The effects of a simulated fMRI environment on voice intensity in individuals with Parkinson's disease hypophonia and older healthy adults

Jordan L. Manes*, Ellen Herschel, Katharine Aveni, Kris Tjaden, Todd Parrish, Tanya Simuni, Daniel M. Corcos, Angela C. Roberts

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has promise for understanding neural mechanisms of neurogenic speech and voice disorders. However, performing vocal tasks within the fMRI environment may not always be analogous to performance outside of the scanner. Using a mock MRI scanner, this study examines the effects of a simulated scanning environment on vowel intensity in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) and hypophonia and older healthy control (OHC) participants. Method: Thirty participants (15 PD, 15 OHC) performed a sustained /ɑ/ vowel production task in three conditions: 1) Upright, 2) Mock Scanner + No Noise, and 3) Mock Scanner + MRI noise. We used a linear mixed-effects (multi-level) model to evaluate the contributions of group and recording environment to vowel intensity. A second linear mixed-effects model was also used to evaluate the contributions of PD medication state (On vs. Off) to voice intensity. Results: Vowel intensity was significantly lower for PD compared to the OHC group. The intensity of vowels produced in the Upright condition was significantly lower compared to the Mock Scanner + No Noise condition, while vowel intensity in the Mock Scanner + MRI Noise condition was significantly higher compared to the Mock Scanner + No Noise condition. A group by condition interaction also indicated that the addition of scanner noise had a greater impact on the PD group. A second analysis conducted within the PD group showed no effects of medication state on vowel intensity. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that performance on voice production tasks is altered for PD and OHC groups when translated into the fMRI environment, even in the absence of acoustic scanner noise. For fMRI studies of voice in PD hypophonia, careful thought should be given to how the presence of acoustic noise may differentially affect PD and OHC, for both group and task comparisons.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number106149
JournalJournal of Communication Disorders
Volume94
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1 2021

Funding

We would like to extend a special thanks to Alyssa Penn and Michelle Murashev for assisting with clinical perceptual ratings of our PD group. Funding for this project was provided by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (F31 DC015717 and T32 DC013017).

Keywords

  • Body position
  • Hypophonia
  • Lombard effect
  • Parkinson's disease
  • Voice
  • Voice intensity
  • fMRI

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Speech and Hearing
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • LPN and LVN
  • Linguistics and Language

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