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Cited by 71Voice and Speech DisordersPhonetics and Phonology ResearchHeart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control

Acoustic Measures of Voice and Physiologic Measures of Autonomic Arousal during Speech as a Function of Cognitive Load

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MacPherson, Megan K., Abur, Defne, Stepp, Cara E.·2017·Journal of Voice
DOI 10.1016/j.jvoice.2016.10.021PMC PMC6081741
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Abstract

Objectives/hypothesis This study aimed to determine the relationship among cognitive load condition and measures of autonomic arousal and voice production in healthy adults. Study design A prospective study design was conducted. Methods Sixteen healthy young adults (eight men, eight women) produced a sentence containing an embedded Stroop task in each of two cognitive load conditions: congruent and incongruent. In both conditions, participants said the font color of the color words instead of the word text. In the incongruent condition, font color differed from the word text, creating an increase in cognitive load relative to the congruent condition in which font color and word text matched. Three physiologic measures of autonomic arousal (pulse volume amplitude, pulse period, and skin conductance response amplitude) and four acoustic measures of voice (sound pressure level, fundamental frequency, cepstral peak prominence, and low-to-high spectral energy ratio) were analyzed for eight sentence productions in each cognitive load condition per participant. Results A logistic regression model was constructed to predict the cognitive load condition (congruent or incongruent) using subject as a categorical predictor and the three autonomic measures and four acoustic measures as continuous predictors. It revealed that skin conductance response amplitude, cepstral peak prominence, and low-to-high spectral energy ratio were significantly associated with cognitive load condition. Conclusions During speech produced under increased cognitive load, healthy young adults show changes in physiologic markers of heightened autonomic arousal and acoustic measures of voice quality. Future work is necessary to examine these measures in older adults and individuals with voice disorders.

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  • Speech under cognitive stress was associated with increases in sympathetic indices and subtle alterations in voice quality.

    “Speech under cognitive stress was associated with increases in sympathetic indices and subtle alterations in voice quality.”

    From Mapping the Neurophysiological Link Between Voice and Autonomic Function: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

  • MacPherson et al. (2017) found that associations between autonomic and vocal measures did not reach statistical significance.

    “These changes were documented by MacPherson and colleagues (2017), who found that associations between autonomic and vocal measures did not reach statistical significance [28].”

    From Mapping the Neurophysiological Link Between Voice and Autonomic Function: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

    The Results report that an autonomic measure and two vocal measures were each significantly associated with cognitive-load condition, not that associations between autonomic and vocal measures were tested. A search for correlations or significance tests directly linking those measures found no such result in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)

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3 of the 88 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [13]Roy N Bless DM Heisey D Personality and Voice DisordersA Superfactor Trait Analysis. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 2000 43 749 768 10877443
  2. [19]Park K Behlau M Signs and symptoms of autonomic dysfunction in dysphonia individuals. Jornal da Sociedade Brasileira de Fonoaudiologia 2011 23 164 169 21829933

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Authors
MacPherson, M. K., Abur, D., & Stepp, C. E.
Affiliations
  • Florida State University (US)
  • Boston University (US)
Corresponding author
MacPherson, Megan K.
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Voice
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2017-07
Volume
31
Issue
4
Pages
504.e1-504.e9
ISSN
0892-1997 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jvoice.2016.10.021
PMC
PMC6081741
OpenAlex
W2560443639
Cited by
71
References
88
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1
FWCI
2.95
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Voice (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (DC015570)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Voice and Speech Disorders
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
Keywords
cognitive load, autonomic arousal, voice quality, acoustic voice analysis, skin conductance response, pulse period, Stroop task, cepstral peak prominence, fundamental frequency, speech production
MeSH terms
Adult, Autonomic Nervous System, Cognition, Female, Humans, Male, Prospective Studies, Speech Acoustics, Voice, Young Adult

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