The Influence of Speech Rate on Acceptable Noise Levels

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (07) ◽  
pp. 596-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelby Tiffin ◽  
Susan Gordon-Hickey
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Noise Levels ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Listening Levels ◽  
Accurate Perception ◽  
Quasi Experimental

AbstractOlder adults often struggle with accurate perception of rate-altered speech and have difficulty understanding speech in noise. The acceptable noise level (ANL) quantifies a listener’s willingness to listen to speech in background noise and has been found to accurately predict hearing aid success. Based on the difficulty older adults experience with rapid speech, we were interested in how older adults may change the amount of background noise they willingly accept in a variety of speech rate conditions.To determine the effects of age and speech rate on the ANL.A quasi-experimental mixed design was employed.Fifteen young adults (19–27 yr) and fifteen older adults (55–73 yr) with audiometrically normal hearing or hearing loss within age-normed limits served as participants.Most comfortable listening levels (MCLs) and background noise levels (BNLs) were measured using three different speech rates (slow, normal, and fast). The ANL was calculated by subtracting BNL from MCL. Repeated measures analysis of variances were used to analyze the effects of age and speech rate on ANL.A significant main effect of speech rate was observed; however, a significant main effect of age was not found. Results indicated that as speech rate increased the ANLs increased. This suggests that participants became less accepting of background noise as speech rates increased.The findings of the present study provide support for communication strategies that recommend slowing an individual’s speaking rate and/or reducing background noise, if possible. Participants in the present study were better able to cope with background noise when the primary stimulus was presented at slow and normal speaking rates.

scholarly journals The effects of therapeutic group singing on voice, cough and quality of life in parkinson’s disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-88
Author(s):  
Cecilia Brooks ◽  
Danielle Porter ◽  
Daniel Furnas ◽  
Judith Maige Wingate
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Outpatient Setting ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Pitch Level ◽  
Potential Improvement

Purpose: To examine the effect of a group therapeutic singing intervention on voice, cough, and quality of life in persons with Parkinson Disease (PD) in a community-based outpatient setting using a repeated measures design.Methods: 19 volunteer participants with PD completed the study. Ten participants participated in the intervention and nine served voluntarily as controls. Participants completed one hour group singing sessions over 12 weeks led by a music therapist. Sessions consisted of 30 min of high intensity vocal exercise and 15 to 20 minutes of group singing. Data on phonation, speech, cough, and quality of life were collected pre-intervention and one week post intervention with final data collection 12 weeks post-intervention.Results: No significant change in voice measures although 50% of participants showed improvement. A main effect was found for breathiness (p=0.023), appropriate pitch level (p=0.037) and speaking rate (p=0.009). No main effect for cough but pairwise comparisons were nearly significant pre to post intervention (p=0.053) and pre-intervention to final follow up (p=0.023). No main effect found for QOL but singing participants demonstrated better QOL scores than controls.Conclusions: Results from this small sample suggest that there are some speech benefits from singing intervention as well as potential improvement in cough for airway clearance. Additional study is needed to confirm these results.

scholarly journals Impact of bilateral-coordinated movement on manipulative skill competency in school-aged children

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Chen ◽  
Xiaozan Wang ◽  
Weiyun Chen
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Fourth Grade ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Significant Interaction Effect ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Fourth Grade Students ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Quasi Experimental

Abstract Background Researchers found that manipulative skill competency in childhood not only help improve physical activity participation, but also help adolescent learn specialized sport skills. This study aimed at examining the effects of an 8-week bilateral-coordinated movement (BCM) intervention on manipulative skill competency in school-aged children.Methods Participants were 314 fourth-grade students in two elementary schools. This study used 2-arm quasi-experimental research design. For one elementary school, two fourth-grade classes were assigned to the BCM group, the other two fourth-grade classes were assigned to the control group. For another elementary school, one fourth-grade class was assigned to the BCM group and another fourth-grade class to the control group. The students in the BCM group received an 8-week, two 40-minute BCM lessons in soccer and another 8-week, two 40-minute BCM lessons in basketball, while the control group received an 8-week, two 40-minute regular PE lessons in soccer and basketball, respectively. Students’ manipulative skill competency in soccer and basketball skills were pre- and post-tested using the two PE Metric assessment rubrics. Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, independent sample t test, ANCOVA and ANOVA repeated measures.Results The results showed a significant main effect of time (pre-test vs. post-test) in soccer skills (F = 273.095, p = .000, 𝜂2 = .468) and in basketball skills (F = 74.619, p = .000, 𝜂2 = .193). Also, the results revealed a significant main effect of group (BCM group vs. control group) in soccer skills (F = 37.532, p = .000, 𝜂2 = .108), marginal significant main effect of group in basketball skills (F = 3.619, p = .058, 𝜂2 = .011). Further, there was significant interaction effect between the time and group in soccer skills (F = 37.532, p = .000, 𝜂2 = .108) and in basketball skills (F = 18.380, p = .000, 𝜂2 = .056).Conclusions It was concluded that after participated in the 8-week, 16 40-min lessons of BCM, the fourth-grade students had greater improvement in soccer and basketball dribbling, passing and receiving skills, compared to the control group.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Different Signal Processing Options in Unilateral and Bilateral Cochlear Freedom Implant Recipients Using R-SpaceTM Background Noise

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (02) ◽  
pp. 065-080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison M. Brockmeyer ◽  
Lisa G. Potts
Keyword(s):  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Noise Level ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Processing Condition ◽  
Test System ◽  
Adaptive Beamforming ◽  
Processing Conditions ◽  
Noise Levels ◽  
Speech Recognition In Noise

Background: Difficulty understanding in background noise is a common complaint of cochlear implant (CI) recipients. Programming options are available to improve speech recognition in noise for CI users including automatic dynamic range optimization (ADRO), autosensitivity control (ASC), and a two-stage adaptive beamforming algorithm (BEAM). However, the processing option that results in the best speech recognition in noise is unknown. In addition, laboratory measures of these processing options often show greater degrees of improvement than reported by participants in everyday listening situations. To address this issue, Compton-Conley and colleagues developed a test system to replicate a restaurant environment. The R-SPACE™ consists of eight loudspeakers positioned in a 360 degree arc and utilizes a recording made at a restaurant of background noise. Purpose: The present study measured speech recognition in the R-SPACE with four processing options: standard dual-port directional (STD), ADRO, ASC, and BEAM. Research Design: A repeated-measures, within-subject design was used to evaluate the four different processing options at two noise levels. Study Sample: Twenty-seven unilateral and three bilateral adult Nucleus Freedom CI recipients. Intervention: The participants’ everyday program (with no additional processing) was used as the STD program. ADRO, ASC, and BEAM were added individually to the STD program to create a total of four programs. Data Collection and Analysis: Participants repeated Hearing in Noise Test sentences presented at 0 degrees azimuth with R-SPACE restaurant noise at two noise levels, 60 and 70 dB SPL. The reception threshold for sentences (RTS) was obtained for each processing condition and noise level. Results: In 60 dB SPL noise, BEAM processing resulted in the best RTS, with a significant improvement over STD and ADRO processing. In 70 dB SPL noise, ASC and BEAM processing had significantly better mean RTSs compared to STD and ADRO processing. Comparison of noise levels showed that STD and BEAM processing resulted in significantly poorer RTSs in 70 dB SPL noise compared to the performance with these processing conditions in 60 dB SPL noise. Bilateral participants demonstrated a bilateral improvement compared to the better monaural condition for both noise levels and all processing conditions, except ASC in 60 dB SPL noise. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the use of processing options that utilize noise reduction, like those available in ASC and BEAM, improve a CI recipient's ability to understand speech in noise in listening situations similar to those experienced in the real world. The choice of the best processing option is dependent on the noise level, with BEAM best at moderate noise levels and ASC best at loud noise levels for unilateral CI recipients. Therefore, multiple noise programs or a combination of processing options may be necessary to provide CI users with the best performance in a variety of listening situations.

scholarly journals Impact of Bilateral Coordinated Movement on Manipulative Skill Competency in Elementary School Students

Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 517
Author(s):  
Jun Chen ◽  
Xiaozan Wang ◽  
Weiyun Chen
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Fourth Grade ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Students ◽  
Significant Interaction Effect ◽  
Fourth Grade Students ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Sports Skills

Background: Researchers have found that manipulative skill competency in childhood not only helps to improve physical activity participation but also helps adolescents learn specialized sports skills. This study aimed to examine the effects of an eight-week bilateral coordinated movement (BCM) intervention on manipulative skill competency in school-aged children. Methods: The participants were 314 fourth-grade students from two elementary schools in China. This study used a two-arm quasi-experimental research design. For one elementary school, two fourth-grade classes were assigned to the BCM group and another two fourth-grade classes were assigned to the control group. For the other elementary school, one fourth-grade class was assigned to the BCM group and another fourth-grade class to the control group. The students in the BCM group received an eight-week, two 40 min BCM lessons in soccer, and another eight-week, two 40-min BCM lessons in basketball. The control group received an eight-week two regular 40 min PE lessons in soccer and basketball, respectively. The students’ manipulative skill competency in soccer and basketball skills were pre- and post-tested using the two PE metric assessment rubrics. Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, and ANCOVA and ANOVA repeated measures. Results: The results showed a significant main effect of time (pre-test vs. post-test) in soccer skills (F = 273.095, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.468) and in basketball skills (F = 74.619, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.193). Additionally, the results revealed a significant main effect of the group (BCM group vs. control group) in soccer skills (F = 37.532, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.108) and a marginal significant main effect of the groups in basketball skills (F = 3.619, p = 0.058, η2 = 0.011). Furthermore, there was a significant interaction effect between the time and the group in soccer skills (F = 37.532, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.108) and in basketball skills (F = 18.380, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.056). Conclusions: It was concluded that after participation in the eight-week, 16 40 min lessons of BCM, the fourth-grade students showed greater improvement in soccer and basketball dribbling, passing and receiving skills, compared to the control group.

scholarly journals Face mask type affects audiovisual speech intelligibility and subjective listening effort in young and older adults

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Violet Aurora Brown ◽  
Kristin J. Van Engen ◽  
Jonathan E. Peelle
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Noise Levels ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
Impaired Performance ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Mask Type

Identifying speech requires that listeners make rapid use of fine-grained acoustic cues—a process that is facilitated by being able to see the talker’s face. Face masks present a challenge to this process because they can both alter acoustic information and conceal the talker’s mouth. Here, we investigated the degree to which different types of face masks and noise levels affect speech intelligibility and the subjective effort involved for young (N=180) and older (N=180) adult listeners. We found that in quiet, mask type had little influence on speech intelligibility relative to speech produced without a mask for both young and older adult listeners. However, with the addition of moderate (-5 dB SNR) and high (-9 dB SNR) levels of background noise, intelligibility dropped substantially for all types of face masks in both age groups. Across noise levels, transparent face masks and cloth face masks with filters impaired performance the most, and surgical face masks had the smallest influence on intelligibility. Importantly, participants also rated the speech as more effortful in the masked conditions compared to unmasked speech, particularly in background noise. Although young and older adults were similarly affected by face masks and noise in terms of intelligibility and subjective listening effort, older adults showed poorer intelligibility overall and rated the speech as more effortful to process relative to young adults. This research will help individuals make more informed decisions about which types of masks to wear in various communicative settings.

scholarly journals Acceptable Noise Level Stability Over a One-Year Period of Time

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (05) ◽  
pp. 336-341
Author(s):  
Melinda F. Bryan ◽  
Susan Gordon-Hickey ◽  
Ashton L. Hay ◽  
Shelby T. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Noise Level ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Auditory Nervous System ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Acceptable Noise Level ◽  
Listening Levels ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Stability

Abstract Background The acceptable noise level (ANL) is a measure of willingness to listen to speech in the presence of background noise and is thought to be related to success with amplification. To date, ANLs have only been assessed over short periods of time, including within a session and over a 3-week and 3-month time period. ANL stability over longer periods of time has not been assessed. Purpose The purpose was to examine the stability of ANL over a 1-year time period. Research Design A repeated-measures, longitudinal study was completed. Study Sample Thirty young adults with normal hearing served as participants. The participants were tested at two different sites. Data Collection and Analysis Two trials of most comfortable listening levels (MCLs), background noise levels (BNLs), and ANLs were assessed for each participant during three experimental sessions: at 0 months, 6 months, and 1 year. Results Two-way repeated-measures analysis of variances revealed no significant change in MCLs, BNLs, or ANLs within a session or over a 1-year time period. These results indicate that ANLs remain stable for 1 year in listeners with normal hearing. Conclusions The finding that the ANL is stable over a longer period of time supports the theory that the ANL is an inherent trait of the listener and mediated at in the central auditory nervous system.

scholarly journals Auditory P300 in Noise in Younger and Older Adults

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 909-916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer McCullagh ◽  
Jennifer B. Shinn
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Cortical Processing ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Listening Condition ◽  
Auditory P300 ◽  
Age Related

AbstractOlder adults often report difficulty hearing in background noise which is not completely attributable to peripheral hearing loss. Although age-related declines in cognition and hearing in background noise occur, the underlying age-related changes in processing of auditory stimuli in background noise has yet to be fully understood. The auditory P300 has the potential to elucidate the effects of age on auditory and cognitive processing of stimuli in background noise, but additional research is warranted.The purpose of this study was to investigate age-related differences in cognitive processing of auditory stimuli by evoking the auditory P300 at multiple signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs).A two-group, repeated measures study design was used.A convenience sample of 35 participants, 15 older adults (mean age of 66.4 yr) and 20 younger adults (mean age of 21.1 yr), participated in the study. All participants had negative otologic and neurological histories.The auditory P300 was evoked using an oddball paradigm with 500 (frequent) and 1000 Hz (target) tonal stimuli in quiet and in the presence of background noise at +20, +10, and 0 SNRs. P300 amplitudes and latencies were measured in each condition for every participant. Repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted for the amplitude and latency measures of the P300 for each group.Results from this study demonstrated P300 latencies were significantly longer in older adults in noise at the most challenging condition (0 SNR) compared with the quiet condition and between the +10 SNR and 0 SNR conditions. Although older adults had significantly longer P300 latencies compared with younger adults, no significant group by listening condition interaction existed. No significant P300 amplitude differences were found for group, noise, or group × listening condition interactions.Results provide evidence that auditory cortical processing, regardless of age, is poorer at more difficult SNRs. However, results also demonstrate that older adults perform significantly poorer than younger adults. This supports the notion that some degree of age-related decline in synchronous firing and rate of transmission of the auditory cortical neurons contributing to the auditory P300 exists. Studies are needed to further understand the impact of noise on auditory cortical processing across populations.

scholarly journals Effect of inter-aural modulation depth difference on interaural time difference thresholds for speech: An observational study

F1000Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Arivudainambi Pitchaimuthu ◽  
Vibha Kanagokar ◽  
Srividya Grama Bhagavan ◽  
Jayashree S. Bhat
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Modulation Depth ◽  
Interaural Time Difference ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Time Difference ◽  
Depth Difference ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Age Range

Background: The temporal envelope (ENV) plays a vital role in conveying inter-aural time difference (ITD) in many clinical populations. However, the presence of background noise and electronic features, such as compression, reduces the modulation depth of ENV to a different degree in both ears. The effect of ENV modulation depth differences between the ears on ITD thresholds is unknown; therefore, this was the aim of the current study’s investigation. Methods: Six normally hearing young adults (age range 20-30 years) participated in the current study. Six vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV) (/aka/, /aga/, /apa/, /aba/, /ata/, /ada/) tokens were used as the probe stimuli. ENV depth of VCV tokens was smeared by 0%, 29%, and 50%, which results in 100%, 71%, and 50% of the original modulation depth. ITD thresholds were estimated as a function of the difference in temporal ENV depth between the ears, wherein in one ear the modulation depth was retained at 100% and in the other ear, the modulation depth was changed to 100%, 71%, and 50%. Results: Repeated measures of ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of interaural modulation depth differences on the ITD threshold (F(2,10)= 9.04, p= 0.006). ITD thresholds increased with an increase in the inter-aural modulation depth difference. Conclusion: Inter-aural ENV depth is critical for ITD perception.

Hemodynamic and Behavioural Changes in Older Adults During Cognitively Demanding Dual-Tasks

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Talia Salzman ◽  
Diana Tobón Vallejo ◽  
Nadia Polskaia ◽  
Lucas Michaud ◽  
Gabrielle St-Amant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Response Time ◽  
Gait Speed ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Dual Tasks ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Accuracy Performance

Abstract Background: Executive functions play a fundamental role in walking by integrating information from cognitive-motor pathways. Subtle changes in brain activation and behaviour may help identify older adults who are more susceptible to executive function deficits with advancing age due to prefrontal cortex deterioration. This study aims to examine how older adults mitigate executive demands while walking during cognitively demanding tasks.Methods: Twenty healthy older adults (M = 71.8 years, SD = 6.4) performed simple reaction time (SRT), go/no-go (GNG), n-back (NBK) and double number sequence (DNS) cognitive tasks of increasing difficulty while walking (i.e., dual-task). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure the hemodynamic response (i.e., oxy- [HbO2] and deoxyhemoglobin [HbR]) changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during dual- and single-tasks (i.e., walking alone). In addition, performance was measured using gait speed (m/s), response time (s) and accuracy (% correct). Results: Using repeated measures ANOVAs, neural findings demonstrated a main effect of task such that ∆HbO2 (p = 0.047) and ∆HbR (p = 0.040) decreased between single- and dual-tasks. An interaction between task and cognitive difficulty (p = 0.014) revealed that gait speed decreased in the DNS between single- and dual-tasks. A main effect of task in response time indicated that the SRT response time was faster than all other difficulty levels (p < 0.001). Accuracy performance declined between single- and dual-tasks (p = 0.028) and across difficulty levels (p < 0.001) but were not significantly different between the NBK and DNS.Conclusion: Findings suggest that a healthy older adult sample might mitigate executive demands using an automatic locomotor control strategy such that shifting conscious attention away from walking during the dual-tasks resulted in decreased ∆HbO2 and ∆HbR. However, decreased prefrontal activation was inefficient at maintaining response time and accuracy performance and may be differently affected by increasing cognitive demands.

The Effect of Presentation Level on Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Listeners' Acceptable Speech and Noise Levels

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (01) ◽  
pp. 017-025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karrie L. Recker ◽  
Brent W. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Noise Levels ◽  
Repeated Measures Design ◽  
Presentation Level ◽  
Different Levels

Background: Acceptable noise level (ANL) is a measure of the maximum amount of background noise that a listener is willing to “put up with” while listening to running speech. This test is unique in that it can predict with a high degree of accuracy who will be a successful hearing-aid wearer. Individuals who tolerate high levels of background noise are generally successful hearing-aid wearers, whereas individuals who do not tolerate background noise well are generally unsuccessful hearing-aid wearers. Purpose: Various studies have been unsuccessful in trying to relate ANLs to listener characteristics or other test results. Presumably, understanding the perceptual mechanism by which listeners determine their ANLs could provide an understanding of the ANL's unique predictive abilities and our current inability to correlate these results with other listener attributes or test results. As a first step in investigating this problem, the relationships between ANLs and other threshold measures where listeners adjust the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) according to some criterion in a way similar to the ANL measure were examined. Research Design and Study Sample: Ten normal-hearing and 10 hearing-impaired individuals participated in a laboratory experiment that followed a within-subjects, repeated-measures design. Data Collection and Analysis: Participants were seated in a sound booth. Running speech and noise (eight-talker babble) were presented from a loudspeaker at 0°, 3 ft in front of the participant. Individuals adjusted either the level of the speech or the level of the background noise. Specifically, with the speech fixed at different levels (50, 63, 75, or 88 dBA), participants performed the ANL task, in which they adjusted the level of the background noise to the maximum level at which they were willing to listen while following the speech. With the noise fixed at different levels (50, 60, 70, or 80 dBA), participants adjusted the level of the speech to the minimum, preferred, or maximum levels at which they were willing to listen while following the speech. Additionally, for the minimum acceptable speech level task, each participant was tested at four participant-specific noise levels, based on his/her ANL results. To emphasize that the speech level was adjusted in these measurements, three new terms were coined: “minimum acceptable speech level” (MinASL), “preferred speech level” (PSL), and “maximum acceptable speech level” (MaxASL). Each condition was presented twice, and the results were averaged. Test order and presentation level were randomized. Hearing-impaired participants were tested in the aided condition only. Results: For most participants, as the presentation level increased, SNRs increased for the ANL test but decreased for the MinASL, PSL, and MaxASL tests. For a few participants, ANLs were similar to MinASLs. For most test conditions, the normal-hearing results were not significantly different from those of the hearing-impaired participants. Conclusions: For most participants, stimulus level affected the SNRs at which they were willing to listen. However, a subset of listeners was willing to listen at a constant SNR for the ANL and MinASL tests. Furthermore, for these individuals, ANLs and MinASLs were roughly equal, suggesting that these individuals may have used the same perceptual criterion for both tests.

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