An interesting new study from Duke University has found that your brain adjusts sounds levels of different participants during conversations. Specifically, it makes your own voice quieter while amping up the voices of other people. Whether trying to catch the latest gossip or learning to sing a new song, the brain needs to hear external sounds more loudly so it puts a damper on the sounds you’re producing. Interestingly, in the brain this process requires the participation of both auditory and motor brain areas.

Researcher Richard Mooney and team discovered specific neurons that control this sound regulation. In this brain image from Mooney lab, the orange parts represent neurons in a mouse’s motor areas that extend into the auditory areas. (The blue dots represent uninvolved motor neurons that don’t communicate with auditory areas.)

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