Deficits in Prosodic Speech-in-Noise Recognition in Schizophrenia Patients and Its Association with Psychiatric Symptoms

Abstract

Abstract Background Uncertainty in speech perception and emotional disturbances are intertwined with psychiatric symptoms. How prosody embedded in target speech affects speech-in-noise recognition (SR) and is related to psychiatric symptoms in patients with schizophrenia remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the neural substrates of prosodic SR deficits and their associations with psychiatric symptom dimensions in patients with schizophrenia. Methods Fifty-four schizophrenia patients (SCHs) and 59 healthy control participants (HPs) completed the SR task (the target pseudosentences were uttered in neutral, happy, sad, angry, fear, and disgust prosody), positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) assessment, and magnetic resonance imaging scanning. We examined the deficits of the six prosodic SRs in schizophrenia patients and examined their associations with brain gray matter volume (GMV) reduction and psychiatric symptoms. Results Negative prosody worsened SR and reduced SR change rates across groups. SCHs had lower rates of change in prosodic SR and SR than HPs. Prosodic SR was associated with acoustic features. The GMV PLS component (covering 47 brain regions with group differences) was related to group differences in the six prosodic SRs. A happy SR was associated with the PANSS total, negative, and general scores after adjusting for covariates. Conclusions A better prosodic SR was related to better emotional salience, shorter duration, and lower shimmer (local) of the target sentences. The prosodic SR abnormalities in SCHs were associated with brain GMV reductions in the regions involved in sensorimotor, speech, and emotion processing. These findings suggest the possibility of improving negative symptoms by improving a happy SR in schizophrenia patients based on neuroplasticity.