Abstract Summary/Description
While using one’s voice is a habituated motor skill, intentionally altering one’s voice quality requires mental effort. Although elevated mental effort is commonly reported by singers, actors, and individuals with voice disorders acquiring a new voice production technique, this phenomenon has yielded almost no empirical investigation. In this study, we captured mental effort associated with intentional voice quality change by using cognitive pupillometry: pupil dilation associated with mental activation- as well as self-report scales of mental effort. Eleven adults (mean age 28, SD 5) were recorded counting out loud in their habitual voice quality as well as three novel qualities: fry, breathy, and twang. Both pupil size and self-report associated with altered voice qualities were significantly larger than for habitual voice production, with medium to large effect sizes. In addition, differences between different target voice qualities were likely due to differences in the physical and emotional demands of producing these voices.
