Enhanced pitch centering in individuals with Laryngeal Dystonia.
Rabab Rangwala, Anantajit Subrahmanya, Kurtis Brent, Saloni Gupta, Kamalini G Ranasinghe, Corby Dale, Jessica Gaines, Alvince Pongos, Clark Rosen, Sarah Schneider, Julie M Barkmeier-Kraemer, Kristina Simonyan, John F Houde, Srikantan S Nagarajan
The aim of this study was to investigate pitch centering as a marker of neural control of spontaneous speech in individuals with laryngeal dystonia (LD). Specifically, we sought to compare pitch centering and pitch movement between individuals with LD and healthy controls, and to characterize patterns of centering, anticentering, and overshoot trials to better understand how predictive and corrective vocal motor control processes are altered in LD.
Date
2026
Scope
Publication
Source
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Conclusion
Individuals with laryngeal dystonia show larger initial pitch errors and exaggerated corrective pitch centering compared to healthy controls, reflecting unstable and dysregulated vocal motor control. These findings identify pitch centering as a sensitive marker of altered speech motor and predictive control in LD, with potential relevance for clinical assessment and targeted voice therapies.