A detailed examination of pitch discrimination deficits associated with auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia

Abstract

Individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and a history of experiencing auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) exhibit poor pitch discrimination relative to those with an SSD but no AVH history. The present study extended this research, asking if a lifetime history, and the current presence, of AVH exacerbated the pitch discrimination challenges that are seen in SSD. Participants completed a pitch discrimination task, where the tones presented differed in pitch by either 2 %, 5 %, 10 %, 25 % or 50 %. Pitch discrimination accuracy, sensitivity, reaction time (RT) and intra-individual RT variability (IIV) were examined in individuals with SSD and AVHs (AVH+; n = 46), or without AVHs (AVH-; n = 31), and healthy controls (HC; n = 131). Secondary analyses split the AVH+ group into state (i.e., actively experiencing AVH; n = 32) and trait hallucinators (i.e., a history of, but not actively experiencing, AVH; n = 16). Relative to HC, significantly poorer accuracy and sensitivity was detected in individuals with SSD at 2 % and 5 % pitch deviants, and in hallucinators at 10 %; however, no significant differences in accuracy, sensitivity, RT nor IIV were found between AVH+ and AVH- groups. No differences between state and trait hallucinators were observed. A general SSD deficit drove the current findings. The findings may inform future research into the auditory processing capabilities of AVH+ individuals.

Keywords: Auditory verbal hallucination; Pitch; Schizophrenia; Tone-matching; Voice-hearing.