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. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]