (PLV) between auditory input and motor output. This study further investigated how amplitude envelope onset variations of the auditory speech signal may influence the speech auditory-motor synchronization. Sixty Mandarin-speaking adults listened to a stream of randomly presented syllables at an increasing speed while concurrently whispering in synchrony with the rhythm of the auditory stimuli whose onset consistency was manipulated, consisting of aspirated, unaspirated, and mixed conditions. The participants’ PLVs for the three conditions in the SSS test were derived and compared. Results showed that syllable rise time affected the speech auditory-motor synchronization in a bifurcated fashion. Specifically, PLVs were significantly higher in the temporally more consistent conditions (aspirated or unaspirated) than those in the less consistent condition (mixed) for high synchronizers. In contrast, low synchronizers tended to be immune to the onset consistency. Overall, these results validated how syllable onset consistency in the rise time of amplitude envelope may modulate the strength of speech auditory-motor coupling. This study supports the application of the SSS test to examine individual differences in the integration of perception and production systems, which has implications for those with speech and language disorders that have difficulty with processing speech onset characteristics such as rise time.