Increased Reporting of Speech in Degraded Stimuli in Schizophrenia: A Case Control Study with Sine-Wave-Speech

Key Points

• The aim is to investigate speech expectations in individuals with schizophrenia using degraded stimuli.
• Case control design comparing individuals with schizophrenia to a control group.
• Participants engaged with sine-wave-speech tasks to assess speech detection and reporting.
• Analysis focused on the specificity of speech recognition under degraded auditory conditions.
• Individuals with schizophrenia demonstrated higher sensitivity to speech in degraded stimuli.
• The findings indicate that speech expectations may contribute to hallucinatory experiences.
• The task proved practical for identifying acute voice hearing and potential prodromal risk.