Quantitative evaluation of speech motor control: voice reaction time measurements

Aim of this paper is to present some results obtained with multiparametric investigations of the speech motor system in neural subjects. Each subject expected different voice reaction tasks (choice of foreperiod reactions) after proper visual stimuli. Several responses have been simultaneously recorded: acoustics, EMG, electroglottographic, respiratory, lips and jaw kinematics signals. To this purpose, we developed and built an equipment consisting of a programmable visual simulator and a recording system performing signal acquisition, waveform display, automatic time- and frequency-domain processing and data storage. The overall technique simplifies even complex paradigms, while offering high reliability and reproducibility.