Predictive coordination of breathing during intra-personal speaking and listening

Summary: It has long been known that human breathing is altered during listening and speaking compared to rest: during speaking, inhalation depth is adjusted to the air volume required for the upcoming utterance. During listening, inhalation is temporally aligned to inhalation of the speaker. While evidence for the former is relatively strong, it is virtually absent for the latter. We address both phenomena using recordings of speech envelope and respiration in 30 participants during 14 min of speaking and listening to one’s own speech. First, we show that inhalation depth is positively correlated with the total power of the speech envelope in the following utterance. Second, we provide evidence that inhalation during listening to one’s own speech is significantly more likely at time points of inhalation during speaking. These findings are compatible with models that postulate alignment of internal forward models of interlocutors with the aim to facilitate communication.