Frequency-dependent cerebellar circuits independently gate social vocalizations and movement

Communication depends on precise coordination between movement and cognition. Here we reveal that the cerebellum exerts real-time control over social vocalizations in adult mice. Optogenetic stimulation of excitatory cerebellar output in the superior cerebellar peduncle silenced ultrasonic vocalizations with frequency-dependent potency while inducing distinct motor phenotypes. Functional mapping across cerebellar subregions localized vocal behavior to cerebellar interposed nucleus circuits and identified the periaqueductal gray (PAG), a conserved vocal control hub, as a downstream target. Deep brain stimulation of the PAG rescued vocal deficits but not motor incoordination in a mouse model of cerebellar dysfunction. These results identify a cerebellar-midbrain pathway that gates communication independently of movement, and demonstrate that targeted therapeutic neuromodulation rescues social behaviors even in the context of persistent cerebellar-driven motor impairment.