OBJECTIVETo investigate the effective way to test 4-year-old children's ability of sound localization in the horizontal plane.

METHODSUsing minimum audible angle (MAA) measure procedure on the basis of conditioned play audiometry, sound localization test was conducted for 4-year-old children at 0 degrees , +/- 45 degrees , +/- 90 degrees , +/- 135 degrees and 180 degrees standard positions in the horizontal plane.

RESULTSThe outcome of sound localization test for 4-year-old children separately were: MAA (0 degrees ) = (3.80 +/- 0.71) degrees , MAA (-45 degrees ) = (7.70 +/- 1.27) degrees , MAA (45 degrees ) = (7.10 +/- 1.39) degrees , MAA (-90 degrees ) = (8.15 +/- 2.38) degrees , MAA (90 degrees ) = (7.61 +/- 2.47) degrees , MAA (-135 degrees ) = (8.85 +/- 2.70) degrees , MAA (135 degrees ) = (8.30 +/- 1.42) degrees , MAA (180 degrees ) = (5.20 +/- 1.27) degrees . The MAA of eight standard positions were less than 10 degrees , and the MAA (0 degrees ) was the smallest one.

CONCLUSIONSOur findings suggest that MAA test procedure on the basis of conditioned play audiometry could be used to evaluate the ability of sound localization in 4-year-old children.

This paper aimed to study what the influences of orthodontic treatment of pronunciation are. We compared the duration and the acoustic wave patterns of Korean consonants pronounced by a control group with those of a patient who had his four premolars extracted and had been given orthodontic treatment The results were as follows : 1. Compared to the control group, the treatment group had a longer duration time of consonant pronunciation for all consonants but "s " and "th" in CV(consonant-vowel) pairs. Especially in the case of "dz", "phih" for CV-pairs, and "d" in VCV(vowel-consonant-vowel) clusters, the duration of consonant sound showed a sharp contrast between the control group and the treatment group. 2. There were clear differences in the acoustic wave patterns of "ts", "phih" and "ch", all of which were in VCV-clusters. The acoustic wave pattern of "ts", when pronounced by the treatment group, was stronger than the control group's. This phenomenon was most remarkable in the transitive section where the "ts" sound flowed into the following vowel. When a preceding vowel shifted to the consonant "phih", the attack property of the appeared clearly in the acoustic waves of the t,reament group, while in the control group the starting point of consonart was indistinctive. Consonant duration for the treatment group was longer, and the appearance of a zero crossing point in the acoustic wave was more frequent. In the case of "ch", the treatment group produced a strong acoustic wave, and the property of aspiration was obvious in it 3. When the treatment group pronounced "d" and "dz" in CV-pairs, the acoustic-wave was similar to that of aspirated "th" and "ch". 4. The aspirated "th" and "ch" pronounced by the treatment group showed the stronger airstream and acoustic wave form.
Bicuspid* ; Humans ; Sound

No abstract available.
Hearing Loss, Conductive ; Sound Localization

The auditory system recognized sound waves. The sound waves are longitudinal waves in the air, where the pressure varies in time. It is distinguished as the rapid pressure changes, referred to as 'fine structure', and slower overall changes of amplitude fluctuations, as 'envelope'. The auditory system has a limited ability to follow the time-varying envelope, and this ability is known as 'temporal resolution'. Our auditory system analyzes sound waves in frequency, intensity, and time domain. The understanding about frequency and intensity domain is relatively easy compare to time domain. Hearing threshold is measured by sound intensity in frequency domain. However the speech discrimination and understanding of the sentence in quiet and noise are associated with temporal resolution. So for the comprehensive understanding about the auditory system and hearing ability, we must extend our knowledge to the temporal ability of the auditory system.
Hearing ; Noise ; Sound ; Speech Perception

Auditory Perception ; Child ; Humans ; Sound Localization

In order to meet the requirements of ultrasound bone density measurement, we proposed a software solution to improve the accuracy and speed of measurement of bone mineral density of the ultrasound bone densitometer. We used a high-speed USB interface chip FT232H, along with a high-speed AD converter chip to calculate speed of sound (SOS), broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA ) and other bone density parameters in the PC software. This solution improved the accuracy of the measurement data, reduced the measurement time and increased the quality of the displayed image. It is well concluded that the new software can greatly improve the accuracy and transmission speed of bone density measurement data through a high-speed USB interface and a software data processing technology.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Bone Density ; Software ; Sound ; Ultrasonics

Tinnitus is a common clinical symptom and its occurrence rate is high. It seriously affects life quality of the patients. Scientific researches show that listening some similar and none-repetitive music can relieve tinnitus to some extent. The overall music accorded with self-similarity character by the direct mapping method based on chaos. However, there were often the same tones continuous repeating a few times and tone mutations. To solve the problem, this paper proposes a new method for tinnitus rehabilitation sound synthesis based on pentatonic scale, chaos and musical instrument digital interface (MIDI). Experimental results showed that the tinnitus rehabilitation sounds were not only self-similar and incompletely reduplicate, but also no sudden changes. Thus, it has a referential significance for tinnitus treatment.
Acoustic Stimulation ; Humans ; Music ; Sound ; Tinnitus ; rehabilitation

Objective: To measure the levels of environmental noise in the medical intensive care unit, surgical intensive care unit, and adult ward of the Makati Medical Center for the morning, afternoon, and evening shifts, on weekdays and weekends, and to compare noise levels across shifts, and between weekdays and weekends. Methods: Design: Environmental Noise Survey. Setting: Tertiary Private Training Hospital. Participants: None. Results: The overall mean environment noise levels in all the areas surveyed (medical intensive care unit, surgical intensive care unit and adult ward) exceeded World Health Organization recommendations by more than 20 dB across different working shifts on both weekdays and weekends. There was no significant difference in noise levels between weekdays and weekends across shifts in all areas, except for the afternoon shift in the Medical ICU. Using Repeated Measures ANOVA, results showed that there is no sufficient evidence to conclude that at least one shift has significantly different mean noise level in any of the 3 areas (MICU: F(2)=4.73, p-value=.1124; SICU: F(2)=7.91, p-value=.0540; WARD: F(2)=2.73, p-value=.1948) Conclusion The overall environmental noise levels in the different areas of MICU, SICU and Adult ward exceeded the WHO recommendation. It is recommended that a change in strategy is needed for prevention of environmental noise, setting guidelines and policies to assure quality health care and noise control. Further investigations to ascertain exact sources may give rise to feasible solutions.
Noise ; Hospitals ; Sound ; Intensive Care Units

This systematic review evaluated the impact of using digital pinna-cue preserving technologies (PPT) on front/back sound localization for adult hearing aid users. Two peer-reviewed studies and two non-peer-reviewed studies were included. Lab-based and self-report outcomes were both assessed. The overall findings suggested that PPT was superior to omni-directional and full directional settings in a relatively quiet, well-controlled laboratory environment but not in the real world. However, observed individual differences in self-report measures suggested that PPT was potentially beneficial to certain hearing aid users. PPT candidacy was discussed and the importance of a pre-fitting interview/consultation was emphasized to assist clinicians in making a solid evidence-based and cost-effectiveness decision when prescribing hearing aids to adults with hearing impairment.
Adult* ; Hearing Aids* ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Individuality ; Sound Localization

In this paper, according to the requirement of the focused sound field measurement, a focused sound field measurement system was established based on the LabVIEW virtual instrument platform. The system can automatically search the focus position of the sound field, and adjust the scanning path according to the size of the focal region. Three-dimensional sound field scanning time reduced from 888 hours in uniform step to 9.25 hours in variable step. The efficiency of the focused sound field measurement was improved. There is a certain deviation between measurement results and theoretical calculation results. Focal plane--6 dB width difference rate was 3.691%, the beam axis--6 dB length differences rate was 12.937%.
Computer Simulation ; Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted ; Software ; Sound