# Neural processes of speech planning

> **NIH NIH R21** · ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY-TEMPE CAMPUS · 2020 · $145,916

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 The central nervous system (CNS) closely monitors auditory feedback during speech production. This
monitoring process is critical for learning to produce speech and maintaining the speech production system.
Moreover, stuttering and several speech disorders are associated with deficits in monitoring. Thus,
understanding neural mechanisms of speech monitoring is critical for development and refinement of theories
of speech production and stuttering, as well as, for development of theory-driven treatments. Current models of
speech have focused entirely on monitoring processes during speech production and do not explain if and how
the CNS optimizes the auditory system prior to speech initiation for speech monitoring. Such modulatory
mechanisms are especially fundamental to the understanding of stuttering, as most stuttering events occur on
the initial sound/syllable of words, highlighting deficient preparatory mechanisms in stuttering individuals. This
program of research aims at elucidating predictive modulatory mechanisms occurring before speech initiation.
We hypothesize that the CNS uses an active process in which motor predictions optimally adjust the auditory
system prior to speech initiation for effective speech monitoring. By combining electroencephalography (EEG)
and speech acoustics in the context of innovative experimental paradigms, we propose a program of research
to study three main aspects of the phenomenon of pre-speech modulation that will have immediate theoretical
and long-term clinical implications. The proposed studies will a) substantially expand our knowledge of
predictive mechanisms that optimize speech monitoring, and b) inform theories of speech production by
providing a (currently missing) account of how the CNS optimizes the auditory system to accomplish effective
speech monitoring. Importantly, given our previous reports of lack of pre-speech modulation in individuals who
stutter, this program of research will provide a strong foundation for a follow-up R01 proposal to examine
contributions of pre-speech sensory modulation in neurobiological bases of stuttering. Finally, our findings will
pave the way for completely novel therapeutics techniques (e.g., neuro-feedback training and noninvasive
neuro-stimulation) that specifically target pre-speech modulation as a promising neural target.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9971514
- **Project number:** 5R21DC017563-02
- **Recipient organization:** ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY-TEMPE CAMPUS
- **Principal Investigator:** Ayoub Daliri
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $145,916
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-03 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9971514

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9971514, Neural processes of speech planning (5R21DC017563-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9971514. Licensed CC0.

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