scholarly journals Speech perception in various acoustic environments: Comparison of different sound coding strategies

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 14-18
Author(s):  
Oleg V. Kolokolov ◽  
Aleksandr O. Kuznetsov ◽  
Anton S. Machalov ◽  
Tatyana Yu. Vladimirova ◽  
Ivan V. Koshel

Objectives to compare speech perception in a quiet and noisy environment using a basic audio coding strategy (CIS) and a modern strategy (ACE) over a period of 24 months. Material and methods. The study involved 30 patients who received hearing rehabilitation in the National Medical Research Center for Otorhinolaryngology of the Federal Medico-Biological Agency in the period of 2018 2021. The inclusion criteria were: implantation in the adult age (from 18 to 45 years), speaking fluent Russian, hearing loss after speech skills formation. After initialization and programming of the speech processor, the patients underwent speech audiometry in a free sound field using syllabic and speech tables in silence and noise. The results were collected in the special MS Excel templates and subjected to statistical analysis. Results. The intelligibility of syllables in patients with CIS and ACE strategies took comparable values and grew with experience within 24 months (from 52 7.00% at the beginning of the study to 72 7.25% at the end), the greatest increase in intelligibility was noted in the first 3 months after connecting the speech processor (from 52 7.00% to 66 7.87%). Using the Greenberg speech table in silence, the groups with the CIS strategy and the ACE strategy obtained similar results with a slight advantage of the ACE strategy up to 6 months of the study. Later, a significantly higher increase in speech perception was observed in the group with the ACE strategy compared to the group with CIS. After 12 months, the perception tests showed 67 8.62% in patients with CIS strategy and 71 7.54% in patients with ACE, after 24 months the results were 68 9.12%, and 72 8.62% respectively. Under noise conditions, we observed an increase of the difference between groups starting from 6 months (41 5.33% in patients with CIS versus 43.3 7.55% with ACE), the largest difference was registered after 24 months (51 5.50% versus 57 8.25% respectively). Conclusion. When compared to the basic strategy, a modern sound coding strategy with a higher resolution can improve speech perception especially with complex speech patterns and in a noisy environment.

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-12
Author(s):  
Oleg V. Kolokolov ◽  
Aleksandr O. Kuznetsov ◽  
Anton S. Machalov ◽  
Alla A. Grigoreva

Objectives to study the effect of ACE and CIS sound coding strategies on sound perception in patients with the cochlear implants system produced by Cochlear Limited. Material and methods. The study included 50 patients taking the rehabilitation course in the Astrakhan branch of the National Medical Research Center for Otorhinolaryngology of the Federal Medico-Biological Agency over the past 5 years (from 2014 to 2019). The group of subjects included children over 7 years old and adults, whose success in rehabilitation made it possible to perform a full range of tests. The patients underwent tonal threshold audiometry and speech audiometry in a free sound field; the results obtained were registered in special MS Excel tables and further analysed using statistical methods. Results. There were no statistically significant differences in hearing thresholds on tonal audiometry when using the coding strategies ACE and CIS, however, differences in speech perception were observed on average by 4.2%. The patients experienced in using hearing aids reported improved speech recognition, with scores varying within 5%. Conclusion. Using a higher-resolution coding strategy can significantly improve speech recognition, while lower-resolution coding is beneficial for patients with digital hearing aid experience.


Author(s):  
Eun-Jung Lim ◽  
Kyu-Yup Lee ◽  
Yee-Hyuk Kim ◽  
Chang-Min Sin ◽  
Sung-Jae Youn ◽  
...  

1971 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert J. Arkebauer ◽  
George T. Mencher ◽  
Carol McCall

Ten patients with bilateral asymmetrical hearing losses were tested for differences in speech discrimination scores under the following listening conditions: poorer ear under earphone; better ear under earphone; sound field, ears unoccluded; and sound field, poorer ear occluded. A patient manifesting a bilateral asymmetrical hearing loss may not be able to either separate or integrate two speech signals; however, occlusion of the poorer ear may be an advantageous means of obtaining maximum speech discrimination. Examination of the speech discrimination scores indicates the existence of detrimental interaction between ears exhibiting bilateral asymmetrical hearing loss. These findings also indicate that when the difference between ears is greater, speech discrimination is better than when asymmetry approximates symmetry. Apparently, the greater the impairment in the better ear, the greater the results to be gained by occluding the poorer ear. These findings were interpreted as being relevant in determining candidacy for binaural amplification. Such candidacy should be determined on the basis of speech discrimination scores obtained from each ear independently, and the combined effect of both aids.


1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140
Author(s):  
Vytautas Stauskis

The paper deals with the differences between the energy created by four different pulsed sound sources, ie a sound gun, a start gun, a toy gun, and a hunting gun. A knowledge of the differences between the maximum energy and the minimum energy, or the signal-noise ratio, is necessary to correctly calculate the frequency dependence of reverberation time. It has been established by investigations that the maximum energy excited by the sound gun is within the frequency range of 250 to 2000 Hz. It decreases by about 28 dB at the low frequencies. The character of change in the energy created by the hunting gun differs from that of the sound gun. There is no change in the maximum energy within the frequency range of 63–100 Hz, whereas afterwards it increases with the increase in frequency but only to the limit of 2000 Hz. In the frequency range of 63–500 Hz, the energy excited by the hunting gun is lower by 15–30 dB than that of the sound gun. As frequency increases the difference is reduced and amounts to 5–10 dB. The maximum energy of the start gun is lower by 4–5 dB than that of the hunting gun in the frequency range of up to 1000 Hz, while afterwards the difference is insignificant. In the frequency range of 125–250 Hz, the maximum energy generated by the sound gun exceeds that generated by the hunting gun by 20 dB, that by the start gun by 25 dB, and that by the toy gun—by as much as 35 dB. The maximum energy emitted by it occupies a wide frequency range of 250 to 2000 Hz. Thus, the sound gun has an advantage over the other three sound sources from the point of view of maximum energy. Up until 500 Hz the character of change in the direct sound energy is similar for all types of sources. The maximum energy of direct sound is also created by the sound gun and it increases along with frequency, the maximum values being reached at 500 Hz and 1000 Hz. The maximum energy of the hunting gun in the frequency range of 125—500 Hz is lower by about 20 dB than that of the sound gun, while the maximum energy of the toy gun is lower by about 25 dB. The maximum of the direct sound energy generated by the hunting gun, the start gun and the toy gun is found at high frequencies, ie at 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz, while the sound gun generates the maximum energy at 500 Hz and 1000 Hz. Thus, the best results are obtained when the energy is emitted by the sound gun. When the sound field is generated by the sound gun, the difference between the maximum energy and the noise level is about 35 dB at 63 Hz, while the use of the hunting gun reduces the difference to about 20–22 dB. The start gun emits only small quantities of low frequencies and is not suitable for room's acoustical analysis at 63 Hz. At the frequency of 80 Hz, the difference between the maximum energy and the noise level makes up about 50 dB, when the sound field is generated by the sound gun, and about 27 dB, when it is generated by the hunting gun. When the start gun is used, the difference between the maximum signal and the noise level is as small as 20 dB, which is not sufficient to make a reverberation time analysis correctly. At the frequency of 100 Hz, the difference of about 55 dB between the maximum energy and the noise level is only achieved by the sound gun. The hunting gun, the start gun and the toy gun create the decrease of about 25 dB, which is not sufficient for the calculation of the reverberation time. At the frequency of 125 Hz, a sufficiently large difference in the sound field decay amounting to about 40 dB is created by the sound gun, the hunting gun and the start gun, though the character of the sound field curve decay of the latter is different from the former two. At 250 Hz, the sound gun produces a field decay difference of almost 60 dB, the hunting gun almost 50 dB, the start gun almost 40 dB, and the toy gun about 45 dB. At 500 Hz, the sound field decay is sufficient when any of the four sound sources is used. The energy difference created by the sound gun is as large as 70 dB, by the hunting gun 50 dB, by the start gun 52 dB, and by the toy gun 48 dB. Such energy differences are sufficient for the analysis of acoustic indicators. At the high frequencies of 1000 to 4000 Hz, all the four sound sources used, even the toy gun, produce a good difference of the sound field decay and in all cases it is possible to analyse the reverberation process at varied intervals of the sound level decay.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-400
Author(s):  
Kanij Fatema ◽  
Shamim Ara ◽  
Mushfika Rahman ◽  
Halima Afroz

Objective: Brain weight varies with age and gender. It decreases with age and also in many diseases. This cross-sectional analytical type of study was carried out to establish normal standard in different age groups in weight of the brain and to see the difference between sexes of adult Bangladeshi people. Materials and Methods: A total of 70 postmortem human brains of adult age groups ranging from 22-58 years in male and 22-48 years in female were collected from the unclaimed dead bodies during postmortem at the autopsy laboratory in the Department of Forensic Medicine, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka, from January 2010 to December 2010. The samples were divided into four different age groups i.e. Group A (20-29 years), Group B (30-39 years), Group C (40-49 years) and Group D (50-59 years). The weight of the whole brain was measured and significant differences in weight of the whole brain between different age groups and between male and female were determined.Results: In male highest value of weight was 1326.67±41.53 gm in group A and lowest one was 1281.6±40.21 gm in group D. These values of female were 1235.56±48.51 gm in group A and 1197.14±38.61 gm in group C. Significant differences were found in mean weight of the whole brain in male and female in group A (p=0.001), B (p=0.001) and C (p=0.001). The difference of mean weight in different age groups was not statistically significant. Conclusion: The weight of the brain is higher in male than in female and it decreases with age. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v13i4.20554 Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.13(4) 2014 p.396-400


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 215-223
Author(s):  
James R. Dornhoffer ◽  
Ted A. Meyer ◽  
Judy R. Dubno ◽  
Theodore R. McRackan

Purpose: To determine the contributions to hearing aid benefit of patient-reported outcomes and audiologic measures. Methods: Independent review was conducted on audiologic and patient-reported outcomes of hearing aid benefit collected in the course of a middle ear implant FDA clinical trial. Unaided and aided data were extracted from the preoperative profiles of 95 experienced hearing aid users, and the relationships between a patient-reported outcome and audiologic measures were assessed. The following data were extracted: unaided and aided pure-tone or warble-tone thresholds (PTA), word recognition in quiet (NU-6), Speech Perception in Noise (low-/high-context SPIN), and patient-reported benefit (Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit, APHAB). Hearing aid benefit was defined as the difference in thresholds or scores between unaided and aided conditions, as measured in the sound field. Correlations were computed among audiologic measures and global APHAB and subscale scores of hearing aid benefit. Results: Significant improvements in all audiologic measures and APHAB scores were observed comparing unaided to aided listening (all p < 0.001). However, correlations between audiologic and patient-reported measures of aided performance or hearing aid benefit were low-to-weak or absent. No significant correlations were found between aided audiologic measures (PTA, NU-6, SPIN) and any aided APHAB scores (all p > 0.0125), and significant relationships for hearing aid benefit were absent with only few exceptions. Hearing aid benefit defined by global APHAB using NU-6 and SPIN scores showed significant but weak positive correlations (r = 0.37, p < 0.001; r = 0.28, p = 0.005, respectively) and ease of communication APHAB subscale scores (r = 0.32, p < 0.001; r = 0.33, p = 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: Hearing aid benefit assessed with audiologic measures were poor predictors of patient-reported benefit. Thus, patient-reported outcomes may provide a unique assessment of patient-perceived benefit from hearing aids, which can be used to direct hearing aid programming, training, or recommendations of alternative hearing services.


2017 ◽  
Vol 348 ◽  
pp. 134-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrique A. Lopez-Poveda ◽  
Almudena Eustaquio-Martín ◽  
Joshua S. Stohl ◽  
Robert D. Wolford ◽  
Reinhold Schatzer ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (08) ◽  
pp. 700-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marios S. Fourakis ◽  
John W. Hawks ◽  
Laura K. Holden ◽  
Margaret W. Skinner ◽  
Timothy A. Holden

The choice of frequency boundaries for the analysis channels of cochlear implants has been shown to impact the speech perception performance of adult recipients (Skinner et al, 1995; Fourakis et al, 2004). While technological limitations heretofore have limited the clinical feasibility of investigating novel frequency assignments, the SPEAR3 research processor affords the opportunity to investigate an unlimited number of possibilities. Here, four different assignments are evaluated using a variety of speech stimuli. All participants accommodated to assignment changes, and no one assignment was significantly preferred. The results suggest that better performance can be achieved using a strategy whereby (1) there are at least 7-8 electrodes allocated below 1000 Hz, (2) the majority of remaining electrodes are allocated between 1100 - 3000 Hz, and (3) the region above 3 kHz is represented by relatively few electrodes (i.e., 1-3). The results suggest that such frequency assignment flexibility should be made clinically available. La escogencia de límites de frecuencia para los canales de análisis de los implantes cocleares se ha visto que impacta el desempeño en la percepción del lenguaje de adultos implantados (Skinner y col, 1995; Fourakis y col, 2004). Mientras que las limitaciones tecnológicas hasta este momento han restringido la factibilidad clínica de investigar nuevas asignaciones de frecuencia, el procesador experimental SPEAR3 ofrece la oportunidad de investigar un número ilimitado de posibilidades. Aquí, se evalúan cuatro asignaciones diferentes utilizando una variedad de estímulos de lenguaje. Todos los participantes se acomodaron a los cambios de asignación y ninguna asignación tuvo una preferencia significativa. Los resultados sugieren que puede obtenerse un desempeño mejor utilizando una estrategia donde (1) existan al menos 7-8 electrodos colocados por debajo de 1000 Hz, (2) la mayoría de los electrodos remanentes sean colocados entre 1100 – 3000 Hz, y (3) la región por encima de 3 kHz esté representada por relativamente pocos electrodos (p.e., 1-3). Los resultados sugieren que tal flexibilidad en la asignación de frecuencias debería estar clínicamente disponible.


Author(s):  
Tesya Imanisa Setiadi ◽  
Wening Udasmoro ◽  
Hayatul Cholsy

Abstract. Suicide is one of the causes of death that occurs in a global scope but always causes divisive perspectives in various circles of society. For most people, suicide is a taboo topic, but not for other groups. The film Monsieur Lazhar (2011) is a film that shows the different perspectives between different age groups, namely the adult age group and the young age group, on a suicide that occurred at an elementary school in Montreal, Canada. This study aims at determining the different perspectives of the two different parties on suicide and the reasons for these differences in views. Pierre Bourdieu’s Champ de Force theory is the lens used in this research. The difference in perspective is influenced by the disposition system which Bourdieu calls the habitus. Habitus operates in a realm (champ). In the film, the domain in question is school. Meanwhile, Durkheim’s theory of suicide was chosen to determine the relationship of social problems to suicide. The method used in this research is content analysis. The data used are the chronological text of the scenes and the transcript of the conversations from the film. From the research, it was found that the school, which is the adult age group, has a counter and stigmatic view of suicide, reinforced by perceptions of psychological problems and social taboos. Meanwhile, students, who are in the young age group, tend to view suicide as a problem related to personal aspects and personal experiences so that they do not have a judgmental attitude like the school. Keywords : Suicide, Contestation, Realm, Perspective, Habitus


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