Auditory Feedback Control in Speech Production

Speech production relies on continuous monitoring of one’s own voice via auditory feedback. As articulatory gestures shape sound, the auditory system compares incoming feedback with internal predictions derived from motor commands. Discrepancies between predicted and actual feedback produce sensory prediction errors that prompt rapid adjustments to voice pitch, loudness and articulation. Neural mechanisms supporting this process include feedforward motor plans and efference copies that transiently suppress auditory cortex responses during self-vocalisation and enhance sensitivity to subsequent feedback. Through a hierarchy of cortical and subcortical networks, these mechanisms enable fluent speech, support learning of new phonetic patterns and underpin adaptations to altered feedback. Computational models frame speech motor control as a state feedback control problem, emphasising how internal estimates of vocal tract states guide movements in the face of noise and perturbations. Disruptions to auditory feedback control are implicated in stuttering, speech disorders in neurological conditions and age-related communication decline. Understanding its neural and behavioural foundations has broad implications for therapy, assistive technologies and human-machine interfaces in speech science.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies in non-human primates have delineated dual corollary discharge processes in auditory cortex. One process yields rapid, phasic suppression across frequencies during vocal phrases, while a second, tonic suppression selectively targets predicted vocal frequencies and enhances responsiveness to feedback errors. This dual mechanism suggests that auditory cortex flexibly balances gating of self-generated sounds with heightened detection of deviations. Complementing this, investigations into human tongue control have revealed a reflexive response to sudden stretch of the tongue musculature during speech posture. The relatively long-latency reflex appears to involve a cortical loop rather than spinal circuits, contributing to rapid stabilisation of tongue position. Together, these findings refine our understanding of how reflex and predictive signals converge to maintain precise articulatory postures and monitor speech output in real time.

Auditory Feedback Control in Speech Production publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in auditory feedback control in speech production across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Auditory feedback: The sound of one’s own voice as perceived by the auditory system during speech production.

Efference copy (corollary discharge): A neural duplicate of motor commands sent to sensory areas to predict and modulate responses to self-generated actions.

Sensory prediction error: The difference between expected sensory feedback and actual feedback, driving corrective adjustments.

State feedback control: A computational framework in which motor commands are generated based on ongoing estimates of system states informed by predictions and sensory feedback.

Sensorimotor adaptation: The process by which the motor system updates future movements to compensate for persistent sensory errors.

References

1. Multiple processes of vocal sensory-motor interaction in primate auditory cortex. Nature Communications (2024).
2. Speech-induced suppression and vocal feedback sensitivity in human cortex. eLife (2024).
3. Mechanisms of sensorimotor adaptation in a hierarchical state feedback control model of speech. PLOS Computational Biology (2023).
4. Tongue reflex for speech posture control. Scientific Reports (2024).
5. Speech Production as State Feedback Control. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2011).