Alert dwell time: introduction of a measure to evaluate interruptive clinical decision support alerts

PubMed Central

McDaniel, Robert B; Burlison, Jonathan D; Baker, Donald K; Hasan, Murad; Robertson, Jennifer; Hartford, Christine; Howard, Scott C; Sablauer, Andras

2016-01-01

Metrics for evaluating interruptive prescribing alerts have many limitations. Additional methods are needed to identify opportunities to improve alerting systems and prevent alert fatigue. In this study, the authors determined whether alert dwell time—the time elapsed from when an interruptive alert is generated to when it is dismissed—could be calculated by using historical alert data from log files. Drug–drug interaction (DDI) alerts from 3 years of electronic health record data were queried. Alert dwell time was calculated for 25,965 alerts, including 777 unique DDIs. The median alert dwell time was 8 s (range, 1–4913 s). Resident physicians had longer median alert dwell times than other prescribers (P < .001). The 10 most frequent DDI alerts (n = 8759 alerts) had shorter median dwell times than alerts that only occurred once (P < .001). This metric can be used in future research to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of interruptive prescribing alerts. PMID:26499101

76 FR 72306 - Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Appraiser Roster: Appraiser Qualifications for Placement on...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-23

... Appraiser Roster regulations by replacing the obsolete references to the Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System (CAIVRS) with references to its successor, the online-based Credit Alert Verification... propose the elimination references to the Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System (CAIVRS). On July...

76 FR 41441 - Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Appraiser Roster: Appraiser Qualifications for Placement on...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-14

... the FHA Appraiser Roster by replacing the obsolete references to the Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System with references to its successor, the online-based Credit Alert Verification Reporting...'s Limited Denial of Participation list, or in HUD's Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System...

Core drug-drug interaction alerts for inclusion in pediatric electronic health records with computerized prescriber order entry.

PubMed

Harper, Marvin B; Longhurst, Christopher A; McGuire, Troy L; Tarrago, Rod; Desai, Bimal R; Patterson, Al

2014-03-01

The study aims to develop a core set of pediatric drug-drug interaction (DDI) pairs for which electronic alerts should be presented to prescribers during the ordering process. A clinical decision support working group composed of Children's Hospital Association (CHA) members was developed. CHA Pharmacists and Chief Medical Information Officers participated. Consensus was reached on a core set of 19 DDI pairs that should be presented to pediatric prescribers during the order process. We have provided a core list of 19 high value drug pairs for electronic drug-drug interaction alerts to be recommended for inclusion as high value alerts in prescriber order entry software used with a pediatric patient population. We believe this list represents the most important pediatric drug interactions for practical implementation within computerized prescriber order entry systems.

Alert dwell time: introduction of a measure to evaluate interruptive clinical decision support alerts.

PubMed

McDaniel, Robert B; Burlison, Jonathan D; Baker, Donald K; Hasan, Murad; Robertson, Jennifer; Hartford, Christine; Howard, Scott C; Sablauer, Andras; Hoffman, James M

2016-04-01

Metrics for evaluating interruptive prescribing alerts have many limitations. Additional methods are needed to identify opportunities to improve alerting systems and prevent alert fatigue. In this study, the authors determined whether alert dwell time-the time elapsed from when an interruptive alert is generated to when it is dismissed-could be calculated by using historical alert data from log files. Drug-drug interaction (DDI) alerts from 3 years of electronic health record data were queried. Alert dwell time was calculated for 25,965 alerts, including 777 unique DDIs. The median alert dwell time was 8 s (range, 1-4913 s). Resident physicians had longer median alert dwell times than other prescribers (P < 001). The 10 most frequent DDI alerts (n = 8759 alerts) had shorter median dwell times than alerts that only occurred once (P < 001). This metric can be used in future research to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of interruptive prescribing alerts. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Voices on Voice: Perspectives, Definitions, Inquiry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yancey, Kathleen Blake, Ed.

This collection of essays approaches "voice" as a means of expression that lives in the interactions of writers, readers, and language, and examines the conceptualizations of voice within the oral rhetorical and expressionist traditions, and the notion of voice as both a singular and plural phenomenon. An explanatory introduction by the…

Designing interaction, voice, and inclusion in AAC research.

PubMed

Pullin, Graham; Treviranus, Jutta; Patel, Rupal; Higginbotham, Jeff

2017-09-01

The ISAAC 2016 Research Symposium included a Design Stream that examined timely issues across augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), framed in terms of designing interaction, designing voice, and designing inclusion. Each is a complex term with multiple meanings; together they represent challenging yet important frontiers of AAC research. The Design Stream was conceived by the four authors, researchers who have been exploring AAC and disability-related design throughout their careers, brought together by a shared conviction that designing for communication implies more than ensuring access to words and utterances. Each of these presenters came to AAC from a different background: interaction design, inclusive design, speech science, and social science. The resulting discussion among 24 symposium participants included controversies about the role of technology, tensions about independence and interdependence, and a provocation about taste. The paper concludes by proposing new directions for AAC research: (a) new interdisciplinary research could combine scientific and design research methods, as distant yet complementary as microanalysis and interaction design, (b) new research tools could seed accessible and engaging contextual research into voice within a social model of disability, and (c) new open research networks could support inclusive, international and interdisciplinary research.

INITIATE: An Intelligent Adaptive Alert Environment.

PubMed

Jafarpour, Borna; Abidi, Samina Raza; Ahmad, Ahmad Marwan; Abidi, Syed Sibte Raza

2015-01-01

Exposure to a large volume of alerts generated by medical Alert Generating Systems (AGS) such as drug-drug interaction softwares or clinical decision support systems over-whelms users and causes alert fatigue in them. Some of alert fatigue effects are ignoring crucial alerts and longer response times. A common approach to avoid alert fatigue is to devise mechanisms in AGS to stop them from generating alerts that are deemed irrelevant. In this paper, we present a novel framework called INITIATE: an INtellIgent adapTIve AlerT Environment to avoid alert fatigue by managing alerts generated by one or more AGS. We have identified and categories the lifecycle of different alerts and have developed alert management logic as per the alerts' lifecycle. Our framework incorporates an ontology that represents the alert management strategy and an alert management engine that executes this strategy. Our alert management framework offers the following features: (1) Adaptability based on users' feedback; (2) Personalization and aggregation of messages; and (3) Connection to Electronic Medical Records by implementing a HL7 Clinical Document Architecture parser.

Computational Modeling of Fluid–Structure–Acoustics Interaction during Voice Production

PubMed Central

Jiang, Weili; Zheng, Xudong; Xue, Qian

2017-01-01

The paper presented a three-dimensional, first-principle based fluid–structure–acoustics interaction computer model of voice production, which employed a more realistic human laryngeal and vocal tract geometries. Self-sustained vibrations, important convergent–divergent vibration pattern of the vocal folds, and entrainment of the two dominant vibratory modes were captured. Voice quality-associated parameters including the frequency, open quotient, skewness quotient, and flow rate of the glottal flow waveform were found to be well within the normal physiological ranges. The analogy between the vocal tract and a quarter-wave resonator was demonstrated. The acoustic perturbed flux and pressure inside the glottis were found to be at the same order with their incompressible counterparts, suggesting strong source–filter interactions during voice production. Such high fidelity computational model will be useful for investigating a variety of pathological conditions that involve complex vibrations, such as vocal fold paralysis, vocal nodules, and vocal polyps. The model is also an important step toward a patient-specific surgical planning tool that can serve as a no-risk trial and error platform for different procedures, such as injection of biomaterials and thyroplastic medialization. PMID:28243588

Alerting prefixes for speech warning messages. [in helicopters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bucher, N. M.; Voorhees, J. W.; Karl, R. L.; Werner, E.

1984-01-01

A major question posed by the design of an integrated voice information display/warning system for next-generation helicopter cockpits is whether an alerting prefix should precede voice warning messages; if so, the characteristics desirable in such a cue must also be addressed. Attention is presently given to the results of a study which ascertained pilot response time and response accuracy to messages preceded by either neutral cues or the cognitively appropriate semantic cues. Both verbal cues and messages were spoken in direct, phoneme-synthesized speech, and a training manipulation was included to determine the extent to which previous exposure to speech thus produced facilitates these messages' comprehension. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of human factors research in cockpit display design.

The interaction of tone with voicing and foot structure: evidence from Kera phonetics and phonology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pearce, Mary Dorothy

This thesis uses acoustic measurements as a basis for the phonological analysis of the interaction of tone with voicing and foot structure in Kera (a Chadic language). In both tone spreading and vowel harmony, the iambic foot acts as a domain for spreading. Further evidence for the foot comes from measurements of duration, intensity and vowel quality. Kera is unusual in combining a tone system with a partially independent metrical system based on iambs. In words containing more than one foot, the foot is the tone bearing unit (TBU), but in shorter words, the TBU is the syllable. In perception and production experiments, results show that Kera speakers, unlike English and French, use the fundamental frequency as the principle cue to 'Voicing" contrast. Voice onset time (VOT) has only a minor role. Historically, tones probably developed from voicing through a process of tonogenesis, but synchronically, the feature voice is no longer contrastive and VOT is used in an enhancing role. Some linguists have claimed that Kera is a key example for their controversial theory of long-distance voicing spread. But as voice is not part of Kera phonology, this thesis gives counter-evidence to the voice spreading claim. An important finding from the experiments is that the phonological grammars are different between village women, men moving to town and town men. These differences are attributed to French contact. The interaction between Kera tone and voicing and contact with French have produced changes from a 2-way voicing contrast, through a 3-way tonal contrast, to a 2-way voicing contrast plus another contrast with short VOT. These diachronic and synchronic tone/voicing facts are analysed using laryngeal features and Optimality Theory. This thesis provides a body of new data, detailed acoustic measurements, and an analysis incorporating current theoretical issues in phonology, which make it of interest to Africanists and theoreticians alike.

Design and realization of intelligent tourism service system based on voice interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Lei-di; Long, Yi; Qian, Cheng-yang; Zhang, Ling; Lv, Guo-nian

2008-10-01

Voice technology is one of the important contents to improve the intelligence and humanization of tourism service system. Combining voice technology, the paper concentrates on application needs and the composition of system to present an overall intelligent tourism service system's framework consisting of presentation layer, Web services layer, and tourism application service layer. On the basis, the paper further elaborated the implementation of the system and its key technologies, including intelligent voice interactive technology, seamless integration technology of multiple data sources, location-perception-based guides' services technology, and tourism safety control technology. Finally, according to the situation of Nanjing tourism, a prototype of Tourism Services System is realized.

Voice to Voice: Developing In-Service Teachers' Personal, Collaborative, and Public Voices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thurber, Frances; Zimmerman, Enid

1997-01-01

Describes a model for inservice education that begins with an interchange of teachers' voices with those of the students in an interactive dialog. The exchange allows them to develop their private voices through self-reflection and validation of their own experiences. (JOW)

Alertness and cognitive control: Toward a spatial grouping hypothesis.

PubMed

Schneider, Darryl W

2018-05-01

A puzzling interaction involving alertness and cognitive control is indicated by the finding of faster performance but larger congruency effects on alert trials (on which alerting cues are presented before the task stimuli) than on no-alert trials in selective attention tasks. In the present study, the author conducted four experiments to test hypotheses about the interaction. Manipulation of stimulus spacing revealed a difference in congruency effects between alert and no-alert trials for narrowly spaced stimuli but not for widely spaced stimuli, inconsistent with the hypothesis that increased alertness is associated with more diffuse attention. Manipulation of color grouping revealed similar differences in congruency effects between alert and no-alert trials for same-color and different-color groupings of targets and distractors, inconsistent with the general hypothesis that increased alertness is associated with more perceptual grouping. To explain the results, the author proposes that increased alertness is associated specifically with more spatial grouping of stimuli, possibly by modulating the threshold for parsing stimulus displays into distinct objects.

Individual versus Interactive Task-Based Performance through Voice-Based Computer-Mediated Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Granena, Gisela

2016-01-01

Interaction is a necessary condition for second language (L2) learning (Long, 1980, 1996). Research in computer-mediated communication has shown that interaction opportunities make learners pay attention to form in a variety of ways that promote L2 learning. This research has mostly investigated text-based rather than voice-based interaction. The…

Discourse-voice regulatory strategies in the psychotherapeutic interaction: a state-space dynamics analysis

PubMed Central

Tomicic, Alemka; Martínez, Claudio; Pérez, J. Carola; Hollenstein, Tom; Angulo, Salvador; Gerstmann, Adam; Barroux, Isabelle; Krause, Mariane

2015-01-01

This study seeks to provide evidence of the dynamics associated with the configurations of discourse-voice regulatory strategies in patient–therapist interactions in relevant episodes within psychotherapeutic sessions. Its central assumption is that discourses manifest themselves differently in terms of their prosodic characteristics according to their regulatory functions in a system of interactions. The association between discourse and vocal quality in patients and therapists was analyzed in a sample of 153 relevant episodes taken from 164 sessions of five psychotherapies using the state space grid (SSG) method, a graphical tool based on the dynamic systems theory (DST). The results showed eight recurrent and stable discourse-voice regulatory strategies of the patients and three of the therapists. Also, four specific groups of these discourse-voice strategies were identified. The latter were interpreted as regulatory configurations, that is to say, as emergent self-organized groups of discourse-voice regulatory strategies constituting specific interactional systems. Both regulatory strategies and their configurations differed between two types of relevant episodes: Change Episodes and Rupture Episodes. As a whole, these results support the assumption that speaking and listening, as dimensions of the interaction that takes place during therapeutic conversation, occur at different levels. The study not only shows that these dimensions are dependent on each other, but also that they function as a complex and dynamic whole in therapeutic dialog, generating relational offers which allow the patient and the therapist to regulate each other and shape the psychotherapeutic process that characterizes each type of relevant episode. PMID:25932014

Discourse-voice regulatory strategies in the psychotherapeutic interaction: a state-space dynamics analysis.

PubMed

Tomicic, Alemka; Martínez, Claudio; Pérez, J Carola; Hollenstein, Tom; Angulo, Salvador; Gerstmann, Adam; Barroux, Isabelle; Krause, Mariane

2015-01-01

This study seeks to provide evidence of the dynamics associated with the configurations of discourse-voice regulatory strategies in patient-therapist interactions in relevant episodes within psychotherapeutic sessions. Its central assumption is that discourses manifest themselves differently in terms of their prosodic characteristics according to their regulatory functions in a system of interactions. The association between discourse and vocal quality in patients and therapists was analyzed in a sample of 153 relevant episodes taken from 164 sessions of five psychotherapies using the state space grid (SSG) method, a graphical tool based on the dynamic systems theory (DST). The results showed eight recurrent and stable discourse-voice regulatory strategies of the patients and three of the therapists. Also, four specific groups of these discourse-voice strategies were identified. The latter were interpreted as regulatory configurations, that is to say, as emergent self-organized groups of discourse-voice regulatory strategies constituting specific interactional systems. Both regulatory strategies and their configurations differed between two types of relevant episodes: Change Episodes and Rupture Episodes. As a whole, these results support the assumption that speaking and listening, as dimensions of the interaction that takes place during therapeutic conversation, occur at different levels. The study not only shows that these dimensions are dependent on each other, but also that they function as a complex and dynamic whole in therapeutic dialog, generating relational offers which allow the patient and the therapist to regulate each other and shape the psychotherapeutic process that characterizes each type of relevant episode.

Voice Enabled Framework to Support Post-Surgical Discharge Monitoring

PubMed Central

Blansit, Kevin; Marmor, Rebecca; Zhao, Beiqun; Tien, Dan

2017-01-01

Unplanned surgical readmissions pose a challenging problem for the American healthcare system. We propose to combine consumer electronic voice recognition technology with the FHIR standard to create a post-surgical discharge monitoring app to identify and alert physicians to a patient’s deteriorating status. PMID:29854267

Voice interactive electronic warning systems (VIEWS) - An applied approach to voice technology in the helicopter cockpit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Voorhees, J. W.; Bucher, N. M.

1983-01-01

The cockpit has been one of the most rapidly changing areas of new aircraft design over the past thirty years. In connection with these developments, a pilot can now be considered a decision maker/system manager as well as a vehicle controller. There is, however, a trend towards an information overload in the cockpit, and information processing problems begin to occur for the rotorcraft pilot. One approach to overcome the arising difficulties is based on the utilization of voice technology to improve the information transfer rate in the cockpit with respect to both input and output. Attention is given to the background of speech technology, the application of speech technology within the cockpit, voice interactive electronic warning system (VIEWS) simulation, and methodology. Information subsystems are considered along with a dynamic simulation study, and data collection.

Spanish-Speaking Patients’ Engagement in Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Chronic Disease Self-Management Support Calls: Analyses of Data from Three Countries

PubMed Central

Piette, John D.; Marinec, Nicolle; Gallegos-Cabriales, Esther C.; Gutierrez-Valverde, Juana Mercedes; Rodriguez-Saldaña, Joel; Mendoz-Alevares, Milton; Silveira, Maria J.

2013-01-01

We used data from Interactive Voice Response (IVR) self-management support studies in Honduras, Mexico, and the United States (US) to determine whether IVR calls to Spanish-speaking patients with chronic illnesses is a feasible strategy for improving monitoring and education between face-to-face visits. 268 patients with diabetes or hypertension participated in 6–12 weeks of weekly IVR follow-up. IVR calls emanated from US servers with connections via Voice over IP. More than half (54%) of patients enrolled with an informal caregiver who received automated feedback based on the patient’s assessments, and clinical staff received urgent alerts. Participants had on average 6.1 years of education, and 73% were women. After 2,443 person weeks of follow-up, patients completed 1,494 IVR assessments. Call completion rates were higher in the US (75%) than in Honduras (59%) or Mexico (61%; p<0.001). Patients participating with an informal caregiver were more likely to complete calls (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 1.53; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04, 2.25) while patients reporting fair or poor health at enrollment were less likely (AOR:0.59; 95% CI: 0.38, 0.92). Satisfaction rates were high, with 98% of patients reporting that the system was easy to use, and 86% reporting that the calls helped them a great deal in managing their health problems. In summary, IVR self-management support is feasible among Spanish-speaking patients with chronic disease, including those living in less-developed countries. Voice over IP can be used to deliver IVR disease management services internationally; involving informal caregivers may increase patient engagement. PMID:23532005

Effects of the Interaction of Caffeine and Water on Voice Performance: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franca, Maria Claudia; Simpson, Kenneth O.

2013-01-01

The objective of this "pilot" investigation was to study the effects of the interaction of caffeine and water intake on voice as evidenced by acoustic and aerodynamic measures, to determine whether ingestion of 200 mg of caffeine and various levels of water intake have an impact on voice. The participants were 48 females ranging in age…

Incidence of potential drug interactions in a transplant centre setting and relevance of electronic alerts for clinical practice support.

PubMed

Polidori, Piera; Di Giorgio, Concetta; Provenzani, Alessio

2012-01-01

Adverse drug events may occur as a result of drug-drug interactions (DDIs). Information technology (IT) systems can be an important decision-making tool for healthcare workers to identify DDIs. The aim of the study is to analyse drug prescriptions in our main hospital units, in order to measure the incidence and severity of potential DDIs. The utility of clinical decision-support systems (CDSSs) and computerised physician order entry (CPOE) in term of alerts adherence was also assessed. DDIs were assessed using a Micromedex® healthcare series database. The system, adopted by the hospital, generates alerts for prescriptions with negative interactions and thanks to an 'acknowledgement function' it is possible to verify physician adherence to alerts. This function, although used previously, became mandatory from September 2010. Physician adherence to alerts and mean monthly incidence of potential DDIs in analysed units, before and after the mandatory 'acknowledgement function', were calculated. The intensive care unit (ICU) registered the greatest incidence of potential DDIs (49.0%), followed by the abdominal surgery unit and dialysis (43.4 and 42.0%, respectively). The cardiothoracic surgery unit (41.6%), step-down unit (38.3%) and post-anaesthesia care unit (30.0%) were comparable. The operating theatre and endoscopy registered the fewest potential DDIs (28.2 and 22.7%, respectively). Adherence to alerts after the 'acknowledgement function' increased by 25.0% in the ICU, 54.0% in the cardiothoracic surgery unit, 52.5% in the abdominal surgery unit, 58.0% in the stepdown unit, 67.0% in dialysis, 51.0% in endoscopy and 48.0% in the post-anaesthesia care unit. In the operating theatre, adherence to alerts decreased from 34.0 to 30.0%. The incidence of potential DDIs after mandatory use of the 'acknowledgement function' decreased slightly in endoscopy (-2.9%), the abdominal surgery unit (-2.7%), dialysis (-1.9%) and the step-down unit (-1.4%). Improving DDI alerts will

The professional voice.

PubMed

Benninger, M S

2011-02-01

The human voice is not only the key to human communication but also serves as the primary musical instrument. Many professions rely on the voice, but the most noticeable and visible are singers. Care of the performing voice requires a thorough understanding of the interaction between the anatomy and physiology of voice production, along with an awareness of the interrelationships between vocalisation, acoustic science and non-vocal components of performance. This review gives an overview of the care and prevention of professional voice disorders by describing the unique and integrated anatomy and physiology of singing, the roles of development and training, and the importance of the voice care team.

Optimization of drug-drug interaction alert rules in a pediatric hospital's electronic health record system using a visual analytics dashboard.

PubMed

Simpao, Allan F; Ahumada, Luis M; Desai, Bimal R; Bonafide, Christopher P; Gálvez, Jorge A; Rehman, Mohamed A; Jawad, Abbas F; Palma, Krisha L; Shelov, Eric D

2015-03-01

To develop and evaluate an electronic dashboard of hospital-wide electronic health record medication alerts for an alert fatigue reduction quality improvement project. We used visual analytics software to develop the dashboard. We collaborated with the hospital-wide Clinical Decision Support committee to perform three interventions successively deactivating clinically irrelevant drug-drug interaction (DDI) alert rules. We analyzed the impact of the interventions on care providers' and pharmacists' alert and override rates using an interrupted time series framework with piecewise regression. We evaluated 2 391 880 medication alerts between January 31, 2011 and January 26, 2014. For pharmacists, the median alert rate prior to the first DDI deactivation was 58.74 alerts/100 orders (IQR 54.98-60.48) and 25.11 alerts/100 orders (IQR 23.45-26.57) following the three interventions (p<0.001). For providers, baseline median alert rate prior to the first round of DDI deactivation was 19.73 alerts/100 orders (IQR 18.66-20.24) and 15.11 alerts/100 orders (IQR 14.44-15.49) following the three interventions (p<0.001). In a subgroup analysis, we observed a decrease in pharmacists' override rates for DDI alerts that were not modified in the system from a median of 93.06 overrides/100 alerts (IQR 91.96-94.33) to 85.68 overrides/100 alerts (IQR 84.29-87.15, p<0.001). The medication serious safety event rate decreased during the study period, and there were no serious safety events reported in association with the deactivated alert rules. An alert dashboard facilitated safe rapid-cycle reductions in alert burden that were temporally associated with lower pharmacist override rates in a subgroup of DDIs not directly affected by the interventions; meanwhile, the pharmacists' frequency of selecting the 'cancel' option increased. We hypothesize that reducing the alert burden enabled pharmacists to devote more attention to clinically relevant alerts. © The Author 2014. Published by

Interactive Voice/Web Response System in clinical research

PubMed Central

Ruikar, Vrishabhsagar

2016-01-01

Emerging technologies in computer and telecommunication industry has eased the access to computer through telephone. An Interactive Voice/Web Response System (IxRS) is one of the user friendly systems for end users, with complex and tailored programs at its backend. The backend programs are specially tailored for easy understanding of users. Clinical research industry has experienced revolution in methodologies of data capture with time. Different systems have evolved toward emerging modern technologies and tools in couple of decades from past, for example, Electronic Data Capture, IxRS, electronic patient reported outcomes, etc. PMID:26952178

Interactive Voice/Web Response System in clinical research.

PubMed

Ruikar, Vrishabhsagar

2016-01-01

Emerging technologies in computer and telecommunication industry has eased the access to computer through telephone. An Interactive Voice/Web Response System (IxRS) is one of the user friendly systems for end users, with complex and tailored programs at its backend. The backend programs are specially tailored for easy understanding of users. Clinical research industry has experienced revolution in methodologies of data capture with time. Different systems have evolved toward emerging modern technologies and tools in couple of decades from past, for example, Electronic Data Capture, IxRS, electronic patient reported outcomes, etc.

Low is large: spatial location and pitch interact in voice-based body size estimation.

PubMed

Pisanski, Katarzyna; Isenstein, Sari G E; Montano, Kelyn J; O'Connor, Jillian J M; Feinberg, David R

2017-05-01

The binding of incongruent cues poses a challenge for multimodal perception. Indeed, although taller objects emit sounds from higher elevations, low-pitched sounds are perceptually mapped both to large size and to low elevation. In the present study, we examined how these incongruent vertical spatial cues (up is more) and pitch cues (low is large) to size interact, and whether similar biases influence size perception along the horizontal axis. In Experiment 1, we measured listeners' voice-based judgments of human body size using pitch-manipulated voices projected from a high versus a low, and a right versus a left, spatial location. Listeners associated low spatial locations with largeness for lowered-pitch but not for raised-pitch voices, demonstrating that pitch overrode vertical-elevation cues. Listeners associated rightward spatial locations with largeness, regardless of voice pitch. In Experiment 2, listeners performed the task while sitting or standing, allowing us to examine self-referential cues to elevation in size estimation. Listeners associated vertically low and rightward spatial cues with largeness more for lowered- than for raised-pitch voices. These correspondences were robust to sex (of both the voice and the listener) and head elevation (standing or sitting); however, horizontal correspondences were amplified when participants stood. Moreover, when participants were standing, their judgments of how much larger men's voices sounded than women's increased when the voices were projected from the low speaker. Our results provide novel evidence for a multidimensional spatial mapping of pitch that is generalizable to human voices and that affects performance in an indirect, ecologically relevant spatial task (body size estimation). These findings suggest that crossmodal pitch correspondences evoke both low-level and higher-level cognitive processes.

Collaborative Scaffolding in Online Task-Based Voice Interactions between Advanced Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kenning, Marie-Madeleine

2010-01-01

This paper reports some of the findings of a distinctive innovative use of audio-conferencing involving a population (campus-based advanced learners) and a type of application (task-based language learning) that have received little attention to date: the use of Wimba Voice Tools to provide additional opportunities for spoken interactions between…

Fluid-acoustic interactions and their impact on pathological voiced speech

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erath, Byron D.; Zanartu, Matias; Peterson, Sean D.; Plesniak, Michael W.

2011-11-01

Voiced speech is produced by vibration of the vocal fold structures. Vocal fold dynamics arise from aerodynamic pressure loadings, tissue properties, and acoustic modulation of the driving pressures. Recent speech science advancements have produced a physiologically-realistic fluid flow solver (BLEAP) capable of prescribing asymmetric intraglottal flow attachment that can be easily assimilated into reduced order models of speech. The BLEAP flow solver is extended to incorporate acoustic loading and sound propagation in the vocal tract by implementing a wave reflection analog approach for sound propagation based on the governing BLEAP equations. This enhanced physiological description of the physics of voiced speech is implemented into a two-mass model of speech. The impact of fluid-acoustic interactions on vocal fold dynamics is elucidated for both normal and pathological speech through linear and nonlinear analysis techniques. Supported by NSF Grant CBET-1036280.

Insider Alert 1.0 Beta Version

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abbott, Robert

2004-02-01

Insider Alert 1.0 Beta Version supports interactive selection and graphical display of data generated by the Sandia Cognitive Framework, which simulates the examination of security data by experts of various specialties. Insider Alert also encompasses the configuration and data files input to the Cognitive Framework for this application. Insider Alert 1.0 Beta Version is a computer program for analyzing data indicative of possible espionage or improper handling of data by employees at Sandia National Laboratories (or other facilities with comparable policies and procedures for managing sensitive information) It prioritizes and displays information for review by security analysts.

Voice, (inter-)subjectivity, and real time recurrent interaction

PubMed Central

Cummins, Fred

2014-01-01

Received approaches to a unified phenomenon called “language” are firmly committed to a Cartesian view of distinct unobservable minds. Questioning this commitment leads us to recognize that the boundaries conventionally separating the linguistic from the non-linguistic can appear arbitrary, omitting much that is regularly present during vocal communication. The thesis is put forward that uttering, or voicing, is a much older phenomenon than the formal structures studied by the linguist, and that the voice has found elaborations and codifications in other domains too, such as in systems of ritual and rite. Voice, it is suggested, necessarily gives rise to a temporally bound subjectivity, whether it is in inner speech (Descartes' “cogito”), in conversation, or in the synchronized utterances of collective speech found in prayer, protest, and sports arenas world wide. The notion of a fleeting subjective pole tied to dynamically entwined participants who exert reciprocal influence upon each other in real time provides an insightful way to understand notions of common ground, or socially shared cognition. It suggests that the remarkable capacity to construct a shared world that is so characteristic of Homo sapiens may be grounded in this ability to become dynamically entangled as seen, e.g., in the centrality of joint attention in human interaction. Empirical evidence of dynamic entanglement in joint speaking is found in behavioral and neuroimaging studies. A convergent theoretical vocabulary is now available in the concept of participatory sense-making, leading to the development of a rich scientific agenda liberated from a stifling metaphysics that obscures, rather than illuminates, the means by which we come to inhabit a shared world. PMID:25101028

Advanced alerting features: displaying new relevant data and retracting alerts.

PubMed Central

Kuperman, G. J.; Hiltz, F. L.; Teich, J. M.

1997-01-01

We added two advanced features to our automated alerting system. The first feature identifies and displays, at the time an alert is reviewed, relevant data filed between the login time of a specimen leading to an alerting result and the time the alert is reviewed. Relevant data is defined as data of the same kind as generated the alert. The other feature retracts alerts when the alerting value is edited and no longer satisfies the alerting criteria. We evaluated the two features for a 14-week period (new relevant data) and a 6-week period (retraction). Of a total of 1104 alerts in the 14-week evaluation, 286 (25.9%) had new relevant data displayed at alert review time. Of the 286, 75.2% were due to additions of comments to the original piece of alerting data; 24.1% were due to new or pending laboratory results of the same type that generated the alert. Two alerts (out of 490) were retracted in a 6 week period. We conclude that in our system, new clinically relevant data is often added between the time of specimen login and the time that an alerting result from that specimen is reviewed. Retractions occur rarely but are important to detect and communicate. PMID:9357625

Differential effects of phasic and tonic alerting on the efficiency of executive attention.

PubMed

Asanowicz, Dariusz; Marzecová, Anna

2017-05-01

The study examined how alerting and executive attention interact in a task involving conflict resolution. We proposed a tentative scenario in which an initial exogenous phasic alerting phase is followed by an endogenous tonic alerting phase, and hypothesized that these two processes may have distinct effects on conflict resolution. Phasic alerting was expected to increase the conflict, whereas tonic alerting was expected to decrease the conflict. Three experiments were conducted using different variants of the flanker task with visual alerting cues and varied cue-target intervals (SOA), to differentiate between effects of phasic alerting (short SOA) and tonic alerting (long SOA). The results showed that phasic alerting consistently decreased the efficiency of conflict resolution indexed by response time and accuracy, whereas tonic alerting increased the accuracy of conflict resolution, but at a cost in the speed of processing the conflict. The third experiment additionally showed that the effects of phasic alerting may be modulated by the psychophysical strength of alerting cues. Discussed are possible mechanisms that could account for the observed interactions between alerting and conflict resolution, as well as some discrepancies between the current and previous studies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Voice and endocrinology

PubMed Central

Hari Kumar, K. V. S.; Garg, Anurag; Ajai Chandra, N. S.; Singh, S. P.; Datta, Rakesh

2016-01-01

Voice is one of the advanced features of natural evolution that differentiates human beings from other primates. The human voice is capable of conveying the thoughts into spoken words along with a subtle emotion to the tone. This extraordinary character of the voice in expressing multiple emotions is the gift of God to the human beings and helps in effective interpersonal communication. Voice generation involves close interaction between cerebral signals and the peripheral apparatus consisting of the larynx, vocal cords, and trachea. The human voice is susceptible to the hormonal changes throughout life right from the puberty until senescence. Thyroid, gonadal and growth hormones have tremendous impact on the structure and function of the vocal apparatus. The alteration of voice is observed even in physiological states such as puberty and menstruation. Astute clinical observers make out the changes in the voice and refer the patients for endocrine evaluation. In this review, we shall discuss the hormonal influence on the voice apparatus in normal and endocrine disorders. PMID:27730065

Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS) Alerting Pipeline Taxonomy

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

for the consumer at the mo- ment but will soon become a commoditized, basic requirement. For example, as the baby boomers grow older, mobile services...Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS) Alerting Pipeline Taxonomy The WEA Project Team March 2012 SPECIAL REPORT CMU/SEI-2012-TR-019 CERT...report presents a taxonomy developed for the Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS). The CMAS Alerting Pipeline Taxonomy is a hierarchical classification

Medication-related clinical decision support alert overrides in inpatients.

PubMed

Nanji, Karen C; Seger, Diane L; Slight, Sarah P; Amato, Mary G; Beeler, Patrick E; Her, Qoua L; Dalleur, Olivia; Eguale, Tewodros; Wong, Adrian; Silvers, Elizabeth R; Swerdloff, Michael; Hussain, Salman T; Maniam, Nivethietha; Fiskio, Julie M; Dykes, Patricia C; Bates, David W

2018-05-01

To define the types and numbers of inpatient clinical decision support alerts, measure the frequency with which they are overridden, and describe providers' reasons for overriding them and the appropriateness of those reasons. We conducted a cross-sectional study of medication-related clinical decision support alerts over a 3-year period at a 793-bed tertiary-care teaching institution. We measured the rate of alert overrides, the rate of overrides by alert type, the reasons cited for overrides, and the appropriateness of those reasons. Overall, 73.3% of patient allergy, drug-drug interaction, and duplicate drug alerts were overridden, though the rate of overrides varied by alert type (P < .0001). About 60% of overrides were appropriate, and that proportion also varied by alert type (P < .0001). Few overrides of renal- (2.2%) or age-based (26.4%) medication substitutions were appropriate, while most duplicate drug (98%), patient allergy (96.5%), and formulary substitution (82.5%) alerts were appropriate. Despite warnings of potential significant harm, certain categories of alert overrides were inappropriate >75% of the time. The vast majority of duplicate drug, patient allergy, and formulary substitution alerts were appropriate, suggesting that these categories of alerts might be good targets for refinement to reduce alert fatigue. Almost three-quarters of alerts were overridden, and 40% of the overrides were not appropriate. Future research should optimize alert types and frequencies to increase their clinical relevance, reducing alert fatigue so that important alerts are not inappropriately overridden.

Integrating cues of social interest and voice pitch in men's preferences for women's voices.

PubMed

Jones, Benedict C; Feinberg, David R; Debruine, Lisa M; Little, Anthony C; Vukovic, Jovana

2008-04-23

Most previous studies of vocal attractiveness have focused on preferences for physical characteristics of voices such as pitch. Here we examine the content of vocalizations in interaction with such physical traits, finding that vocal cues of social interest modulate the strength of men's preferences for raised pitch in women's voices. Men showed stronger preferences for raised pitch when judging the voices of women who appeared interested in the listener than when judging the voices of women who appeared relatively disinterested in the listener. These findings show that voice preferences are not determined solely by physical properties of voices and that men integrate information about voice pitch and the degree of social interest expressed by women when forming voice preferences. Women's preferences for raised pitch in women's voices were not modulated by cues of social interest, suggesting that the integration of cues of social interest and voice pitch when men judge the attractiveness of women's voices may reflect adaptations that promote efficient allocation of men's mating effort.

Development and validation of a survey instrument for assessing prescribers' perception of computerized drug-drug interaction alerts.

PubMed

Zheng, Kai; Fear, Kathleen; Chaffee, Bruce W; Zimmerman, Christopher R; Karls, Edward M; Gatwood, Justin D; Stevenson, James G; Pearlman, Mark D

2011-12-01

To develop a theoretically informed and empirically validated survey instrument for assessing prescribers' perception of computerized drug-drug interaction (DDI) alerts. The survey is grounded in the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and an adapted accident causation model. Development of the instrument was also informed by a review of the extant literature on prescribers' attitude toward computerized medication safety alerts and common prescriber-provided reasons for overriding. To refine and validate the survey, we conducted a two-stage empirical validation study consisting of a pretest with a panel of domain experts followed by a field test among all eligible prescribers at our institution. The resulting survey instrument contains 28 questionnaire items assessing six theoretical dimensions: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, perceived fatigue, and perceived use behavior. Satisfactory results were obtained from the field validation; however, a few potential issues were also identified. We analyzed these issues accordingly and the results led to the final survey instrument as well as usage recommendations. High override rates of computerized medication safety alerts have been a prevalent problem. They are usually caused by, or manifested in, issues of poor end user acceptance. However, standardized research tools for assessing and understanding end users' perception are currently lacking, which inhibits knowledge accumulation and consequently forgoes improvement opportunities. The survey instrument presented in this paper may help fill this methodological gap. We developed and empirically validated a survey instrument that may be useful for future research on DDI alerts and other types of computerized medication safety alerts more generally.

Increased appropriateness of customized alert acknowledgement reasons for overridden medication alerts in a computerized provider order entry system.

PubMed

Dekarske, Brian M; Zimmerman, Christopher R; Chang, Robert; Grant, Paul J; Chaffee, Bruce W

2015-12-01

Computerized provider order entry systems commonly contain alerting mechanisms for patient allergies, incorrect doses, or drug-drug interactions when ordering medications. Providers have the option to override (bypass) these alerts and continue with the order unchanged. This study examines the effect of customizing medication alert override options on the appropriateness of override selection related to patient allergies, drug dosing, and drug-drug interactions when ordering medications in an electronic medical record. In this prospective, randomized crossover study, providers were randomized into cohorts that required a reason for overriding a medication alert from a customized or non-customized list of override reasons and/or by free-text entry. The primary outcome was to compare override responses that appropriately correlate with the alert type between the customized and non-customized configurations. The appropriateness of a subset of free-text responses that represented an affirmative and active acknowledgement of the alert without further explanation was classified as "indeterminate." Results were analyzed in three different ways by classifying indeterminate answers as either appropriate, inappropriate, or excluded entirely. Secondary outcomes included the appropriateness of override reasons when comparing cohorts and individual providers, reason selection based on order within the override list, and the determination of the frequency of free-text use, nonsensical responses, and multiple selection responses. Twenty-two clinicians were randomized into 2 cohorts and a total of 1829 alerts with a required response were generated during the study period. The customized configuration had a higher rate of appropriateness when compared to the non-customized configuration regardless of how indeterminate responses were classified (p<0.001). When comparing cohorts, appropriateness was significantly higher in the customized configuration regardless of the

Alertness and cognitive control: Testing the early onset hypothesis.

PubMed

Schneider, Darryl W

2018-05-01

Previous research has revealed a peculiar interaction between alertness and cognitive control in selective-attention tasks: Congruency effects are larger on alert trials (on which an alerting cue is presented briefly in advance of the imperative stimulus) than on no-alert trials, despite shorter response times (RTs) on alert trials. One explanation for this finding is the early onset hypothesis, which is based on the assumptions that increased alertness shortens stimulus-encoding time and that cognitive control involves gradually focusing attention during a trial. The author tested the hypothesis in 3 experiments by manipulating alertness and stimulus quality (which were intended to shorten and lengthen stimulus-encoding time, respectively) in an arrow-based flanker task involving congruent and incongruent stimuli. Replicating past findings, the alerting manipulation led to shorter RTs but larger congruency effects on alert trials than on no-alert trials. The stimulus-quality manipulation led to longer RTs and larger congruency effects for degraded stimuli than for intact stimuli. These results provide mixed support for the early onset hypothesis, but the author discusses how data and theory might be reconciled if stimulus quality affects stimulus-encoding time and the rate of evidence accumulation in the decision process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Mobile voice health monitoring using a wearable accelerometer sensor and a smartphone platform

PubMed Central

Mehta, Daryush D.; Zañartu, Matías; Feng, Shengran W.; Cheyne, Harold A.; Hillman, Robert E.

2012-01-01

Many common voice disorders are chronic or recurring conditions that are likely to result from faulty and/or abusive patterns of vocal behavior, referred to generically as vocal hyperfunction. An ongoing goal in clinical voice assessment is the development and use of noninvasively derived measures to quantify and track the daily status of vocal hyperfunction so that the diagnosis and treatment of such behaviorally based voice disorders can be improved. This paper reports on the development of a new, versatile, and cost-effective clinical tool for mobile voice monitoring that acquires the high-bandwidth signal from an accelerometer sensor placed on the neck skin above the collarbone. Using a smartphone as the data acquisition platform, the prototype device provides a user-friendly interface for voice use monitoring, daily sensor calibration, and periodic alert capabilities. Pilot data are reported from three vocally normal speakers and three subjects with voice disorders to demonstrate the potential of the device to yield standard measures of fundamental frequency and sound pressure level and model-based glottal airflow properties. The smartphone-based platform enables future clinical studies for the identification of the best set of measures for differentiating between normal and hyperfunctional patterns of voice use. PMID:22875236

Mobile voice health monitoring using a wearable accelerometer sensor and a smartphone platform.

PubMed

Mehta, Daryush D; Zañartu, Matías; Feng, Shengran W; Cheyne, Harold A; Hillman, Robert E

2012-11-01

Many common voice disorders are chronic or recurring conditions that are likely to result from faulty and/or abusive patterns of vocal behavior, referred to generically as vocal hyperfunction. An ongoing goal in clinical voice assessment is the development and use of noninvasively derived measures to quantify and track the daily status of vocal hyperfunction so that the diagnosis and treatment of such behaviorally based voice disorders can be improved. This paper reports on the development of a new, versatile, and cost-effective clinical tool for mobile voice monitoring that acquires the high-bandwidth signal from an accelerometer sensor placed on the neck skin above the collarbone. Using a smartphone as the data acquisition platform, the prototype device provides a user-friendly interface for voice use monitoring, daily sensor calibration, and periodic alert capabilities. Pilot data are reported from three vocally normal speakers and three subjects with voice disorders to demonstrate the potential of the device to yield standard measures of fundamental frequency and sound pressure level and model-based glottal airflow properties. The smartphone-based platform enables future clinical studies for the identification of the best set of measures for differentiating between normal and hyperfunctional patterns of voice use.

Decision Support Alerts for Medication Ordering in a Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) System

PubMed Central

Beccaro, M. A. Del; Villanueva, R.; Knudson, K. M.; Harvey, E. M.; Langle, J. M.; Paul, W.

2010-01-01

Objective We sought to determine the frequency and type of decision support alerts by location and ordering provider role during Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) medication ordering. Using these data we adjusted the decision support tools to reduce the number of alerts. Design Retrospective analyses were performed of dose range checks (DRC), drug-drug interaction and drug-allergy alerts from our electronic medical record. During seven sampling periods (each two weeks long) between April 2006 and October 2008 all alerts in these categories were analyzed. Another audit was performed of all DRC alerts by ordering provider role from November 2008 through January 2009. Medication ordering error counts were obtained from a voluntary error reporting system. Measurement/Results Between April 2006 and October 2008 the percent of medication orders that triggered a dose range alert decreased from 23.9% to 7.4%. The relative risk (RR) for getting an alert was higher at the start of the interventions versus later (RR= 2.40, 95% CI 2.28-2.52; p< 0.0001). The percentage of medication orders that triggered alerts for drug-drug interactions also decreased from 13.5% to 4.8%. The RR for getting a drug interaction alert at the start was 1.63, 95% CI 1.60-1.66; p< 0.0001. Alerts decreased in all clinical areas without an increase in reported medication errors. Conclusion We reduced the quantity of decision support alerts in CPOE using a systematic approach without an increase in reported medication errors PMID:23616845

How well does voice interaction work in space?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, Randy B.; Whitmore, Mihriban; Adam, Susan C.

1993-01-01

The methods and results of an evaluation of the Voice Navigator software package are discussed. The first phase or ground phase of the study consisted of creating, or training, computer voice files of specific commands. This consisted of repeating each of six commands eight times. The files were then tested for recognition accuracy by the software aboard the microgravity aircraft. During the second phase, both voice training and testing were performed in microgravity. Inflight training was done due to problems encountered in phase one which were believed to be caused by ambient noise levels. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Only one of the commands was found to offer consistently high recognition rates across subjects during the second phase.

IP telephony based danger alert communication system and its implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rezac, Filip; Safarik, Jakub; Voznak, Miroslav; Tomala, Karel; Partila, Pavol

2013-05-01

This article discusses a danger alert system created as a part of the research project at Department of Telecommunications of Technical University of Ostrava. The aim of the system is to distribute pre-recorded voice messages in order to alert the called party in danger. This article describes individual technologies, which the application uses for its operation as well as issues relating to hardware requirements and transfer line bandwidth load. The article also describes new algorithms, which had to be developed in order to ensure the reliability of the system. Our intent is focused on disaster management, the message, which should be delivered within specified time span, is typed in the application and text-to-speech module ensures its transformation to a speech format, after that a particular scenario or warned area is selected and a target group is automatically unloaded. For this purpose, we have defined XML format for delivery of phone numbers which are located in the target area and these numbers are obtained from mobile BTS's (Base transmission stations). The benefit of such communication compared to others, is the fact, that it uses a phone call and, therefore, it is possible to get feedback who accepted the message and to improve efficiency of alert system. Finally, the list of unanswered calls is exported and these users can be informed via SMS.

Voice Interactive Analysis System Study. Final Report, August 28, 1978 through March 23, 1979.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harry, D. P.; And Others

The Voice Interactive Analysis System study continued research and development of the LISTEN real-time, minicomputer based connected speech recognition system, within NAVTRAEQUIPCEN'S program of developing automatic speech technology in support of training. An attempt was made to identify the most effective features detected by the TTI-500 model…

The Voice as Computer Interface: A Look at Tomorrow's Technologies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lange, Holley R.

1991-01-01

Discussion of voice as the communications device for computer-human interaction focuses on voice recognition systems for use within a library environment. Voice technologies are described, including voice response and voice recognition; examples of voice systems in use in libraries are examined; and further possibilities, including use with…

Bias in child maltreatment self-reports using Interactive Voice Response

PubMed Central

Kepple, Nancy J.; Freisthler, Bridget; Johnson-Motoyama, Michelle

2014-01-01

Few methods estimate the prevalence of child maltreatment in the general population due to concerns about socially desirable responding and mandated reporting laws. Innovative methods, such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR), may obtain better estimates that address these concerns. This study examined the utility of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) for child maltreatment behaviors by assessing differences between respondents who completed and did not complete a survey using IVR technology. A mixed-mode telephone survey was conducted in English and Spanish in 50 cities in California during 2009. Caregivers (n = 3,023) self-reported abusive and neglectful parenting behaviors for a focal child under the age of 13 using Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing and IVR. We used Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models to compare survey completion by caregivers nested within cities for the full sample and age-specific ranges. For demographic characteristics, caregivers born in the United States were more likely to complete the survey when controlling for covariates. Parenting stress, provision of physical needs, and provision of supervisory needs were not associated with survey completion in the full multivariate model. For caregivers of children 0 to 4 years (n = 838), those reporting they could often or always hear their child from another room had a higher likelihood of survey completion. The findings suggest IVR could prove to be useful for future surveys that aim to estimate abusive and/or neglectful parenting behaviors given the limited bias observed for demographic characteristics and problematic parenting behaviors. Further research should expand upon its utility to advance estimation rates. PMID:24819534

Mechanics of human voice production and control

PubMed Central

Zhang, Zhaoyan

2016-01-01

As the primary means of communication, voice plays an important role in daily life. Voice also conveys personal information such as social status, personal traits, and the emotional state of the speaker. Mechanically, voice production involves complex fluid-structure interaction within the glottis and its control by laryngeal muscle activation. An important goal of voice research is to establish a causal theory linking voice physiology and biomechanics to how speakers use and control voice to communicate meaning and personal information. Establishing such a causal theory has important implications for clinical voice management, voice training, and many speech technology applications. This paper provides a review of voice physiology and biomechanics, the physics of vocal fold vibration and sound production, and laryngeal muscular control of the fundamental frequency of voice, vocal intensity, and voice quality. Current efforts to develop mechanical and computational models of voice production are also critically reviewed. Finally, issues and future challenges in developing a causal theory of voice production and perception are discussed. PMID:27794319

Mechanics of human voice production and control.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhaoyan

2016-10-01

As the primary means of communication, voice plays an important role in daily life. Voice also conveys personal information such as social status, personal traits, and the emotional state of the speaker. Mechanically, voice production involves complex fluid-structure interaction within the glottis and its control by laryngeal muscle activation. An important goal of voice research is to establish a causal theory linking voice physiology and biomechanics to how speakers use and control voice to communicate meaning and personal information. Establishing such a causal theory has important implications for clinical voice management, voice training, and many speech technology applications. This paper provides a review of voice physiology and biomechanics, the physics of vocal fold vibration and sound production, and laryngeal muscular control of the fundamental frequency of voice, vocal intensity, and voice quality. Current efforts to develop mechanical and computational models of voice production are also critically reviewed. Finally, issues and future challenges in developing a causal theory of voice production and perception are discussed.

CISN ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System Monitoring Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henson, I. H.; Allen, R. M.; Neuhauser, D. S.

2015-12-01

CISN ShakeAlert is a prototype earthquake early warning system being developed and tested by the California Integrated Seismic Network. The system has recently been expanded to support redundant data processing and communications. It now runs on six machines at three locations with ten Apache ActiveMQ message brokers linking together 18 waveform processors, 12 event association processes and 4 Decision Module alert processes. The system ingests waveform data from about 500 stations and generates many thousands of triggers per day, from which a small portion produce earthquake alerts. We have developed interactive web browser system-monitoring tools that display near real time state-of-health and performance information. This includes station availability, trigger statistics, communication and alert latencies. Connections to regional earthquake catalogs provide a rapid assessment of the Decision Module hypocenter accuracy. Historical performance can be evaluated, including statistics for hypocenter and origin time accuracy and alert time latencies for different time periods, magnitude ranges and geographic regions. For the ElarmS event associator, individual earthquake processing histories can be examined, including details of the transmission and processing latencies associated with individual P-wave triggers. Individual station trigger and latency statistics are available. Detailed information about the ElarmS trigger association process for both alerted events and rejected events is also available. The Google Web Toolkit and Map API have been used to develop interactive web pages that link tabular and geographic information. Statistical analysis is provided by the R-Statistics System linked to a PostgreSQL database.

CHEMICAL SAFETY ALERTS-

EPA Science Inventory

Chemical Safety Alerts are short publications which explain specific hazards that have become evident through chemical accident investigation efforts. EPA has produced over a dozen Alerts to date. This year's Alert: Managing Chemical Reactivity Hazards

Clinical Decision Support Alert Appropriateness: A Review and Proposal for Improvement

PubMed Central

McCoy, Allison B.; Thomas, Eric J.; Krousel-Wood, Marie; Sittig, Dean F.

2014-01-01

Background Many healthcare providers are adopting clinical decision support (CDS) systems to improve patient safety and meet meaningful use requirements. Computerized alerts that prompt clinicians about drug-allergy, drug-drug, and drug-disease warnings or provide dosing guidance are most commonly implemented. Alert overrides, which occur when clinicians do not follow the guidance presented by the alert, can hinder improved patient outcomes. Methods We present a review of CDS alerts and describe a proposal to develop novel methods for evaluating and improving CDS alerts that builds upon traditional informatics approaches. Our proposal incorporates previously described models for predicting alert overrides that utilize retrospective chart review to determine which alerts are clinically relevant and which overrides are justifiable. Results Despite increasing implementations of CDS alerts, detailed evaluations rarely occur because of the extensive labor involved in manual chart reviews to determine alert and response appropriateness. Further, most studies have solely evaluated alert overrides that are appropriate or justifiable. Our proposal expands the use of web-based monitoring tools with an interactive dashboard for evaluating CDS alert and response appropriateness that incorporates the predictive models. The dashboard provides 2 views, an alert detail view and a patient detail view, to provide a full history of alerts and help put the patient's events in context. Conclusion The proposed research introduces several innovations to address the challenges and gaps in alert evaluations. This research can transform alert evaluation processes across healthcare settings, leading to improved CDS, reduced alert fatigue, and increased patient safety. PMID:24940129

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) Cybersecurity Risk Management Strategy for Alert Originators

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-01

formerly known as the Commercial Mobile Alert Service ( CMAS ) RDT&E program, is a collaborative partnership that includes the cellular industry, the...Examples illustrate a STRIDE analysis of the generic mission 1 The CMAS Alerting Pipeline Taxonomy describes in detail a hierarchical classification...SEI-2013-SR-018 | 1 1 Introduction The Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) service, formerly known as the Commercial Mobile Alert Service ( CMAS ), is a

Technologic Distractions (Part 1): Summary of Approaches to Manage Alert Quantity With Intent to Reduce Alert Fatigue and Suggestions for Alert Fatigue Metrics.

PubMed

Kane-Gill, Sandra L; O'Connor, Michael F; Rothschild, Jeffrey M; Selby, Nicholas M; McLean, Barbara; Bonafide, Christopher P; Cvach, Maria M; Hu, Xiao; Konkani, Avinash; Pelter, Michele M; Winters, Bradford D

2017-09-01

To provide ICU clinicians with evidence-based guidance on tested interventions that reduce or prevent alert fatigue within clinical decision support systems. Systematic review of PubMed, Embase, SCOPUS, and CINAHL for relevant literature from 1966 to February 2017. Focus on critically ill patients and included evaluations in other patient care settings, as well. Identified interventions designed to reduce or prevent alert fatigue within clinical decision support systems. Study selection was based on one primary key question to identify effective interventions that attempted to reduce alert fatigue and three secondary key questions that covered the negative effects of alert fatigue, potential unintended consequences of efforts to reduce alert fatigue, and ideal alert quantity. Data were abstracted by two reviewers independently using a standardized abstraction tool. Surveys, meeting abstracts, "gray" literature, studies not available in English, and studies with non-original data were excluded. For the primary key question, articles were excluded if they did not provide a comparator as key question 1 was designed as a problem, intervention, comparison, and outcome question. We anticipated that reduction in alert fatigue, including the concept of desensitization may not be directly measured and thus considered interventions that reduced alert quantity as a surrogate marker for alert fatigue. Twenty-six articles met the inclusion criteria. Approaches for managing alert fatigue in the ICU are provided as a result of reviewing tested interventions that reduced alert quantity with the anticipated effect of reducing fatigue. Suggested alert management strategies include prioritizing alerts, developing sophisticated alerts, customizing commercially available alerts, and including end user opinion in alert selection. Alert fatigue itself is studied less frequently, as an outcome, and there is a need for more precise evaluation. Standardized metrics for alert fatigue is

Empowering Student Voice through Interactive Design and Digital Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Yanghee; Searle, Kristin

2017-01-01

Over the last two decades online technology and digital media have provided space for students to participate and express their voices. This paper further explores how new digital technologies, such as humanoid robots and wearable electronics, can be used to offer additional spaces where students' voices are heard. In these spaces, young students…

Real-Time Mapping alert system; user's manual

USGS Publications Warehouse

Torres, L.A.

1996-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey has an extensive hydrologic network that records and transmits precipitation, stage, discharge, and other water- related data on a real-time basis to an automated data processing system. Data values are recorded on electronic data collection platforms at field monitoring sites. These values are transmitted by means of orbiting satellites to receiving ground stations, and by way of telecommunication lines to a U.S. Geological Survey office where they are processed on a computer system. Data that exceed predefined thresholds are identified as alert values. These alert values can help keep water- resource specialists informed of current hydrologic conditions. The current alert status at monitoring sites is of critical importance during floods, hurricanes, and other extreme hydrologic events where quick analysis of the situation is needed. This manual provides instructions for using the Real-Time Mapping software, a series of computer programs developed by the U.S. Geological Survey for quick analysis of hydrologic conditions, and guides users through a basic interactive session. The software provides interactive graphics display and query of real-time information in a map-based, menu-driven environment.

Design and Implementation of an Interactive Website for Pediatric Voice Therapy-The Concept of In-Between Care: A Telehealth Model.

PubMed

Doarn, Charles R; Zacharias, Stephanie; Keck, Casey Stewart; Tabangin, Meredith; DeAlarcon, Alessandro; Kelchner, Lisa

2018-06-05

This article describes the design and implementation of a web-based portal developed to provide supported home practice between weekly voice therapy sessions delivered through telehealth to children with voice disorders. This in-between care consisted of supported home practice that was remotely monitored by speech-language pathologists (SLPs). A web-based voice therapy portal (VTP) was developed as a platform so participants could complete voice therapy home practice by an interdisciplinary team of SLPs (specialized in pediatric voice therapy), telehealth specialists, biomedical informaticians, and interface designers. The VTP was subsequently field tested in a group of children with voice disorders, participating in a larger telehealth study. Building the VTP for supported home practice for pediatric voice therapy was challenging, but successful. Key interactive features of the final site included 11 vocal hygiene questions, traditional voice therapy exercises grouped into levels, audio/visual voice therapy demonstrations, a store-and-retrieval system for voice samples, message/chat function, written guidelines for weekly therapy exercises, and questionnaires for parents to complete after each therapy session. Ten participants (9-14 years of age) diagnosed with a voice disorder were enrolled for eight weekly telehealth voice therapy sessions with follow-up in-between care provided using the VTP. The development and implementation of the VTP as a novel platform for the delivery of voice therapy home practice sessions were effective. We found that a versatile individual, who can work with all project staff (speak the language of both SLPs and information technologists), is essential to the development process. Once the website was established, participants and SLPs effectively utilized the web-based VTP. They found it feasible and useful for needed in-between care and reinforcement of therapeutic exercises.

Practical applications of interactive voice technologies: Some accomplishments and prospects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grady, Michael W.; Hicklin, M. B.; Porter, J. E.

1977-01-01

A technology assessment of the application of computers and electronics to complex systems is presented. Three existing systems which utilize voice technology (speech recognition and speech generation) are described. Future directions in voice technology are also described.

Monitoring daily affective symptoms and memory function using interactive voice response in outpatients receiving electroconvulsive therapy.

PubMed

Fazzino, Tera L; Rabinowitz, Terry; Althoff, Robert R; Helzer, John E

2013-12-01

Recently, there has been a gradual shift from inpatient-only electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) toward outpatient administration. Potential advantages include convenience and reduced cost. But providers do not have the same opportunity to monitor treatment response and adverse effects as they do with inpatients. This can obviate some of the potential advantages of outpatient ECT, such as tailoring treatment intervals to clinical response. Scheduling is typically algorithmic rather than empirically based. Daily monitoring through an automated telephone, interactive voice response (IVR), is a potential solution to this quandary. To test feasibility of clinical monitoring via IVR, we recruited 26 patients (69% female; mean age, 51 years) receiving outpatient ECT to make daily IVR reports of affective symptoms and subjective memory for 60 days. The IVR also administered a word recognition task daily to test objective memory. Every seventh day, a longer IVR weekly interview included questions about suicidal ideation. Overall daily call compliance was high (mean, 80%). Most participants (96%) did not consider the calls to be time-consuming. Longitudinal regression analysis using generalized estimating equations revealed that participant objective memory functioning significantly improved during the study (P < 0.05). Of 123 weekly IVR interviews, 41 reports (33%) in 14 patients endorsed suicidal ideation during the previous week. Interactive voice response monitoring of outpatient ECT can provide more detailed clinical information than standard outpatient ECT assessment. Interactive voice response data offer providers a comprehensive, longitudinal picture of patient treatment response and adverse effects as a basis for treatment scheduling and ongoing clinical management.

Evaluation of medication alerts in electronic health records for compliance with human factors principles

PubMed Central

Phansalkar, Shobha; Zachariah, Marianne; Seidling, Hanna M; Mendes, Chantal; Volk, Lynn; Bates, David W

2014-01-01

Introduction Increasing the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) with integrated clinical decision support (CDS) is a key initiative of the current US healthcare administration. High over-ride rates of CDS alerts strongly limit these potential benefits. As a result, EHR designers aspire to improve alert design to achieve better acceptance rates. In this study, we evaluated drug–drug interaction (DDI) alerts generated in EHRs and compared them for compliance with human factors principles. Methods We utilized a previously validated questionnaire, the I-MeDeSA, to assess compliance with nine human factors principles of DDI alerts generated in 14 EHRs. Two reviewers independently assigned scores evaluating the human factors characteristics of each EHR. Rankings were assigned based on these scores and recommendations for appropriate alert design were derived. Results The 14 EHRs evaluated in this study received scores ranging from 8 to 18.33, with a maximum possible score of 26. Cohen's κ (κ=0.86) reflected excellent agreement among reviewers. The six vendor products tied for second and third place rankings, while the top system and bottom five systems were home-grown products. The most common weaknesses included the absence of characteristics such as alert prioritization, clear and concise alert messages indicating interacting drugs, actions for clinical management, and a statement indicating the consequences of over-riding the alert. Conclusions We provided detailed analyses of the human factors principles which were assessed and described our recommendations for effective alert design. Future studies should assess whether adherence to these recommendations can improve alert acceptance. PMID:24780721

Alert generation and cockpit presentation for an integrated microburst alerting system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wanke, Craig; Hansman, R. John, Jr.

1991-01-01

Alert generation and cockpit presentation issues for low level wind shear (microburst) alerts are investigated. Alert generation issues center on the development of a hazard criterion which allows integration of both ground based and airborne wind shear detection systems to form an accurate picture of the aviation hazard posed by a particular wind shear situation. A methodology for the testing of a hazard criteria through flight simulation has been developed, and has been used to examine the effectiveness and feasibility of several possible criteria. Also, an experiment to evaluate candidate graphical cockpit displays for microburst alerts using a piloted simulator has been designed.

Identification of Patients Expected to Benefit from Electronic Alerts for Acute Kidney Injury.

PubMed

Biswas, Aditya; Parikh, Chirag R; Feldman, Harold I; Garg, Amit X; Latham, Stephen; Lin, Haiqun; Palevsky, Paul M; Ugwuowo, Ugochukwu; Wilson, F Perry

2018-06-07

Electronic alerts for heterogenous conditions such as AKI may not provide benefit for all eligible patients and can lead to alert fatigue, suggesting that personalized alert targeting may be useful. Uplift-based alert targeting may be superior to purely prognostic-targeting of interventions because uplift models assess marginal treatment effect rather than likelihood of outcome. This is a secondary analysis of a clinical trial of 2278 adult patients with AKI randomized to an automated, electronic alert system versus usual care. We used three uplift algorithms and one purely prognostic algorithm, trained in 70% of the data, and evaluated the effect of targeting alerts to patients with higher scores in the held-out 30% of the data. The performance of the targeting strategy was assessed as the interaction between the model prediction of likelihood to benefit from alerts and randomization status. The outcome of interest was maximum relative change in creatinine from the time of randomization to 3 days after randomization. The three uplift score algorithms all gave rise to a significant interaction term, suggesting that a strategy of targeting individuals with higher uplift scores would lead to a beneficial effect of AKI alerting, in contrast to the null effect seen in the overall study. The prognostic model did not successfully stratify patients with regards to benefit of the intervention. Among individuals in the high uplift group, alerting was associated with a median reduction in change in creatinine of -5.3% ( P =0.03). In the low uplift group, alerting was associated with a median increase in change in creatinine of +5.3% ( P =0.005). Older individuals, women, and those with a lower randomization creatinine were more likely to receive high uplift scores, suggesting that alerts may benefit those with more slowly developing AKI. Uplift modeling, which accounts for treatment effect, can successfully target electronic alerts for AKI to those most likely to benefit

Detecting alerts, notifying the physician, and offering action items: a comprehensive alerting system.

PubMed Central

Kuperman, G. J.; Teich, J. M.; Bates, D. W.; Hiltz, F. L.; Hurley, J. M.; Lee, R. Y.; Paterno, M. D.

1996-01-01

We developed and evaluated a system to automatically identify serious clinical conditions in inpatients. The system notifies the patient's covering physician via his pager that an alert is present and offers potential therapies for the patient's condition (action items) at the time he views the alert information. Over a 6 month period, physicians responded to 1214 (70.2%) of 1730 alerts for which they were paged; they responded to 1002 (82.5% of the 1214) in less than 15 minutes. They said they would take action in 71.5% of the alerts, and they placed an order directly from the alert display screen in 39.4%. Further study is needed to determine if this alerting system improves processes or outcomes of care. PMID:8947756

Voice - How humans communicate?

PubMed

Tiwari, Manjul; Tiwari, Maneesha

2012-01-01

Voices are important things for humans. They are the medium through which we do a lot of communicating with the outside world: our ideas, of course, and also our emotions and our personality. The voice is the very emblem of the speaker, indelibly woven into the fabric of speech. In this sense, each of our utterances of spoken language carries not only its own message but also, through accent, tone of voice and habitual voice quality it is at the same time an audible declaration of our membership of particular social regional groups, of our individual physical and psychological identity, and of our momentary mood. Voices are also one of the media through which we (successfully, most of the time) recognize other humans who are important to us-members of our family, media personalities, our friends, and enemies. Although evidence from DNA analysis is potentially vastly more eloquent in its power than evidence from voices, DNA cannot talk. It cannot be recorded planning, carrying out or confessing to a crime. It cannot be so apparently directly incriminating. As will quickly become evident, voices are extremely complex things, and some of the inherent limitations of the forensic-phonetic method are in part a consequence of the interaction between their complexity and the real world in which they are used. It is one of the aims of this article to explain how this comes about. This subject have unsolved questions, but there is no direct way to present the information that is necessary to understand how voices can be related, or not, to their owners.

Learned face-voice pairings facilitate visual search.

PubMed

Zweig, L Jacob; Suzuki, Satoru; Grabowecky, Marcia

2015-04-01

Voices provide a rich source of information that is important for identifying individuals and for social interaction. During search for a face in a crowd, voices often accompany visual information, and they facilitate localization of the sought-after individual. However, it is unclear whether this facilitation occurs primarily because the voice cues the location of the face or because it also increases the salience of the associated face. Here we demonstrate that a voice that provides no location information nonetheless facilitates visual search for an associated face. We trained novel face-voice associations and verified learning using a two-alternative forced choice task in which participants had to correctly match a presented voice to the associated face. Following training, participants searched for a previously learned target face among other faces while hearing one of the following sounds (localized at the center of the display): a congruent learned voice, an incongruent but familiar voice, an unlearned and unfamiliar voice, or a time-reversed voice. Only the congruent learned voice speeded visual search for the associated face. This result suggests that voices facilitate the visual detection of associated faces, potentially by increasing their visual salience, and that the underlying crossmodal associations can be established through brief training.

Gender in Voice Perception in Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Groen, Wouter B.; van Orsouw, Linda; Zwiers, Marcel; Swinkels, Sophie; van der Gaag, Rutger Jan; Buitelaar, Jan K.

2008-01-01

Deficits in the perception of social stimuli may contribute to the characteristic impairments in social interaction in high functioning autism (HFA). Although the cortical processing of voice is abnormal in HFA, it is unclear whether this gives rise to impairments in the perception of voice gender. About 20 children with HFA and 20 matched…

Adoption of medication alert systems in hospital outpatient departments in Taiwan.

PubMed

Kuo, Yu-Chun; Cheng, Shou-Hsia

2017-06-01

The adoption of medication alert systems in the health care sector varies among regions. In Taiwan, the health authority introduced policies in 2005 to encourage the adoption of medication alert systems in hospitals. This study aimed to understand the adoption of medication alert systems in the outpatient departments of hospitals in Taiwan using a nationwide survey. A questionnaire was developed and mailed to 380 accredited general hospitals in Taiwan in 2013. The information collected from the questionnaire concerning the outpatient department included (1) the time of adoption of a medication alert system; (2) the operation of individual alert functions: availability, management, and stability; and (3) hospital characteristics: accreditation level, teaching status, ownership, and number of beds. A total of 216 hospitals completed and returned the questionnaire, corresponding to a response rate of 56.8%. The adoption rate of medication alert systems in hospital outpatient departments increased from less than 10% in 1997-95.83% in 2012. Approximately two-thirds of the hospitals developed and maintained the alert systems independently or collaboratively with vendors. Teaching and large hospitals tended to develop more advanced alert functions such as drug-drug interaction functions. Improving the safety and quality of pharmaceutical services and meeting the policy requirements are reasons for hospitals to establish medication alert systems. The adoption rate of medication alert systems reached 95% in accredited general hospitals in Taiwan. Government policy and available health information professionals and vendors may somewhat contribute to the high adoption rate. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Visual Alert System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

A visual alert system resulted from circuitry developed by Applied Cybernetics Systems for Langley as part of a space related telemetry system. James Campman, Applied Cybernetics president, left the company and founded Grace Industries, Inc. to manufacture security devices based on the Langley technology. His visual alert system combines visual and audible alerts for hearing impaired people. The company also manufactures an arson detection device called the electronic nose, and is currently researching additional applications of the NASA technology.

The value of visualizing tone of voice.

PubMed

Pullin, Graham; Cook, Andrew

2013-10-01

Whilst most of us have an innate feeling for tone of voice, it is an elusive quality that even phoneticians struggle to describe with sufficient subtlety. For people who cannot speak themselves this can have particularly profound repercussions. Augmentative communication often involves text-to-speech, a technology that only supports a basic choice of prosody based on punctuation. Given how inherently difficult it is to talk about more nuanced tone of voice, there is a risk that its absence from current devices goes unremarked and unchallenged. Looking ahead optimistically to more expressive communication aids, their design will need to involve more subtle interactions with tone of voice-interactions that the people using them can understand and engage with. Interaction design can play a role in making tone of voice visible, tangible, and accessible. Two projects that have already catalysed interdisciplinary debate in this area, Six Speaking Chairs and Speech Hedge, are introduced together with responses. A broader role for design is advocated, as a means to opening up speech technology research to a wider range of disciplinary perspectives, and also to the contributions and influence of people who use it in their everyday lives.

Alert status of nuclear weapons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kristensen, Hans M.

2017-11-01

Nuclear Alert Forces. Four nuclear-armed states deploy nuclear warheads on alert, ready to be used on relatively short notice: United States, Russia, France and Britain. Combined, the four countries deploy an estimated 1,869 nuclear alert warheads. Russia and the United States deploy 1,749 alert warheads combined, or 94% of all alert warheads. Despite some debate about possible need to increase readiness of nuclear forces (China, Pakistan), the five other nuclear-armed states (China, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea) are thought to store their warheads separate from launchers under normal circumstances. The overall number of alert warheads has remained relatively stable during the past five years.

Scientific bases of human-machine communication by voice.

PubMed Central

Schafer, R W

1995-01-01

The scientific bases for human-machine communication by voice are in the fields of psychology, linguistics, acoustics, signal processing, computer science, and integrated circuit technology. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the basic scientific and technological issues in human-machine communication by voice and to point out areas of future research opportunity. The discussion is organized around the following major issues in implementing human-machine voice communication systems: (i) hardware/software implementation of the system, (ii) speech synthesis for voice output, (iii) speech recognition and understanding for voice input, and (iv) usability factors related to how humans interact with machines. PMID:7479802

Divers Alert Network

MedlinePlus

... is Your Dive Safety Association Divers Alert Network DAN is Divers Alert Network, the diving industry’s largest ... Serving scuba divers for more than 30 years, DAN provides emergency assistance, medical information resources, educational opportunities ...

Double Voicing and Personhood in Collaborative Life Writing about Autism: the Transformative Narrative of Carly's Voice.

PubMed

Orlando, Monica

2018-06-01

Collaborative memoirs by co-writers with and without autism can enable the productive interaction of the voices of the writers in ways that can empower rather than exploit the disabled subject. Carly's Voice, co-written by Arthur Fleischmann and his autistic daughter Carly, demonstrates the capacity for such life narratives to facilitate the relational interaction between writers in the negotiation of understandings of disability. Though the text begins by focusing on the limitations of life with autism, it develops into a collaboration which helps both writers move toward new ways of understanding disability and their own and one another's life stories.

Alert Exchange Process Protocol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Groen, Frank

2015-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States of America (NASA), and the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), acknowledging that NASA, ESA and JAXA have a mutual interest in exchanging Alerts and Alert Status Lists to enhance the information base for each system participant while fortifying the general level of cooperation between the policy agreement subscribers, and each Party will exchange Alert listings on regular basis and detailed Alert information on a need to know basis to the extent permitted by law.

The Effect of Automated Alerts on Provider Ordering Behavior in an Outpatient Setting

PubMed Central

Steele, Andrew W; Eisert, Sheri; Witter, Joel; Lyons, Pat; Jones, Michael A; Gabow, Patricia; Ortiz, Eduardo

2005-01-01

Background Computerized order entry systems have the potential to prevent medication errors and decrease adverse drug events with the use of clinical-decision support systems presenting alerts to providers. Despite the large volume of medications prescribed in the outpatient setting, few studies have assessed the impact of automated alerts on medication errors related to drug–laboratory interactions in an outpatient primary-care setting. Methods and Findings A primary-care clinic in an integrated safety net institution was the setting for the study. In collaboration with commercial information technology vendors, rules were developed to address a set of drug–laboratory interactions. All patients seen in the clinic during the study period were eligible for the intervention. As providers ordered medications on a computer, an alert was displayed if a relevant drug–laboratory interaction existed. Comparisons were made between baseline and postintervention time periods. Provider ordering behavior was monitored focusing on the number of medication orders not completed and the number of rule-associated laboratory test orders initiated after alert display. Adverse drug events were assessed by doing a random sample of chart reviews using the Naranjo scoring scale. The rule processed 16,291 times during the study period on all possible medication orders: 7,017 during the pre-intervention period and 9,274 during the postintervention period. During the postintervention period, an alert was displayed for 11.8% (1,093 out of 9,274) of the times the rule processed, with 5.6% for only “missing laboratory values,” 6.0% for only “abnormal laboratory values,” and 0.2% for both types of alerts. Focusing on 18 high-volume and high-risk medications revealed a significant increase in the percentage of time the provider stopped the ordering process and did not complete the medication order when an alert for an abnormal rule-associated laboratory result was displayed (5.6% vs

Engaged Voices--Dialogic Interaction and the Construction of Shared Social Meanings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cruddas, Leora

2007-01-01

The notion of "pupil voice" reproduces the binary distinction between adult and child, pupil and teacher and therefore serves to reinforce "conventional" constructions of childhood. The concept of "voice" invokes an essentialist construction of self that is singular, coherent, consistent and rational. It is arguably…

Speaker's voice as a memory cue.

PubMed

Campeanu, Sandra; Craik, Fergus I M; Alain, Claude

2015-02-01

Speaker's voice occupies a central role as the cornerstone of auditory social interaction. Here, we review the evidence suggesting that speaker's voice constitutes an integral context cue in auditory memory. Investigation into the nature of voice representation as a memory cue is essential to understanding auditory memory and the neural correlates which underlie it. Evidence from behavioral and electrophysiological studies suggest that while specific voice reinstatement (i.e., same speaker) often appears to facilitate word memory even without attention to voice at study, the presence of a partial benefit of similar voices between study and test is less clear. In terms of explicit memory experiments utilizing unfamiliar voices, encoding methods appear to play a pivotal role. Voice congruency effects have been found when voice is specifically attended at study (i.e., when relatively shallow, perceptual encoding takes place). These behavioral findings coincide with neural indices of memory performance such as the parietal old/new recollection effect and the late right frontal effect. The former distinguishes between correctly identified old words and correctly identified new words, and reflects voice congruency only when voice is attended at study. Characterization of the latter likely depends upon voice memory, rather than word memory. There is also evidence to suggest that voice effects can be found in implicit memory paradigms. However, the presence of voice effects appears to depend greatly on the task employed. Using a word identification task, perceptual similarity between study and test conditions is, like for explicit memory tests, crucial. In addition, the type of noise employed appears to have a differential effect. While voice effects have been observed when white noise is used at both study and test, using multi-talker babble does not confer the same results. In terms of neuroimaging research modulations, characterization of an implicit memory effect

Connections between voice ergonomic risk factors and voice symptoms, voice handicap, and respiratory tract diseases.

PubMed

Rantala, Leena M; Hakala, Suvi J; Holmqvist, Sofia; Sala, Eeva

2012-11-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the connections between voice ergonomic risk factors found in classrooms and voice-related problems in teachers. Voice ergonomic assessment was performed in 39 classrooms in 14 elementary schools by means of a Voice Ergonomic Assessment in Work Environment--Handbook and Checklist. The voice ergonomic risk factors assessed included working culture, noise, indoor air quality, working posture, stress, and access to a sound amplifier. Teachers from the above-mentioned classrooms reported their voice symptoms, respiratory tract diseases, and completed a Voice Handicap Index (VHI). The more voice ergonomic risk factors found in the classroom the higher were the teachers' total scores on voice symptoms and VHI. Stress was the factor that correlated most strongly with voice symptoms. Poor indoor air quality increased the occurrence of laryngitis. Voice ergonomics were poor in the classrooms studied and voice ergonomic risk factors affected the voice. It is important to convey information on voice ergonomics to education administrators and those responsible for school planning and taking care of school buildings. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Measures of voiced frication for automatic classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, Philip J. B.; Jesus, Luis M. T.; Shadle, Christine H.; Pincas, Jonathan

2004-05-01

As an approach to understanding the characteristics of the acoustic sources in voiced fricatives, it seems apt to draw on knowledge of vowels and voiceless fricatives, which have been relatively well studied. However, the presence of both phonation and frication in these mixed-source sounds offers the possibility of mutual interaction effects, with variations across place of articulation. This paper examines the acoustic and articulatory consequences of these interactions and explores automatic techniques for finding parametric and statistical descriptions of these phenomena. A reliable and consistent set of such acoustic cues could be used for phonetic classification or speech recognition. Following work on devoicing of European Portuguese voiced fricatives [Jesus and Shadle, in Mamede et al. (eds.) (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2003), pp. 1-8]. and the modulating effect of voicing on frication [Jackson and Shadle, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 108, 1421-1434 (2000)], the present study focuses on three types of information: (i) sequences and durations of acoustic events in VC transitions, (ii) temporal, spectral and modulation measures from the periodic and aperiodic components of the acoustic signal, and (iii) voicing activity derived from simultaneous EGG data. Analysis of interactions observed in British/American English and European Portuguese speech corpora will be compared, and the principal findings discussed.

49 CFR 229.140 - Alerters.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... alerters shall provide an audio alarm upon expiration of the timing cycle interval. An alerter on a... indication to the operator at least five seconds prior to an audio alarm. The visual indication on an alerter...

Effects of a Voice Output Communication Aid on Interactions between Support Personnel and an Individual with Multiple Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schepis, Maureen M.; Reid, Dennis H.

1995-01-01

A young adult with multiple disabilities (profound mental retardation, spastic quadriplegia, and visual impairment) was provided with a voice output communication aid (VOCA) which allowed communication through synthesized speech. Both educational and residential staff members interacted with the individual more frequently when she had access to…

Hands-free human-machine interaction with voice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Juang, B. H.

2004-05-01

Voice is natural communication interface between a human and a machine. The machine, when placed in today's communication networks, may be configured to provide automation to save substantial operating cost, as demonstrated in AT&T's VRCP (Voice Recognition Call Processing), or to facilitate intelligent services, such as virtual personal assistants, to enhance individual productivity. These intelligent services often need to be accessible anytime, anywhere (e.g., in cars when the user is in a hands-busy-eyes-busy situation or during meetings where constantly talking to a microphone is either undersirable or impossible), and thus call for advanced signal processing and automatic speech recognition techniques which support what we call ``hands-free'' human-machine communication. These techniques entail a broad spectrum of technical ideas, ranging from use of directional microphones and acoustic echo cancellatiion to robust speech recognition. In this talk, we highlight a number of key techniques that were developed for hands-free human-machine communication in the mid-1990s after Bell Labs became a unit of Lucent Technologies. A video clip will be played to demonstrate the accomplishement.

Shielding voices: The modulation of binding processes between voice features and response features by task representations.

PubMed

Bogon, Johanna; Eisenbarth, Hedwig; Landgraf, Steffen; Dreisbach, Gesine

2017-09-01

Vocal events offer not only semantic-linguistic content but also information about the identity and the emotional-motivational state of the speaker. Furthermore, most vocal events have implications for our actions and therefore include action-related features. But the relevance and irrelevance of vocal features varies from task to task. The present study investigates binding processes for perceptual and action-related features of spoken words and their modulation by the task representation of the listener. Participants reacted with two response keys to eight different words spoken by a male or a female voice (Experiment 1) or spoken by an angry or neutral male voice (Experiment 2). There were two instruction conditions: half of participants learned eight stimulus-response mappings by rote (SR), and half of participants applied a binary task rule (TR). In both experiments, SR instructed participants showed clear evidence for binding processes between voice and response features indicated by an interaction between the irrelevant voice feature and the response. By contrast, as indicated by a three-way interaction with instruction, no such binding was found in the TR instructed group. These results are suggestive of binding and shielding as two adaptive mechanisms that ensure successful communication and action in a dynamic social environment.

Voice discrimination in four primates.

PubMed

Candiotti, Agnès; Zuberbühler, Klaus; Lemasson, Alban

2013-10-01

One accepted function of vocalisations is to convey information about the signaller, such as its age-sex class, motivation, or relationship with the recipient. Yet, in natural habitats individuals not only interact with conspecifics but also with members of other species. This is well documented for African forest monkeys, which form semi-permanent mixed-species groups that can persist for decades. Although members of such groups interact with each other on a daily basis, both physically and vocally, it is currently unknown whether they can discriminate familiar and unfamiliar voices of heterospecific group members. We addressed this question with playbacks on monkey species known to form polyspecific associations in the wild: red-capped mangabeys, Campbell's monkeys and Guereza colobus monkeys. We tested subjects' discrimination abilities of contact calls of familiar and unfamiliar female De Brazza monkeys. When pooling all species, subjects looked more often towards the speaker when hearing contact calls of unfamiliar than familiar callers. When testing De Brazza monkeys with their own calls, we found the same effect with the longest gaze durations after hearing unfamiliar voices. This suggests that primates can discriminate, not only between familiar and unfamiliar voices of conspecifics, but also between familiar and unfamiliar voices of heterospecifics living within a close proximity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AmberAlert / DPS / DHSEM / AAB

Science.gov Websites

cooperative public service alert to aid in the safe recovery of abducted children. The Alaska AMBER Alert children to aid in their safe return. AMBER Alert Hotline: 866-AKAMBER - (866-252-6237) State of Alaska

Education and Training Module in Alertness Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mallis, M. M.; Brandt, S. L.; Oyung, R. L.; Reduta, D. D.; Rosekind, M. R.

2006-01-01

The education and training module (ETM) in alertness management has now been integrated as part of the training regimen of the Pilot Proficiency Awards Program ("WINGS") of the Federal Aviation Administration. Originated and now maintained current by the Fatigue Countermeasures Group at NASA Ames Research Center, the ETM in Alertness Management is designed to give pilots the benefit of the best and most recent research on the basics of sleep physiology, the causes of fatigue, and strategies for managing alertness during flight operations. The WINGS program is an incentive program that encourages pilots at all licensing levels to participate in recurrent training, upon completion of which distinctive lapel or tie pins (wings) and certificates of completion are awarded. In addition to flight training, all WINGS applicants must attend at least one FAA-sponsored safety seminar, FAA-sanctioned safety seminar, or industry recurrent training program. The Fatigue Countermeasures Group provides an FAA-approved industry recurrent training program through an on-line General Aviation (GA) WINGS ETM in alertness management to satisfy this requirement. Since 1993, the Fatigue Countermeasures Group has translated fatigue and alertness information to operational environments by conducting two-day ETM workshops oriented primarily toward air-carrier operations subject to Part 121 of the Federal Aviation Regulations pertaining to such operations. On the basis of the information presented in the two-day ETM workshops, an ETM was created for GA pilots and was transferred to a Web-based version. To comply with the requirements of the WINGS Program, the original Web-based version has been modified to include hypertext markup language (HTML) content that makes information easily accessible, in-depth testing of alertness-management knowledge, new interactive features, and increased informational resources for GA pilots. Upon successful completion of this training module, a participant

Determining Inappropriate Medication Alerts from "Inaccurate Warning" Overrides in the Intensive Care Unit.

PubMed

Rehr, Christine A; Wong, Adrian; Seger, Diane L; Bates, David W

2018-04-01

 This article aims to understand provider behavior around the use of the override reason "Inaccurate warning," specifically whether it is an effective way of identifying unhelpful medication alerts.  We analyzed alert overrides that occurred in the intensive care units (ICUs) of a major academic medical center between June and November 2016, focused on the following high-significance alert types: dose, drug-allergy alerts, and drug-drug interactions (DDI). Override appropriateness was analyzed by two independent reviewers using predetermined criteria.  A total of 268 of 26,501 ICU overrides (1.0%) used the reason "Inaccurate warning," with 93 of these overrides associated with our included alert types. Sixty-one of these overrides (66%) were identified to be appropriate. Twenty-one of 30 (70%) dose alert overrides were appropriate. Forty of 48 drug-allergy alert overrides (83%) were appropriate, for reasons ranging from prior tolerance ( n  = 30) to inaccurate ingredient matches ( n  = 5). None of the 15 DDI overrides were appropriate.  The "Inaccurate warning" reason was selectively used by a small proportion of providers and overrides using this reason identified important opportunities to reduce excess alerts. Potential opportunities include improved evaluation of dosing mechanisms based on patient characteristics, inclusion of institutional dosing protocols to alert logic, and evaluation of a patient's prior tolerance to a medication that they have a documented allergy for. This resource is not yet routinely used for alert tailoring at our institution but may prove to be a valuable resource to evaluate available alerts. Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart.

Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages via System of "Voice over Internet Protocol" and Language Interactions Case Study: Skype

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wahid, Wazira Ali Abdul; Ahmed, Eqbal Sulaiman; Wahid, Muntaha Ali Abdul

2015-01-01

This issue expresses a research study based on the online interactions of English teaching specially conversation through utilizing VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and cosmopolitan online theme. Data has been achieved by interviews. Simplifiers indicate how oral tasks require to be planned upon to facilitate engagement models propitious to…

Optimizing the real-time ground level enhancement alert system based on neutron monitor measurements: Introducing GLE Alert Plus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Souvatzoglou, G.; Papaioannou, A.; Mavromichalaki, H.; Dimitroulakos, J.; Sarlanis, C.

2014-11-01

Whenever a significant intensity increase is being recorded by at least three neutron monitor stations in real-time mode, a ground level enhancement (GLE) event is marked and an automated alert is issued. Although, the physical concept of the algorithm is solid and has efficiently worked in a number of cases, the availability of real-time data is still an open issue and makes timely GLE alerts quite challenging. In this work we present the optimization of the GLE alert that has been set into operation since 2006 at the Athens Neutron Monitor Station. This upgrade has led to GLE Alert Plus, which is currently based upon the Neutron Monitor Database (NMDB). We have determined the critical values per station allowing us to issue reliable GLE alerts close to the initiation of the event while at the same time we keep the false alert rate at low levels. Furthermore, we have managed to treat the problem of data availability, introducing the Go-Back-N algorithm. A total of 13 GLE events have been marked from January 2000 to December 2012. GLE Alert Plus issued an alert for 12 events. These alert times are compared to the alert times of GOES Space Weather Prediction Center and Solar Energetic Particle forecaster of the University of Málaga (UMASEP). In all cases GLE Alert Plus precedes the GOES alert by ≈8-52 min. The comparison with UMASEP demonstrated a remarkably good agreement. Real-time GLE alerts by GLE Alert Plus may be retrieved by http://cosray.phys.uoa.gr/gle_alert_plus.html, http://www.nmdb.eu, and http://swe.ssa.esa.int/web/guest/space-radiation. An automated GLE alert email notification system is also available to interested users.

Subjective assessment of usefulness and appropriate presentation mode of alerts and reminders in the outpatient setting.

PubMed Central

Krall, M. A.; Sittig, D. F.

2001-01-01

There is very little known about the limits of alerting in the setting of the outpatient Electronic Medical Record (EMR). We are interested in how users value and prefer such alerts. One hundred Kaiser Permanente primary care clinicians were sent a four-page questionnaire. It contained questions related to the usability and usefulness of different approaches to presenting reminder and alert information. The survey also contained questions about the desirability of six categories of alerts. Forty-three of 100 questionnaires were returned. Users generally preferred an active, more intrusive interaction model for "alerts" and a passive, less intrusive model for order messages and other types of reminders and notifications. Drug related alerts were more highly rated than health maintenance or disease state reminders. Users indicated that more alerts would make the system "more useful" but "less easy to use". PMID:11825206

Subjective assessment of usefulness and appropriate presentation mode of alerts and reminders in the outpatient setting.

PubMed

Krall, M A; Sittig, D F

2001-01-01

There is very little known about the limits of alerting in the setting of the outpatient Electronic Medical Record (EMR). We are interested in how users value and prefer such alerts. One hundred Kaiser Permanente primary care clinicians were sent a four-page questionnaire. It contained questions related to the usability and usefulness of different approaches to presenting reminder and alert information. The survey also contained questions about the desirability of six categories of alerts. Forty-three of 100 questionnaires were returned. Users generally preferred an active, more intrusive interaction model for "alerts" and a passive, less intrusive model for order messages and other types of reminders and notifications. Drug related alerts were more highly rated than health maintenance or disease state reminders. Users indicated that more alerts would make the system "more useful" but "less easy to use".

Telehealth: voice therapy using telecommunications technology.

PubMed

Mashima, Pauline A; Birkmire-Peters, Deborah P; Syms, Mark J; Holtel, Michael R; Burgess, Lawrence P A; Peters, Leslie J

2003-11-01

Telehealth offers the potential to meet the needs of underserved populations in remote regions. The purpose of this study was a proof-of-concept to determine whether voice therapy can be delivered effectively remotely. Treatment outcomes were evaluated for a vocal rehabilitation protocol delivered under 2 conditions: with the patient and clinician interacting within the same room (conventional group) and with the patient and clinician in separate rooms, interacting in real time via a hard-wired video camera and monitor (video teleconference group). Seventy-two patients with voice disorders served as participants. Based on evaluation by otolaryngologists, 31 participants were diagnosed with vocal nodules, 29 were diagnosed with edema, 9 were diagnosed with unilateral vocal fold paralysis, and 3 presented with vocal hyperfunction with no laryngeal pathology. Fifty-one participants (71%) completed the vocal rehabilitation protocol. Outcome measures included perceptual judgments of voice quality, acoustic analyses of voice, patient satisfaction ratings, and fiber-optic laryngoscopy. There were no differences in outcome measures between the conventional group and the remote video teleconference group. Participants in both groups showed positive changes on all outcome measures after completing the vocal rehabilitation protocol. Reasons for participants discontinuing therapy prematurely provided support for the telehealth model of service delivery.

ToxAlerts: a Web server of structural alerts for toxic chemicals and compounds with potential adverse reactions.

PubMed

Sushko, Iurii; Salmina, Elena; Potemkin, Vladimir A; Poda, Gennadiy; Tetko, Igor V

2012-08-27

The article presents a Web-based platform for collecting and storing toxicological structural alerts from literature and for virtual screening of chemical libraries to flag potentially toxic chemicals and compounds that can cause adverse side effects. An alert is uniquely identified by a SMARTS template, a toxicological endpoint, and a publication where the alert was described. Additionally, the system allows storing complementary information such as name, comments, and mechanism of action, as well as other data. Most importantly, the platform can be easily used for fast virtual screening of large chemical datasets, focused libraries, or newly designed compounds against the toxicological alerts, providing a detailed profile of the chemicals grouped by structural alerts and endpoints. Such a facility can be used for decision making regarding whether a compound should be tested experimentally, validated with available QSAR models, or eliminated from consideration altogether. The alert-based screening can also be helpful for an easier interpretation of more complex QSAR models. The system is publicly accessible and tightly integrated with the Online Chemical Modeling Environment (OCHEM, http://ochem.eu). The system is open and expandable: any registered OCHEM user can introduce new alerts, browse, edit alerts introduced by other users, and virtually screen his/her data sets against all or selected alerts. The user sets being passed through the structural alerts can be used at OCHEM for other typical tasks: exporting in a wide variety of formats, development of QSAR models, additional filtering by other criteria, etc. The database already contains almost 600 structural alerts for such endpoints as mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, skin sensitization, compounds that undergo metabolic activation, and compounds that form reactive metabolites and, thus, can cause adverse reactions. The ToxAlerts platform is accessible on the Web at http://ochem.eu/alerts, and it is constantly

ToxAlerts: A Web Server of Structural Alerts for Toxic Chemicals and Compounds with Potential Adverse Reactions

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

The article presents a Web-based platform for collecting and storing toxicological structural alerts from literature and for virtual screening of chemical libraries to flag potentially toxic chemicals and compounds that can cause adverse side effects. An alert is uniquely identified by a SMARTS template, a toxicological endpoint, and a publication where the alert was described. Additionally, the system allows storing complementary information such as name, comments, and mechanism of action, as well as other data. Most importantly, the platform can be easily used for fast virtual screening of large chemical datasets, focused libraries, or newly designed compounds against the toxicological alerts, providing a detailed profile of the chemicals grouped by structural alerts and endpoints. Such a facility can be used for decision making regarding whether a compound should be tested experimentally, validated with available QSAR models, or eliminated from consideration altogether. The alert-based screening can also be helpful for an easier interpretation of more complex QSAR models. The system is publicly accessible and tightly integrated with the Online Chemical Modeling Environment (OCHEM, http://ochem.eu). The system is open and expandable: any registered OCHEM user can introduce new alerts, browse, edit alerts introduced by other users, and virtually screen his/her data sets against all or selected alerts. The user sets being passed through the structural alerts can be used at OCHEM for other typical tasks: exporting in a wide variety of formats, development of QSAR models, additional filtering by other criteria, etc. The database already contains almost 600 structural alerts for such endpoints as mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, skin sensitization, compounds that undergo metabolic activation, and compounds that form reactive metabolites and, thus, can cause adverse reactions. The ToxAlerts platform is accessible on the Web at http://ochem.eu/alerts, and it is constantly

Contributors to Frequent Telehealth Alerts Including False Alerts for Patients with Heart Failure: A Mixed Methods Exploration

PubMed Central

Radhakrishna, K.; Bowles, K.; Zettek-Sumner, A.

2013-01-01

Summary Background Telehealth data overload through high alert generation is a significant barrier to sustained adoption of telehealth for managing HF patients. Objective To explore the factors contributing to frequent telehealth alerts including false alerts for Medicare heart failure (HF) patients admitted to a home health agency. Materials and Methods A mixed methods design that combined quantitative correlation analysis of patient characteristic data with number of telehealth alerts and qualitative analysis of telehealth and visiting nurses’ notes on follow-up actions to patients’ telehealth alerts was employed. All the quantitative and qualitative data was collected through retrospective review of electronic records of the home heath agency. Results Subjects in the study had a mean age of 83 (SD = 7.6); 56% were female. Patient co-morbidities (p<0.05) of renal disorders, anxiety, and cardiac arrhythmias emerged as predictors of telehealth alerts through quantitative analysis (n = 168) using multiple regression. Inappropriate telehealth measurement technique by patients (54%) and home healthcare system inefficiencies (37%) contributed to most telehealth false alerts in the purposive qualitative sub-sample (n = 35) of patients with high telehealth alerts. Conclusion Encouraging patient engagement with the telehealth process, fostering a collaborative approach among all the clinicians involved with the telehealth intervention, tailoring telehealth alert thresholds to patient characteristics along with establishing patient-centered telehealth outcome goals may allow meaningful generation of telehealth alerts. Reducing avoidable telehealth alerts could vastly improve the efficiency and sustainability of telehealth programs for HF management. PMID:24454576

Factors influencing alert acceptance: a novel approach for predicting the success of clinical decision support

PubMed Central

Seidling, Hanna M; Phansalkar, Shobha; Seger, Diane L; Paterno, Marilyn D; Shaykevich, Shimon; Haefeli, Walter E

2011-01-01

Background Clinical decision support systems can prevent knowledge-based prescription errors and improve patient outcomes. The clinical effectiveness of these systems, however, is substantially limited by poor user acceptance of presented warnings. To enhance alert acceptance it may be useful to quantify the impact of potential modulators of acceptance. Methods We built a logistic regression model to predict alert acceptance of drug–drug interaction (DDI) alerts in three different settings. Ten variables from the clinical and human factors literature were evaluated as potential modulators of provider alert acceptance. ORs were calculated for the impact of knowledge quality, alert display, textual information, prioritization, setting, patient age, dose-dependent toxicity, alert frequency, alert level, and required acknowledgment on acceptance of the DDI alert. Results 50 788 DDI alerts were analyzed. Providers accepted only 1.4% of non-interruptive alerts. For interruptive alerts, user acceptance positively correlated with frequency of the alert (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.23 to 1.38), quality of display (4.75, 3.87 to 5.84), and alert level (1.74, 1.63 to 1.86). Alert acceptance was higher in inpatients (2.63, 2.32 to 2.97) and for drugs with dose-dependent toxicity (1.13, 1.07 to 1.21). The textual information influenced the mode of reaction and providers were more likely to modify the prescription if the message contained detailed advice on how to manage the DDI. Conclusion We evaluated potential modulators of alert acceptance by assessing content and human factors issues, and quantified the impact of a number of specific factors which influence alert acceptance. This information may help improve clinical decision support systems design. PMID:21571746

Phasic and tonic alerting in mild cognitive impairment: A preliminary study.

PubMed

Martella, Diana; Manzanares, Salvadora; Campoy, Guillermo; Roca, Javier; Antúnez, Carmen; Fuentes, Luis J

2014-01-01

In this preliminary study we assessed the functioning of the different attentional networks in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, taking as theoretical framework the Posner's cognitive neuroscience approach. Two groups of participants were tested in a single short experiment: 20 MCI patients (6 amnestic, 6 non-amnestic and 8 multiple-domain) and 18 healthy matched controls (HC). For attentional assessment we used a version of the Attention Network Test (the ANTI-V) that provided not only a score of the orienting, the executive, and the alerting networks and their interactions, but also an independent measure of vigilance (tonic alerting). The results showed that all subtypes of MCI patients exhibited a selective impairment in the tonic component of alerting, as indexed by a decrease in the d' sensitivity index, and their performance in executive network increased up to the HC group level when phasic alerting was provided by a warning tone. Our findings suggest that a core attentional deficit, especially the endogenous component of alerting, may significantly contribute to the behavioral and cognitive deficits associated with MCI. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Alarms about structural alerts.

PubMed

Alves, Vinicius; Muratov, Eugene; Capuzzi, Stephen; Politi, Regina; Low, Yen; Braga, Rodolpho; Zakharov, Alexey V; Sedykh, Alexander; Mokshyna, Elena; Farag, Sherif; Andrade, Carolina; Kuz'min, Victor; Fourches, Denis; Tropsha, Alexander

2016-08-21

Structural alerts are widely accepted in chemical toxicology and regulatory decision support as a simple and transparent means to flag potential chemical hazards or group compounds into categories for read-across. However, there has been a growing concern that alerts disproportionally flag too many chemicals as toxic, which questions their reliability as toxicity markers. Conversely, the rigorously developed and properly validated statistical QSAR models can accurately and reliably predict the toxicity of a chemical; however, their use in regulatory toxicology has been hampered by the lack of transparency and interpretability. We demonstrate that contrary to the common perception of QSAR models as "black boxes" they can be used to identify statistically significant chemical substructures (QSAR-based alerts) that influence toxicity. We show through several case studies, however, that the mere presence of structural alerts in a chemical, irrespective of the derivation method (expert-based or QSAR-based), should be perceived only as hypotheses of possible toxicological effect. We propose a new approach that synergistically integrates structural alerts and rigorously validated QSAR models for a more transparent and accurate safety assessment of new chemicals.

Sensor Alerting Capability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henriksson, Jakob; Bermudez, Luis; Satapathy, Goutam

2013-04-01

There is a large amount of sensor data generated today by various sensors, from in-situ buoys to mobile underwater gliders. Providing sensor data to the users through standardized services, language and data model is the promise of OGC's Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) initiative. As the amount of data grows it is becoming difficult for data providers, planners and managers to ensure reliability of data and services and to monitor critical data changes. Intelligent Automation Inc. (IAI) is developing a net-centric alerting capability to address these issues. The capability is built on Sensor Observation Services (SOSs), which is used to collect and monitor sensor data. The alerts can be configured at the service level and at the sensor data level. For example it can alert for irregular data delivery events or a geo-temporal statistic of sensor data crossing a preset threshold. The capability provides multiple delivery mechanisms and protocols, including traditional techniques such as email and RSS. With this capability decision makers can monitor their assets and data streams, correct failures or be alerted about a coming phenomena.

Military and Government Applications of Human-Machine Communication by Voice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weinstein, Clifford J.

1995-10-01

This paper describes a range of opportunities for military and government applications of human-machine communication by voice, based on visits and contacts with numerous user organizations in the United States. The applications include some that appear to be feasible by careful integration of current state-of-the-art technology and others that will require a varying mix of advances in speech technology and in integration of the technology into applications environments. Applications that are described include (1) speech recognition and synthesis for mobile command and control; (2) speech processing for a portable multifunction soldier's computer; (3) speech- and language-based technology for naval combat team tactical training; (4) speech technology for command and control on a carrier flight deck; (5) control of auxiliary systems, and alert and warning generation, in fighter aircraft and helicopters; and (6) voice check-in, report entry, and communication for law enforcement agents or special forces. A phased approach for transfer of the technology into applications is advocated, where integration of applications systems is pursued in parallel with advanced research to meet future needs.

Voices to reckon with: perceptions of voice identity in clinical and non-clinical voice hearers

PubMed Central

Badcock, Johanna C.; Chhabra, Saruchi

2013-01-01

The current review focuses on the perception of voice identity in clinical and non-clinical voice hearers. Identity perception in auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) is grounded in the mechanisms of human (i.e., real, external) voice perception, and shapes the emotional (distress) and behavioral (help-seeking) response to the experience. Yet, the phenomenological assessment of voice identity is often limited, for example to the gender of the voice, and has failed to take advantage of recent models and evidence on human voice perception. In this paper we aim to synthesize the literature on identity in real and hallucinated voices and begin by providing a comprehensive overview of the features used to judge voice identity in healthy individuals and in people with schizophrenia. The findings suggest some subtle, but possibly systematic biases across different levels of voice identity in clinical hallucinators that are associated with higher levels of distress. Next we provide a critical evaluation of voice processing abilities in clinical and non-clinical voice hearers, including recent data collected in our laboratory. Our studies used diverse methods, assessing recognition and binding of words and voices in memory as well as multidimensional scaling of voice dissimilarity judgments. The findings overall point to significant difficulties recognizing familiar speakers and discriminating between unfamiliar speakers in people with schizophrenia, both with and without AVH. In contrast, these voice processing abilities appear to be generally intact in non-clinical hallucinators. The review highlights some important avenues for future research and treatment of AVH associated with a need for care, and suggests some novel insights into other symptoms of psychosis. PMID:23565088

Auditory alert systems with enhanced detectability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R. (Inventor)

2008-01-01

Methods and systems for distinguishing an auditory alert signal from a background of one or more non-alert signals. In a first embodiment, a prefix signal, associated with an existing alert signal, is provided that has a signal component in each of three or more selected frequency ranges, with each signal component in each of three or more selected level at least 3-10 dB above an estimated background (non-alert) level in that frequency range. The alert signal may be chirped within one or more frequency bands. In another embodiment, an alert signal moves, continuously or discontinuously, from one location to another over a short time interval, introducing a perceived spatial modulation or jitter. In another embodiment, a weighted sum of background signals adjacent to each ear is formed, and the weighted sum is delivered to each ear as a uniform background; a distinguishable alert signal is presented on top of this weighted sum signal at one ear, or distinguishable first and second alert signals are presented at two ears of a subject.

Transient Alerts in LSST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kantor, J.

During LSST observing, transient events will be detected and alerts generated at the LSST Archive Center at NCSA in Champaign-Illinois. As a very high rate of alerts is expected, approaching ˜ 10 million per night, we plan for VOEvent-compliant Distributor/Brokers (http://voevent.org) to be the primary end-points of the full LSST alert streams. End users will then use these Distributor/Brokers to classify and filter events on the stream for those fitting their science goals. These Distributor/Brokers are envisioned to be operated as a community service by third parties who will have signed MOUs with LSST. The exact identification of Distributor/Brokers to receive alerts will be determined as LSST approaches full operations and may change over time, but it is in our interest to identify and coordinate with them as early as possible. LSST will also operate a limited Distributor/Broker with a filtering capability at the Archive Center, to allow alerts to be sent directly to a limited number of entities that for some reason need to have a more direct connection to LSST. This might include, for example, observatories with significant follow-up capabilities whose observing may temporarily be more directly tied to LSST observing. It will let astronomers create simple filters that limit what alerts are ultimately forwarded to them. These user defined filters will be possible to specify using an SQL-like declarative language, or short snippets of (likely Python) code. We emphasize that this LSST-provided capability will be limited, and is not intended to satisfy the wide variety of use cases that a full-fledged public Event Distributor/Broker could. End users will not be able to subscribe to full, unfiltered, alert streams coming directly from LSST. In this session, we will discuss anticipated LSST data rates, and capabilities for alert processing and distribution/brokering. We will clarify what the LSST Observatory will provide versus what we anticipate will be a

Medical alert bracelet (image)

MedlinePlus

People with diabetes should always wear a medical alert bracelet or necklace that emergency medical workers will ... People with diabetes should always wear a medical alert bracelet or necklace that emergency medical workers will ...

Sounds of Education: Teacher Role and Use of Voice in Interactions with Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koch, Anette Boye

2017-01-01

Voice is a basic tool in communication between adults. However, in early educational settings, adult professionals use their voices in different paralinguistic ways when they communicate with children. A teacher's use of voice is important because it serves to communicate attitudes and emotions in ways that are often ignored in early childhood…

A voice region in the monkey brain.

PubMed

Petkov, Christopher I; Kayser, Christoph; Steudel, Thomas; Whittingstall, Kevin; Augath, Mark; Logothetis, Nikos K

2008-03-01

For vocal animals, recognizing species-specific vocalizations is important for survival and social interactions. In humans, a voice region has been identified that is sensitive to human voices and vocalizations. As this region also strongly responds to speech, it is unclear whether it is tightly associated with linguistic processing and is thus unique to humans. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging of macaque monkeys (Old World primates, Macaca mulatta) we discovered a high-level auditory region that prefers species-specific vocalizations over other vocalizations and sounds. This region not only showed sensitivity to the 'voice' of the species, but also to the vocal identify of conspecific individuals. The monkey voice region is located on the superior-temporal plane and belongs to an anterior auditory 'what' pathway. These results establish functional relationships with the human voice region and support the notion that, for different primate species, the anterior temporal regions of the brain are adapted for recognizing communication signals from conspecifics.

A systematic review of the effectiveness of interruptive medication prescribing alerts in hospital CPOE systems to change prescriber behavior and improve patient safety.

PubMed

Page, N; Baysari, M T; Westbrook, J I

2017-09-01

To assess the evidence of the effectiveness of different categories of interruptive medication prescribing alerts to change prescriber behavior and/or improve patient outcomes in hospital computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems. PubMed, Embase, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library were searched for relevant articles published between January 2000 and February 2016. Studies were included if they compared the outcomes of automatic, interruptive medication prescribing alert/s to a control/comparison group to determine alert effectiveness. Twenty-three studies describing 32 alerts classified into 11 alert categories were identified. The most common alert categories studied were drug-condition interaction (n=6), drug-drug interaction alerts (n=6) and corollary order alerts (n=6). All 23 papers investigated the effect of the intervention alert on at least one outcome measure of prescriber behavior. Just over half of the studies (53%, n=17) reported a statistically significant beneficial effect from the intervention alert; 34% (n=11) reported no statistically significant effect, and 6% (n=2) reported a significant detrimental effect. Two studies also evaluated the effect of alerts on patient outcome measures; neither finding that patient outcomes significantly improved following alert implementation (6%, n=2). The greatest volume of evidence relates to three alert categories: drug-condition, drug-drug and corollary order alerts. Of these, drug-condition alerts had the greatest number of studies reporting positive effects (five out of six studies). Only two of six studies of drug-drug interaction and one of six of corollary alerts reported positive benefits. The current evidence-base does not show a clear indication that particular categories of alerts are more effective than others. While the majority of alert categories were shown to improve outcomes in some studies, there were also many cases where outcomes did not improve. This lack of evidence hinders decisions

Pilot evaluation of a method to assess prescribers' information processing of medication alerts.

PubMed

Russ, Alissa L; Melton, Brittany L; Daggy, Joanne K; Saleem, Jason J

2017-02-01

Prescribers commonly receive alerts during medication ordering. Prescribers work in a complex, time-pressured environment; to enhance the effectiveness of safety alerts, the effort needed to cognitively process these alerts should be minimized. Methods to evaluate the extent to which computerized alerts support prescribers' information processing are lacking. To develop a methodological protocol to assess the extent to which alerts support prescribers' information processing at-a-glance; specifically, the incorporation of information into their working memory. We hypothesized that the method would be feasible and that we would be able to detect a significant difference in prescribers' information processing with a revised alert display that incorporates warning design guidelines compared to the original alert display. A counterbalanced, within-subject study was conducted with 20 prescribers in a human-computer interaction laboratory. We tested a single alert that was displayed in two different ways. Prescribers were informed that an alert would appear for 10s. After the alert was shown, a white screen was displayed, and prescribers were asked to verbally describe what they saw; indicate how many total warnings; and describe anything else they remembered about the alert. We measured information processing via the accuracy of prescribers' free recall and their ability to identify that three warning messages were present. Two analysts independently evaluated participants' responses against a comprehensive catalog of alert elements and then discussed discrepancies until reaching consensus. This feasibility study demonstrated that the method seemed to be effective for evaluating prescribers' information processing of medication alert displays. With this method, we were able to detect significant differences in prescribers' recall of alert information. The proportion of total data elements that prescribers were able to accurately recall was significantly greater for the

Administration of Neuropsychological Tests Using Interactive Voice Response Technology in the Elderly: Validation and Limitations

PubMed Central

Miller, Delyana Ivanova; Talbot, Vincent; Gagnon, Michèle; Messier, Claude

2013-01-01

Interactive voice response (IVR) systems are computer programs, which interact with people to provide a number of services from business to health care. We examined the ability of an IVR system to administer and score a verbal fluency task (fruits) and the digit span forward and backward in 158 community dwelling people aged between 65 and 92 years of age (full scale IQ of 68–134). Only six participants could not complete all tasks mostly due to early technical problems in the study. Participants were also administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale fourth edition (WAIS-IV) and Wechsler Memory Scale fourth edition subtests. The IVR system correctly recognized 90% of the fruits in the verbal fluency task and 93–95% of the number sequences in the digit span. The IVR system typically underestimated the performance of participants because of voice recognition errors. In the digit span, these errors led to the erroneous discontinuation of the test: however the correlation between IVR scoring and clinical scoring was still high (93–95%). The correlation between the IVR verbal fluency and the WAIS-IV Similarities subtest was 0.31. The correlation between the IVR digit span forward and backward and the in-person administration was 0.46. We discuss how valid and useful IVR systems are for neuropsychological testing in the elderly. PMID:23950755

With Free Google Alert Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunn, Holly

2005-01-01

Alert services are a great way of keeping abreast of topics that interest you. Rather than searching the Web regularly to find new content about your areas of interest, an alert service keeps you informed by sending you notices when new material is added to the Web that matches your registered search criteria. Alert services are examples of push…

The COMESEP Alert System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crosby, Norma; Veronig, Astrid; Rodriguez, Luciano; Vrsnak, Bojan; Vennerstrom, Susanne; Malandraki, Olga; Dalla, Silvia; Srivastava, Nandita; Hesse, Michael; Odstrcil, Dusan; Robbrecht, Eva

2014-05-01

Tools for forecasting geomagnetic storms and solar energetic particle (SEP) radiation storms have been developed under the three-year EU FP7 COMESEP (COronal Mass Ejections and Solar Energetic Particles) collaborative project. To enhance our understanding of the 3D kinematics and interplanetary propagation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), the structure, propagation and evolution of CMEs have been investigated. In parallel, the sources and propagation of SEPs have been examined and modeled. During the third year of the COMESEP project the produced tools have been validated and implemented into an operational space weather alert system. The COMESEP Alert System provides notifications for the space weather community. To achieve this the system relies on both models and data, the latter including near real-time data as well as historical data. Geomagnetic and SEP radiation storm alerts are based on the COMESEP definition of risk. The COMESEP Alert System has recently been launched. Receiving COMESEP alerts are free of charge, but registration is required. For more information see the project website (http://www.comesep.eu/). This work has received funding from the European Commission FP7 Project COMESEP (263252).

Postural control system influences intrinsic alerting state.

PubMed

Barra, Julien; Auclair, Laurent; Charvillat, Agnès; Vidal, Manuel; Pérennou, Dominic

2015-03-01

Numerous studies using dual-task paradigms (postural and cognitive) have shown that postural control requires cognitive resources. However, the influence of postural control on attention components has never been directly addressed. Using the attention network test (ANT), which assesses specifically each of the 3 components of attention-alertness, orientation, and executive control-within a single paradigm, we investigated the effect of postural balance demand on these 3 components. Forty-two participants completed the ANT in 3 postural conditions: (a) supine, a very stable position; (b) sitting on a chair, an intermediate position; and (c) standing with feet lined up heel to toe, a very instable position known as the Romberg position. Our results revealed that the difficulty of postural control does modulate alerting in such a way that it improves with the level of instability of the position. Regarding the orienting and executive control components of attention, performance was not different when participants were standing upright or seated, whereas in the supine position, performance dropped. The strong and specific interaction between postural control and the alerting system suggests that these mechanisms may share parts of the underlying neural circuits. We discuss the possible implication of the locus coeruleus, known to be involved in both postural balance and alerting. Also, our findings concerning orienting and executive control systems suggest that supine posture could have a specific effect on cognitive activities. These effects are discussed in terms of particularities resulting from the supine position. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Alert Triage v 0.1 beta

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Doak, Justin E.; Ingram, Joe; Johnson, Josh

2016-01-06

In the cyber security operations of a typical organization, data from multiple sources are monitored, and when certain conditions in the data are met, an alert is generated in an alert management system. Analysts inspect these alerts to decide if any deserve promotion to an event requiring further scrutiny. This triage process is manual, time-consuming, and detracts from the in-depth investigation of events. We have created a software system that uses supervised machine learning to automatically prioritize these alerts. In particular we utilize active learning to make efficient use of the pool of unlabeled alerts, thereby improving the performance ofmore » our ranking models over passive learning. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of our system on a large, real-world dataset of cyber security alerts.« less

English Voicing in Dimensional Theory*

PubMed Central

Iverson, Gregory K.; Ahn, Sang-Cheol

2007-01-01

Assuming a framework of privative features, this paper interprets two apparently disparate phenomena in English phonology as structurally related: the lexically specific voicing of fricatives in plural nouns like wives or thieves and the prosodically governed “flapping” of medial /t/ (and /d/) in North American varieties, which we claim is itself not a rule per se, but rather a consequence of the laryngeal weakening of fortis /t/ in interaction with speech-rate determined segmental abbreviation. Taking as our point of departure the Dimensional Theory of laryngeal representation developed by Avery & Idsardi (2001), along with their assumption that English marks voiceless obstruents but not voiced ones (Iverson & Salmons 1995), we find that an unexpected connection between fricative voicing and coronal flapping emerges from the interplay of familiar phonemic and phonetic factors in the phonological system. PMID:18496590

Warning Alert HITL Experiment Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Monk, Kevin J.; Ferm, Lisa; Roberts, Zach

2018-01-01

Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) are being developed to support the integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the National Airspace (NAS). Input from subject matter experts and multiple research studies have informed display requirements for Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) systems aimed at supporting timely and appropriate pilot responses to collision hazards. Phase 1 DAA MOPS alerting is designed to inform pilots if an avoidance maneuver is necessary; the two highest alert levels - caution and warning - indicate how soon pilot action is required and whether there is adequate time to coordinate with the air traffic controller (ATC). Additional empirical support is needed to clarify the extent to which warning-level alerting impacts DAA task performance. The present study explores the differential effects of the auditory and visual cues provided by the DAA Warning alert, and performance implications compared to caution-only alerting are discussed.

Voice quality change in future professional voice users after 9 months of voice training.

PubMed

Timmermans, Bernadette; De Bodt, Marc; Wuyts, Floris; Van de Heyning, Paul

2004-01-01

Sixty-eight students of a school for audiovisual communication participated in this study. A part of them, 49 students, received voice training for 9 months (the trained group); 19 subjects received no specific voice training (the untrained group). A multidimensional test battery containing the GRBAS scale, videolaryngostroboscopy, Maximum Phonation Time (MPT), jitter, lowest intensity (IL), highest frequency (FoH), Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI) and Voice Handicap Index (VHI) was applied before and after training to evaluate training outcome. The voice training is made up of technical workshops in small groups (five to eight subjects) and vocal coaching in the ateliers. In the technical workshops, basic skills are trained (posture, breathing technique, articulation and diction), and in the ateliers, the speech and language pathologist assists the subjects in the practice of their voice work. This study revealed a significant amelioration over time for the objective measurements [Dysphonia Severity Index: from 2.3 to 4.5 ( P<0.001)] and the self-evaluation [Voice Handicap Index, from 23 to 18.4 ( P=0.016)] for the trained group only. This outcome favors the systematic introduction of voice training during the schooling of professional voice users.

Human voice perception.

PubMed

Latinus, Marianne; Belin, Pascal

2011-02-22

We are all voice experts. First and foremost, we can produce and understand speech, and this makes us a unique species. But in addition to speech perception, we routinely extract from voices a wealth of socially-relevant information in what constitutes a more primitive, and probably more universal, non-linguistic mode of communication. Consider the following example: you are sitting in a plane, and you can hear a conversation in a foreign language in the row behind you. You do not see the speakers' faces, and you cannot understand the speech content because you do not know the language. Yet, an amazing amount of information is available to you. You can evaluate the physical characteristics of the different protagonists, including their gender, approximate age and size, and associate an identity to the different voices. You can form a good idea of the different speaker's mood and affective state, as well as more subtle cues as the perceived attractiveness or dominance of the protagonists. In brief, you can form a fairly detailed picture of the type of social interaction unfolding, which a brief glance backwards can on the occasion help refine - sometimes surprisingly so. What are the acoustical cues that carry these different types of vocal information? How does our brain process and analyse this information? Here we briefly review an emerging field and the main tools used in voice perception research. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Relating to the Speaker behind the Voice: What Is Changing?

PubMed Central

Deamer, Felicity; Hayward, Mark

2018-01-01

We introduce therapeutic techniques that encourage voice hearers to view their voices as coming from intentional agents whose behavior may be dependent on how the voice hearer relates to and interacts with them. We suggest that this approach is effective because the communicative aspect of voice hearing might fruitfully be seen as explanatorily primitive, meaning that the agentive aspect, the auditory properties, and the intended meaning (interpretation) are all necessary parts of the experience, which contribute to the impact the experience has on the voice hearer. We examine the experiences of a patient who received Relating Therapy, and explore the kinds of changes that can result from this therapeutic approach. PMID:29422879

Voice emotion perception and production in cochlear implant users.

PubMed

Jiam, N T; Caldwell, M; Deroche, M L; Chatterjee, M; Limb, C J

2017-09-01

Voice emotion is a fundamental component of human social interaction and social development. Unfortunately, cochlear implant users are often forced to interface with highly degraded prosodic cues as a result of device constraints in extraction, processing, and transmission. As such, individuals with cochlear implants frequently demonstrate significant difficulty in recognizing voice emotions in comparison to their normal hearing counterparts. Cochlear implant-mediated perception and production of voice emotion is an important but relatively understudied area of research. However, a rich understanding of the voice emotion auditory processing offers opportunities to improve upon CI biomedical design and to develop training programs benefiting CI performance. In this review, we will address the issues, current literature, and future directions for improved voice emotion processing in cochlear implant users. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Learning [Voice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tauberer, Joshua Ian

2010-01-01

The [voice] distinction between homorganic stops and fricatives is made by a number of acoustic correlates including voicing, segment duration, and preceding vowel duration. The present work looks at [voice] from a number of multidimensional perspectives. This dissertation's focus is a corpus study of the phonetic realization of [voice] in two…

47 CFR 80.1111 - Distress alerting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE... Safety Communications § 80.1111 Distress alerting. (a) The transmission of a distress alert indicates... distress message format, which is relayed through space stations. (b) The distress alert must be sent...

47 CFR 80.1111 - Distress alerting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE... Safety Communications § 80.1111 Distress alerting. (a) The transmission of a distress alert indicates... distress message format, which is relayed through space stations. (b) The distress alert must be sent...

47 CFR 80.1111 - Distress alerting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE... Safety Communications § 80.1111 Distress alerting. (a) The transmission of a distress alert indicates... distress message format, which is relayed through space stations. (b) The distress alert must be sent...

47 CFR 80.1111 - Distress alerting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE... Safety Communications § 80.1111 Distress alerting. (a) The transmission of a distress alert indicates... distress message format, which is relayed through space stations. (b) The distress alert must be sent...

47 CFR 80.1111 - Distress alerting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE... Safety Communications § 80.1111 Distress alerting. (a) The transmission of a distress alert indicates... distress message format, which is relayed through space stations. (b) The distress alert must be sent...

Prescription order risk factors for pediatric dosing alerts.

PubMed

Stultz, J S; Porter, K; Nahata, M C

2015-02-01

To determine dosing alert rates based on prescription order characteristics and identify prescription order risk factors for the occurrence of dosing alerts. A retrospective analysis of inpatient medication orders and dosing alerts occurring during October 2011 and January, April, and July 2012 at a pediatric institution. Prescription orders and alerts were categorized by: medication class, patient age, route of administration, and month of the year. There were 228,259 orders during the studied period, with 11,072 alerted orders (4.9%). The most frequently alerted medication class was the non-analgesic central nervous system agent class (14% of alerts). Age, route, medication class, and month all independently affected dosing alert rates. The alert rate was highest for immunosuppressive agents (54%), neonates (6.7%), and orders for rectal administration (9.5%). The alert rate was higher in adult patients receiving their care at a pediatric institution (5.7%) compared to children (4.7%), but after multivariate analysis, pediatric orders had higher odds for an alert (OR 1.1, 95% CI 1.05-1.16). Mercaptopurine had the highest alert rate when categorized by active ingredient (73.9%). Albuterol 2.5mg/mL continuous aerosol and heparin 1000 units in 0.9% sodium chloride injection solution were the unique medications with the highest alert rates (100.0% and 97.7%, respectively). Certain types of prescription orders have a higher risk for causing dosing alerts than others. Patient age, medication class, route of administration, and the month of year can affect dosing alert rates. Design and customization efforts should focus on these medications and prescription order characteristics that increase the risk for dosing alerts. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predictive Information: Status or Alert Information?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trujillo, Anna C.; Bruneau, Daniel; Press, Hayes N.

2008-01-01

Previous research investigating the efficacy of predictive information for detecting and diagnosing aircraft system failures found that subjects like to have predictive information concerning when a parameter would reach an alert range. This research focused on where the predictive information should be located, whether the information should be more closely associated with the parameter information or with the alert information. Each subject saw 3 forms of predictive information: (1) none, (2) a predictive alert message, and (3) predictive information on the status display. Generally, subjects performed better and preferred to have predictive information available although the difference between status and alert predictive information was minimal. Overall, for detection and recalling what happened, status predictive information is best; however for diagnosis, alert predictive information holds a slight edge.

Changes After Voice Therapy in Acoustic Voice Analysis of Chinese Patients With Voice Disorders.

PubMed

Lu, Dan; Chen, Fei; Yang, Hui; Yu, Rong; Zhou, Qi; Zhang, Xinyuan; Ren, Jia; Zheng, Yitao; Zhang, Xiaoyan; Zou, Jian; Wang, Haiyang; Liu, Jun

2018-05-01

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of voice therapy on patients with voice disorders by comparing the acoustic parameter changes before and after treatment. This is a retrospective study. Forty-five female patients with early-stage vocal nodules or polyps, postoperative patients, and patients with chronic laryngitis were divided into three subgroups. Videostroboscopic, acoustic analysis (fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, mean harmonics-to-noise ratio), and maximum phonation time (MPT) were measured before and after treatment. Fifty healthy female volunteers were the control group. After treatment, 24.4% of nodules or polyps had decreased in size, 11.1% of patients with chronic laryngitis and postoperative patients had reduced edema, and the mucosal wave of vocal folds had different degrees of recovery in postoperative patients. All acoustic analysis values and MPT in the patient group were statistically worse than in the control group, except for fundamental frequency before treatment (P > 0.05). After treatment, the acoustic analysis and MPT values were improved. However, the jitter, mean harmonics-to-noise ratio, and MPT values in the patient group were still worse after voice therapy than in the control group (P < 0.05). Most of acoustic analysis values can be useful as a complementary tool in diagnosis and assessment of voice disorders; however, it is not recommended to use a single parameter to assess voice quality. Voice therapy can improve voice quality in patients with voice disorders, but a period longer than 8 weeks is recommended for these patients. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development and implementation of sepsis alert systems

PubMed Central

Harrison, Andrew M.; Gajic, Ognjen; Pickering, Brian W.; Herasevich, Vitaly

2016-01-01

Synopsis/Summary Development and implementation of sepsis alert systems is challenging, particularly outside the monitored intensive care unit (ICU) setting. Important barriers to wider use of sepsis alerts include evolving clinical definitions of sepsis, information overload & alert fatigue, due to suboptimal alert performance. Outside the ICU, additional barriers include differences in health care delivery models, charting behaviors, and availability of electronic data. Currently available evidence does not support routine use of sepsis alert systems in clinical practice. However, continuous improvement in both the afferent (data availability and accuracy of detection algorithms) and efferent (evidence-based decision support and smoother integration into clinical workflow) limbs of sepsis alert systems will help translate theoretical advantages into measurable patient benefit. PMID:27229639

Obligatory and facultative brain regions for voice-identity recognition

PubMed Central

Roswandowitz, Claudia; Kappes, Claudia; Obrig, Hellmuth; von Kriegstein, Katharina

2018-01-01

Abstract Recognizing the identity of others by their voice is an important skill for social interactions. To date, it remains controversial which parts of the brain are critical structures for this skill. Based on neuroimaging findings, standard models of person-identity recognition suggest that the right temporal lobe is the hub for voice-identity recognition. Neuropsychological case studies, however, reported selective deficits of voice-identity recognition in patients predominantly with right inferior parietal lobe lesions. Here, our aim was to work towards resolving the discrepancy between neuroimaging studies and neuropsychological case studies to find out which brain structures are critical for voice-identity recognition in humans. We performed a voxel-based lesion-behaviour mapping study in a cohort of patients (n = 58) with unilateral focal brain lesions. The study included a comprehensive behavioural test battery on voice-identity recognition of newly learned (voice-name, voice-face association learning) and familiar voices (famous voice recognition) as well as visual (face-identity recognition) and acoustic control tests (vocal-pitch and vocal-timbre discrimination). The study also comprised clinically established tests (neuropsychological assessment, audiometry) and high-resolution structural brain images. The three key findings were: (i) a strong association between voice-identity recognition performance and right posterior/mid temporal and right inferior parietal lobe lesions; (ii) a selective association between right posterior/mid temporal lobe lesions and voice-identity recognition performance when face-identity recognition performance was factored out; and (iii) an association of right inferior parietal lobe lesions with tasks requiring the association between voices and faces but not voices and names. The results imply that the right posterior/mid temporal lobe is an obligatory structure for voice-identity recognition, while the inferior parietal

Wearable PPG sensor based alertness scoring system.

PubMed

Dey, Jishnu; Bhowmik, Tanmoy; Sahoo, Saswata; Tiwari, Vijay Narayan

2017-07-01

Quantifying mental alertness in today's world is important as it enables the person to adopt lifestyle changes for better work efficiency. Miniaturized sensors in wearable devices have facilitated detection/monitoring of mental alertness. Photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors through Heart Rate Variability (HRV) offer one such opportunity by providing information about one's daily alertness levels without requiring any manual interference from the user. In this paper, a smartwatch based alertness estimation system is proposed. Data collected from PPG sensor of smartwatch is processed and fed to machine learning based model to get a continuous alertness score. Utility functions are designed based on statistical analysis to give a quality score on different stages of alertness such as awake, long sleep and short duration power nap. An intelligent data collection approach is proposed in collaboration with the motion sensor in the smartwatch to reduce battery drainage. Overall, our proposed wearable based system provides a detailed analysis of alertness over a period in a systematic and optimized manner. We were able to achieve an accuracy of 80.1% for sleep/awake classification along with alertness score. This opens up the possibility for quantifying alertness levels using a single PPG sensor for better management of health related activities including sleep.

Military and government applications of human-machine communication by voice.

PubMed Central

Weinstein, C J

1995-01-01

This paper describes a range of opportunities for military and government applications of human-machine communication by voice, based on visits and contacts with numerous user organizations in the United States. The applications include some that appear to be feasible by careful integration of current state-of-the-art technology and others that will require a varying mix of advances in speech technology and in integration of the technology into applications environments. Applications that are described include (1) speech recognition and synthesis for mobile command and control; (2) speech processing for a portable multifunction soldier's computer; (3) speech- and language-based technology for naval combat team tactical training; (4) speech technology for command and control on a carrier flight deck; (5) control of auxiliary systems, and alert and warning generation, in fighter aircraft and helicopters; and (6) voice check-in, report entry, and communication for law enforcement agents or special forces. A phased approach for transfer of the technology into applications is advocated, where integration of applications systems is pursued in parallel with advanced research to meet future needs. Images Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 PMID:7479718

Giving Voice to Emotion: Voice Analysis Technology Uncovering Mental States is Playing a Growing Role in Medicine, Business, and Law Enforcement.

PubMed

Allen, Summer

2016-01-01

It's tough to imagine anything more frustrating than interacting with a call center. Generally, people don't reach out to call centers when they?re happy-they're usually trying to get help with a problem or gearing up to do battle over a billing error. Add in an automatic phone tree, and you have a recipe for annoyance. But what if that robotic voice offering you a smorgasbord of numbered choices could tell that you were frustrated and then funnel you to an actual human being? This type of voice analysis technology exists, and it's just one example of the many ways that computers can use your voice to extract information about your mental and emotional state-including information you may not think of as being accessible through your voice alone.

Native voice, self-concept and the moral case for personalized voice technology.

PubMed

Nathanson, Esther

2017-01-01

Purpose (1) To explore the role of native voice and effects of voice loss on self-concept and identity, and survey the state of assistive voice technology; (2) to establish the moral case for developing personalized voice technology. Methods This narrative review examines published literature on the human significance of voice, the impact of voice loss on self-concept and identity, and the strengths and limitations of current voice technology. Based on the impact of voice loss on self and identity, and voice technology limitations, the moral case for personalized voice technology is developed. Results Given the richness of information conveyed by voice, loss of voice constrains expression of the self, but the full impact is poorly understood. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices facilitate communication but, despite advances in this field, voice output cannot yet express the unique nuances of individual voice. The ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence and equality of opportunity establish the moral responsibility to invest in accessible, cost-effective, personalized voice technology. Conclusions Although further research is needed to elucidate the full effects of voice loss on self-concept, identity and social functioning, current understanding of the profoundly negative impact of voice loss establishes the moral case for developing personalized voice technology. Implications for Rehabilitation Rehabilitation of voice-disordered patients should facilitate self-expression, interpersonal connectedness and social/occupational participation. Proactive questioning about the psychological and social experiences of patients with voice loss is a valuable entry point for rehabilitation planning. Personalized voice technology would enhance sense of self, communicative participation and autonomy and promote shared healthcare decision-making. Further research is needed to identify the best strategies to preserve and strengthen identity and sense of

21 CFR 26.20 - Alert system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Alert system. 26.20 Section 26.20 Food and Drugs... PHARMACEUTICAL GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE REPORTS, MEDICAL DEVICE QUALITY SYSTEM AUDIT REPORTS, AND CERTAIN... Provisions for Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices § 26.20 Alert system. (a) The details of an alert...

21 CFR 26.20 - Alert system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Alert system. 26.20 Section 26.20 Food and Drugs... PHARMACEUTICAL GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE REPORTS, MEDICAL DEVICE QUALITY SYSTEM AUDIT REPORTS, AND CERTAIN... Provisions for Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices § 26.20 Alert system. (a) The details of an alert...

21 CFR 26.20 - Alert system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... PHARMACEUTICAL GOOD MANUFACTURING PRACTICE REPORTS, MEDICAL DEVICE QUALITY SYSTEM AUDIT REPORTS, AND CERTAIN... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Alert system. 26.20 Section 26.20 Food and Drugs... Provisions for Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices § 26.20 Alert system. (a) The details of an alert...

Evaluation of Helmet Mounted Display Alerting Symbology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeMaio, Joe; Rutkowski, Michael (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Proposed helicopter helmet mounted displays will be used to alert the pilot to a variety of conditions, from threats to equipment problems. The present research was performed under the NASA Safe All-weather Flight Operations Research (SAFOR) program supported by a joint Army/NASA research agreement. The purpose of the research was to examine ways to optimize the alerting effectiveness of helmet display symbology. The research used two approaches to increasing the effectiveness of alerts. One was to increase the ability of the alert to attract attention by using the entire display surface. The other was to include information about the required response in the alert itself. The investigation was conducted using the NASA Ames Research Center's six-degree-of-freedom vertical motion simulator (VMS) with a rotorcraft cockpit. Helmet display symbology was based on the AH-64's pilot night vision system (PNVS), cruise mode symbology. A standardized mission was developed, that consisted of 11 legs. The mission included four tasks, which allowed variation in the frequency of alerts. The general trend in the data points to a small benefit from both the full-screen alert and the partial information alert.

Voice care knowledge among clinicians and people with healthy voices or dysphonia.

PubMed

Fletcher, Helen M; Drinnan, Michael J; Carding, Paul N

2007-01-01

An important clinical component in the prevention and treatment of voice disorders is voice care and hygiene. Research in voice care knowledge has mainly focussed on specific groups of professional voice users with limited reporting on the tool and evidence base used. In this study, a questionnaire to measure voice care knowledge was developed based on "best evidence." The questionnaire was validated by measuring specialist voice clinicians' agreement. Preliminary data are then presented using the voice care knowledge questionnaire with 17 subjects with nonorganic dysphonia and 17 with healthy voices. There was high (89%) agreement among the clinicians. There was a highly significant difference between the dysphonic and the healthy group scores (P = 0.00005). Furthermore, the dysphonic subjects (63% agreement) presented with less voice care knowledge than the subjects with healthy voices (72% agreement). The questionnaire provides a useful and valid tool to investigate voice care knowledge. The findings have implications for clinical intervention, voice therapy, and health prevention.

Development and Implementation of Sepsis Alert Systems.

PubMed

Harrison, Andrew M; Gajic, Ognjen; Pickering, Brian W; Herasevich, Vitaly

2016-06-01

Development and implementation of sepsis alert systems is challenging, particularly outside the monitored intensive care unit (ICU) setting. Barriers to wider use of sepsis alerts include evolving clinical definitions of sepsis, information overload, and alert fatigue, due to suboptimal alert performance. Outside the ICU, barriers include differences in health care delivery models, charting behaviors, and availability of electronic data. Current evidence does not support routine use of sepsis alert systems in clinical practice. Continuous improvement in the afferent and efferent aspects will help translate theoretic advantages into measurable patient benefit. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

47 CFR 10.300 - Alert aggregator. [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Alert aggregator. [Reserved] 10.300 Section 10.300 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL WIRELESS EMERGENCY ALERTS System Architecture § 10.300 Alert aggregator. [Reserved] ...

47 CFR 10.300 - Alert aggregator. [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Alert aggregator. [Reserved] 10.300 Section 10.300 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL WIRELESS EMERGENCY ALERTS System Architecture § 10.300 Alert aggregator. [Reserved] ...

Applying human factors principles to alert design increases efficiency and reduces prescribing errors in a scenario-based simulation

PubMed Central

Russ, Alissa L; Zillich, Alan J; Melton, Brittany L; Russell, Scott A; Chen, Siying; Spina, Jeffrey R; Weiner, Michael; Johnson, Elizabette G; Daggy, Joanne K; McManus, M Sue; Hawsey, Jason M; Puleo, Anthony G; Doebbeling, Bradley N; Saleem, Jason J

2014-01-01

Objective To apply human factors engineering principles to improve alert interface design. We hypothesized that incorporating human factors principles into alerts would improve usability, reduce workload for prescribers, and reduce prescribing errors. Materials and methods We performed a scenario-based simulation study using a counterbalanced, crossover design with 20 Veterans Affairs prescribers to compare original versus redesigned alerts. We redesigned drug–allergy, drug–drug interaction, and drug–disease alerts based upon human factors principles. We assessed usability (learnability of redesign, efficiency, satisfaction, and usability errors), perceived workload, and prescribing errors. Results Although prescribers received no training on the design changes, prescribers were able to resolve redesigned alerts more efficiently (median (IQR): 56 (47) s) compared to the original alerts (85 (71) s; p=0.015). In addition, prescribers rated redesigned alerts significantly higher than original alerts across several dimensions of satisfaction. Redesigned alerts led to a modest but significant reduction in workload (p=0.042) and significantly reduced the number of prescribing errors per prescriber (median (range): 2 (1–5) compared to original alerts: 4 (1–7); p=0.024). Discussion Aspects of the redesigned alerts that likely contributed to better prescribing include design modifications that reduced usability-related errors, providing clinical data closer to the point of decision, and displaying alert text in a tabular format. Displaying alert text in a tabular format may help prescribers extract information quickly and thereby increase responsiveness to alerts. Conclusions This simulation study provides evidence that applying human factors design principles to medication alerts can improve usability and prescribing outcomes. PMID:24668841

Physicians’ response to computerised alerts for psychotropic drugs in older persons: a multilevel analysis of the associated alert, patient and physician characteristics

PubMed Central

Tamblyn, Robyn; Reidel, Kristen; Patel, Vaishali

2012-01-01

Objective Computerised drug alerts are expected to reduce patients’ risk of adverse drug events. However, physicians over-ride most drug alerts, because they believe that the benefit exceeds the risk. The purpose of this study was to determine the drug alert, patient and physician characteristics associated with the: (1) occurrence of psychotropic drug alerts for elderly patients and the (2) response to these alerts by their primary care physicians. Setting Primary care, Quebec, Canada. Design Prospective cohort study. Participants Sixty-one physicians using an electronic prescribing and drug alert decision-support system in their practice, and 3413 elderly patients using psychotropic drugs. Primary and secondary measures Psychotropic drug class, alert severity, patient risk for fall injuries and physician experience, practice volume and computer use were evaluated in relationship to the likelihood of having: (1) a psychotropic drug alert, (2) the prescription revised in response to an alert. Cluster-adjusted alternating logistic regression was used to assess multilevel predictors of alert occurrence and response. Results In total 13 080 psychotropic drug alerts were generated in 8931 visits. Alerts were more likely to be generated for male patients at higher risk of fall-related injury and for physicians who established the highest alert threshold. In 9.9% of alerts seen, the prescription was revised. The highest revision rate was for antipsychotic alerts (22.6%). Physicians were more likely to revise prescriptions for severe alerts (OR 2.03; 95%CI 1.39 to 2.98), if patients had cognitive impairment (OR 1.95; 95%CI 1.13 to 3.36), and if they made more visits to their physician (OR 1.05 per 5 visits; 95%CI 1 to 1.09). Conclusions Physicians view and respond to a small proportion of alerts, mainly for higher-risk patients. To reduce the risk of psychotropic drug-related fall injuries, a new generation of evidence-based drug alerts should be developed. PMID

75 FR 67201 - Flightcrew Alerting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-02

... airplanes concerning flightcrew alerting. These standards update definitions, prioritization, color... addressed regulations regarding definitions, prioritization, color requirements, and performance for... proposal: Reserving and limiting the use of alerting colors red, amber, or yellow on the flight deck...

47 CFR 10.300 - Alert aggregator. [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Alert aggregator. [Reserved] 10.300 Section 10.300 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM System Architecture § 10.300 Alert aggregator. [Reserved] ...

47 CFR 10.300 - Alert aggregator. [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Alert aggregator. [Reserved] 10.300 Section 10.300 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM System Architecture § 10.300 Alert aggregator. [Reserved] ...

47 CFR 10.300 - Alert aggregator. [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Alert aggregator. [Reserved] 10.300 Section 10.300 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM System Architecture § 10.300 Alert aggregator. [Reserved] ...

Perceived control and voice handicap in patients with voice disorders.

PubMed

Frazier, Patricia; Merians, Addie; Misono, Stephanie

2017-11-01

The purpose of the study was to replicate and extend previous research on the relation between perceived present control and voice handicap and to further examine the psychometric properties of a present control scale adapted for patients with voice disorders (Misono, Meredith, Peterson, & Frazier, 2016). Sample 1 consisted of 1,129 patients recruited from a voice disorder clinic who completed measures of perceived present control, distress, and voice handicap in the clinic. Sample 2 consisted of 62 patients from the same clinic who completed measures of present control, distress, voice handicap, and general control beliefs online at baseline and measures of present control and voice handicap again 3 weeks later (n = 59). With regard to the psychometric properties of the voice-adapted present control scale, alpha coefficients were above .80 and the 3-week test-reliability coefficient was .69. There was mixed support for the hypothesized 1-factor structure of the scale. In Sample 1, present control was more strongly associated with lower voice handicap than was distress and accounted for significant variance in voice handicap controlling for distress. In Sample 2, present control at baseline predicted later voice handicap, controlling for general control beliefs and distress. Present control appears to be a promising target for adjunctive interventions for patients with voice disorders. An evidence-based online present control intervention (Hintz, Frazier, & Meredith, 2015) is being adapted for this patient population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Feasibility of automated speech sample collection with stuttering children using interactive voice response (IVR) technology.

PubMed

Vogel, Adam P; Block, Susan; Kefalianos, Elaina; Onslow, Mark; Eadie, Patricia; Barth, Ben; Conway, Laura; Mundt, James C; Reilly, Sheena

2015-04-01

To investigate the feasibility of adopting automated interactive voice response (IVR) technology for remotely capturing standardized speech samples from stuttering children. Participants were 10 6-year-old stuttering children. Their parents called a toll-free number from their homes and were prompted to elicit speech from their children using a standard protocol involving conversation, picture description and games. The automated IVR system was implemented using an off-the-shelf telephony software program and delivered by a standard desktop computer. The software infrastructure utilizes voice over internet protocol. Speech samples were automatically recorded during the calls. Video recordings were simultaneously acquired in the home at the time of the call to evaluate the fidelity of the telephone collected samples. Key outcome measures included syllables spoken, percentage of syllables stuttered and an overall rating of stuttering severity using a 10-point scale. Data revealed a high level of relative reliability in terms of intra-class correlation between the video and telephone acquired samples on all outcome measures during the conversation task. Findings were less consistent for speech samples during picture description and games. Results suggest that IVR technology can be used successfully to automate remote capture of child speech samples.

Validation of the CME Geomagnetic Forecast Alerts Under the COMESEP Alert System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dumbović, Mateja; Srivastava, Nandita; Rao, Yamini K.; Vršnak, Bojan; Devos, Andy; Rodriguez, Luciano

2017-08-01

Under the European Union 7th Framework Programme (EU FP7) project Coronal Mass Ejections and Solar Energetic Particles (COMESEP, http://comesep.aeronomy.be), an automated space weather alert system has been developed to forecast solar energetic particles (SEP) and coronal mass ejection (CME) risk levels at Earth. The COMESEP alert system uses the automated detection tool called Computer Aided CME Tracking (CACTus) to detect potentially threatening CMEs, a drag-based model (DBM) to predict their arrival, and a CME geoeffectiveness tool (CGFT) to predict their geomagnetic impact. Whenever CACTus detects a halo or partial halo CME and issues an alert, the DBM calculates its arrival time at Earth and the CGFT calculates its geomagnetic risk level. The geomagnetic risk level is calculated based on an estimation of the CME arrival probability and its likely geoeffectiveness, as well as an estimate of the geomagnetic storm duration. We present the evaluation of the CME risk level forecast with the COMESEP alert system based on a study of geoeffective CMEs observed during 2014. The validation of the forecast tool is made by comparing the forecasts with observations. In addition, we test the success rate of the automatic forecasts (without human intervention) against the forecasts with human intervention using advanced versions of the DBM and CGFT (independent tools available at the Hvar Observatory website, http://oh.geof.unizg.hr). The results indicate that the success rate of the forecast in its current form is unacceptably low for a realistic operation system. Human intervention improves the forecast, but the false-alarm rate remains unacceptably high. We discuss these results and their implications for possible improvement of the COMESEP alert system.

Research on realization scheme of interactive voice response (IVR) system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Xin; Zhu, Guangxi

2003-12-01

In this paper, a novel interactive voice response (IVR) system is proposed, which is apparently different from the traditional. Using software operation and network control, the IVR system is presented which only depends on software in the server in which the system lies and the hardware in network terminals on user side, such as gateway (GW), personal gateway (PG), PC and so on. The system transmits the audio using real time protocol (RTP) protocol via internet to the network terminals and controls flow using finite state machine (FSM) stimulated by H.245 massages sent from user side and the system control factors. Being compared with other existing schemes, this IVR system results in several advantages, such as greatly saving the system cost, fully utilizing the existing network resources and enhancing the flexibility. The system is capable to be put in any service server anywhere in the Internet and even fits for the wireless applications based on packet switched communication. The IVR system has been put into reality and passed the system test.

Phonological experience modulates voice discrimination: Evidence from functional brain networks analysis.

PubMed

Hu, Xueping; Wang, Xiangpeng; Gu, Yan; Luo, Pei; Yin, Shouhang; Wang, Lijun; Fu, Chao; Qiao, Lei; Du, Yi; Chen, Antao

2017-10-01

Numerous behavioral studies have found a modulation effect of phonological experience on voice discrimination. However, the neural substrates underpinning this phenomenon are poorly understood. Here we manipulated language familiarity to test the hypothesis that phonological experience affects voice discrimination via mediating the engagement of multiple perceptual and cognitive resources. The results showed that during voice discrimination, the activation of several prefrontal regions was modulated by language familiarity. More importantly, the same effect was observed concerning the functional connectivity from the fronto-parietal network to the voice-identity network (VIN), and from the default mode network to the VIN. Our findings indicate that phonological experience could bias the recruitment of cognitive control and information retrieval/comparison processes during voice discrimination. Therefore, the study unravels the neural substrates subserving the modulation effect of phonological experience on voice discrimination, and provides new insights into studying voice discrimination from the perspective of network interactions. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Obligatory and facultative brain regions for voice-identity recognition.

PubMed

Roswandowitz, Claudia; Kappes, Claudia; Obrig, Hellmuth; von Kriegstein, Katharina

2018-01-01

Recognizing the identity of others by their voice is an important skill for social interactions. To date, it remains controversial which parts of the brain are critical structures for this skill. Based on neuroimaging findings, standard models of person-identity recognition suggest that the right temporal lobe is the hub for voice-identity recognition. Neuropsychological case studies, however, reported selective deficits of voice-identity recognition in patients predominantly with right inferior parietal lobe lesions. Here, our aim was to work towards resolving the discrepancy between neuroimaging studies and neuropsychological case studies to find out which brain structures are critical for voice-identity recognition in humans. We performed a voxel-based lesion-behaviour mapping study in a cohort of patients (n = 58) with unilateral focal brain lesions. The study included a comprehensive behavioural test battery on voice-identity recognition of newly learned (voice-name, voice-face association learning) and familiar voices (famous voice recognition) as well as visual (face-identity recognition) and acoustic control tests (vocal-pitch and vocal-timbre discrimination). The study also comprised clinically established tests (neuropsychological assessment, audiometry) and high-resolution structural brain images. The three key findings were: (i) a strong association between voice-identity recognition performance and right posterior/mid temporal and right inferior parietal lobe lesions; (ii) a selective association between right posterior/mid temporal lobe lesions and voice-identity recognition performance when face-identity recognition performance was factored out; and (iii) an association of right inferior parietal lobe lesions with tasks requiring the association between voices and faces but not voices and names. The results imply that the right posterior/mid temporal lobe is an obligatory structure for voice-identity recognition, while the inferior parietal lobe is

Neurobiological correlates of emotional intelligence in voice and face perception networks

PubMed Central

Karle, Kathrin N; Ethofer, Thomas; Jacob, Heike; Brück, Carolin; Erb, Michael; Lotze, Martin; Nizielski, Sophia; Schütz, Astrid; Wildgruber, Dirk; Kreifelts, Benjamin

2018-01-01

Abstract Facial expressions and voice modulations are among the most important communicational signals to convey emotional information. The ability to correctly interpret this information is highly relevant for successful social interaction and represents an integral component of emotional competencies that have been conceptualized under the term emotional intelligence. Here, we investigated the relationship of emotional intelligence as measured with the Salovey-Caruso-Emotional-Intelligence-Test (MSCEIT) with cerebral voice and face processing using functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging. MSCEIT scores were positively correlated with increased voice-sensitivity and gray matter volume of the insula accompanied by voice-sensitivity enhanced connectivity between the insula and the temporal voice area, indicating generally increased salience of voices. Conversely, in the face processing system, higher MSCEIT scores were associated with decreased face-sensitivity and gray matter volume of the fusiform face area. Taken together, these findings point to an alteration in the balance of cerebral voice and face processing systems in the form of an attenuated face-vs-voice bias as one potential factor underpinning emotional intelligence. PMID:29365199

Neurobiological correlates of emotional intelligence in voice and face perception networks.

PubMed

Karle, Kathrin N; Ethofer, Thomas; Jacob, Heike; Brück, Carolin; Erb, Michael; Lotze, Martin; Nizielski, Sophia; Schütz, Astrid; Wildgruber, Dirk; Kreifelts, Benjamin

2018-02-01

Facial expressions and voice modulations are among the most important communicational signals to convey emotional information. The ability to correctly interpret this information is highly relevant for successful social interaction and represents an integral component of emotional competencies that have been conceptualized under the term emotional intelligence. Here, we investigated the relationship of emotional intelligence as measured with the Salovey-Caruso-Emotional-Intelligence-Test (MSCEIT) with cerebral voice and face processing using functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging. MSCEIT scores were positively correlated with increased voice-sensitivity and gray matter volume of the insula accompanied by voice-sensitivity enhanced connectivity between the insula and the temporal voice area, indicating generally increased salience of voices. Conversely, in the face processing system, higher MSCEIT scores were associated with decreased face-sensitivity and gray matter volume of the fusiform face area. Taken together, these findings point to an alteration in the balance of cerebral voice and face processing systems in the form of an attenuated face-vs-voice bias as one potential factor underpinning emotional intelligence.

DAIDALUS: Detect and Avoid Alerting Logic for Unmanned Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Munoz, Cesar; Narkawicz, Anthony; Hagen, George; Upchurch, Jason; Dutle, Aaron; Consiglio, Maria; Chamberlain, James

2015-01-01

This paper presents DAIDALUS (Detect and Avoid Alerting Logic for Unmanned Systems), a reference implementation of a detect and avoid concept intended to support the integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems into civil airspace. DAIDALUS consists of self-separation and alerting algorithms that provide situational awareness to UAS remote pilots. These algorithms have been formally specified in a mathematical notation and verified for correctness in an interactive theorem prover. The software implementation has been verified against the formal models and validated against multiple stressing cases jointly developed by the US Air Force Research Laboratory, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and NASA. The DAIDALUS reference implementation is currently under consideration for inclusion in the appendices to the Minimum Operational Performance Standards for Unmanned Aircraft Systems presently being developed by RTCA Special Committee 228.

77 FR 41331 - Commercial Mobile Alert System

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-13

... Mobile Alert System AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Final rule; announcement of... with the Commission's Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMS), Second Report and Order (``CMAS Second... Alert System rules contained in the Commission's Second Report and Order, FCC 08- 164, published at 73...

Fluid-Structure Interactions as Flow Propagates Tangentially Over a Flexible Plate with Application to Voiced Speech Production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Westervelt, Andrea; Erath, Byron

2013-11-01

Voiced speech is produced by fluid-structure interactions that drive vocal fold motion. Viscous flow features influence the pressure in the gap between the vocal folds (i.e. glottis), thereby altering vocal fold dynamics and the sound that is produced. During the closing phases of the phonatory cycle, vortices form as a result of flow separation as air passes through the divergent glottis. It is hypothesized that the reduced pressure within a vortex core will alter the pressure distribution along the vocal fold surface, thereby aiding in vocal fold closure. The objective of this study is to determine the impact of intraglottal vortices on the fluid-structure interactions of voiced speech by investigating how the dynamics of a flexible plate are influenced by a vortex ring passing tangentially over it. A flexible plate, which models the medial vocal fold surface, is placed in a water-filled tank and positioned parallel to the exit of a vortex generator. The physical parameters of plate stiffness and vortex circulation are scaled with physiological values. As vortices propagate over the plate, particle image velocimetry measurements are captured to analyze the energy exchange between the fluid and flexible plate. The investigations are performed over a range of vortex formation numbers, and lateral displacements of the plate from the centerline of the vortex trajectory. Observations show plate oscillations with displacements directly correlated with the vortex core location.

Managing the Alert Process at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

PubMed Central

Kuperman, Gilad J; Diamente, Rosanna; Khatu, Vrinda; Chan-Kraushar, Terri; Stetson, Pete; Boyer, Aurelia; Cooper, Mary

2005-01-01

Clinical decision support can improve the quality of care, but requires substantial knowledge management activities. At NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, we have implemented a formal alert management process whereby only hospital committees and departments can request alerts. An explicit requestor, who will help resolve the details of the alert logic and the alert message must be identified. Alerts must be requested in writing using a structured alert request form. Alert requests are reviewed by the Alert Committee and then forwarded to the Information Systems department for a software development estimate. The model required that clinical committees and departments become more actively involved in the development of alerts than had previously been necessary. In the 12 months following implementation, 10 alert requests were received. The model has been well received. A lot of the knowledge engineering work has been distributed and burden has been removed from scarce medical informatics resources. PMID:16779073

Effects on vocal range and voice quality of singing voice training: the classically trained female voice.

PubMed

Pabon, Peter; Stallinga, Rob; Södersten, Maria; Ternström, Sten

2014-01-01

A longitudinal study was performed on the acoustical effects of singing voice training under a given study program, using the voice range profile (VRP). Pretraining and posttraining recordings were made of students who participated in a 3-year bachelor singing study program. A questionnaire that included questions on optimal range, register use, classification, vocal health and hygiene, mixing technique, and training goals was used to rate and categorize self-assessed voice changes. Based on the responses, a subgroup of 10 classically trained female voices was selected, which was homogeneous enough for effects of training to be identified. The VRP perimeter contour was analyzed for effects of voice training. Also, a mapping within the VRP of voice quality, as expressed by the crest factor, was used to indicate the register boundaries and to monitor the acoustical consequences of the newly learned vocal technique of "mixed voice." VRPs were averaged across subjects. Findings were compared with the self-assessed vocal changes. Pre/post comparison of the average VRPs showed, in the midrange, (1) a decrease in the VRP area that was associated with the loud chest voice, (2) a reduction of the crest factor values, and (3) a reduction of maximum sound pressure level values. The students' self-evaluations of the voice changes appeared in some cases to contradict the VRP findings. VRPs of individual voices were seen to change over the course of a singing education. These changes were manifest also in the average group. High-resolution computerized recording, complemented with an acoustic register marker, allows a meaningful assessment of some effects of training, on an individual basis and for groups that comprise singers of a specific genre. It is argued that this kind of investigation is possible only within a focused training program, given by a faculty who has agreed on the goals. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

12 CFR 1022.121 - Active duty alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 8 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Active duty alerts. 1022.121 Section 1022.121... Consumer Reporting Agencies Regarding Identity Theft § 1022.121 Active duty alerts. (a) Duration. The duration of an active duty alert shall be twelve months. ...

12 CFR 1022.121 - Active duty alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 8 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Active duty alerts. 1022.121 Section 1022.121... Consumer Reporting Agencies Regarding Identity Theft § 1022.121 Active duty alerts. (a) Duration. The duration of an active duty alert shall be twelve months. ...

Quantitative evaluation of the voice range profile in patients with voice disorder.

PubMed

Ikeda, Y; Masuda, T; Manako, H; Yamashita, H; Yamamoto, T; Komiyama, S

1999-01-01

In 1953, Calvet first displayed the fundamental frequency (pitch) and sound pressure level (intensity) of a voice on a two-dimensional plane and created a voice range profile. This profile has been used to evaluate clinically various vocal disorders, although such evaluations to date have been subjective without quantitative assessment. In the present study, a quantitative system was developed to evaluate the voice range profile utilizing a personal computer. The area of the voice range profile was defined as the voice volume. This volume was analyzed in 137 males and 175 females who were treated for various dysphonias at Kyushu University between 1984 and 1990. Ten normal subjects served as controls. The voice volume in cases with voice disorders significantly decreased irrespective of the disease and sex. Furthermore, cases having better improvement after treatment showed a tendency for the voice volume to increase. These findings illustrated the voice volume as a useful clinical test for evaluating voice control in cases with vocal disorders.

Voice symptoms and voice-related quality of life in college students.

PubMed

Merrill, Ray M; Tanner, Kristine; Merrill, Joseph G; McCord, Matthew D; Beardsley, Melissa M; Steele, Brittanie A

2013-08-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of voice disorders in college students and their effect on the students as shown by quality-of-life indicators. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 545 college students in 2012. The survey included 10 questions from the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL), selected voice symptoms, and quality-of-life indicators of functional health and well-being based on the Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36). Twenty-nine percent of the college students (mean age, 22.7 years) reported a history of a voice disorder. Hoarseness was the most prevalent voice symptom, but was not correlated with V-RQOL scores. A wobbly or shaky voice, throat dryness, vocal fatigue, and vocal effort explained a significant amount of variance on the social-emotional and physical domains of the V-RQOL index (p < 0.05). Voice symptoms limited emotional and physical functioning as indicated by SF-36 scores. Voice disorders significantly influence psychosocial and physical functioning in college students. These findings have important implications for voice-care services in this population.

Conditional outlier detection for clinical alerting.

PubMed

Hauskrecht, Milos; Valko, Michal; Batal, Iyad; Clermont, Gilles; Visweswaran, Shyam; Cooper, Gregory F

2010-11-13

We develop and evaluate a data-driven approach for detecting unusual (anomalous) patient-management actions using past patient cases stored in an electronic health record (EHR) system. Our hypothesis is that patient-management actions that are unusual with respect to past patients may be due to a potential error and that it is worthwhile to raise an alert if such a condition is encountered. We evaluate this hypothesis using data obtained from the electronic health records of 4,486 post-cardiac surgical patients. We base the evaluation on the opinions of a panel of experts. The results support that anomaly-based alerting can have reasonably low false alert rates and that stronger anomalies are correlated with higher alert rates.

12 CFR 1022.121 - Active duty alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 8 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Active duty alerts. 1022.121 Section 1022.121... Consumer Reporting Agencies Regarding Identity Theft § 1022.121 Active duty alerts. (a) Duration. The duration of an active duty alert shall be twelve months. (b) [Reserved] ...

Correlated colour temperature of morning light influences alertness and body temperature.

PubMed

Te Kulve, Marije; Schlangen, Luc; Schellen, Lisje; Souman, Jan L; van Marken Lichtenbelt, Wouter

2018-03-01

Though several studies have reported human alertness to be affected by the intensity and spectral composition of ambient light, the mechanism behind this effect is still largely unclear, especially for daytime exposure. Alerting effects of nocturnal light exposure are correlated with melatonin suppression, but melatonin levels are generally low during the day. The aim of this study was to explore the alerting effect of light in the morning for different correlated colour temperature (CCT) values, as well as its interaction with ambient temperature. Body temperature and perceived comfort were included in the study as possible mediating factors. In a randomized crossover design, 16 healthy females participated in two sessions, once under 2700K and once under 6500K light (both 55lx). Each session consisted of a baseline, a cool, a neutral and a warm thermal environment. Alertness as measured in a reaction time task was lower for the 6500K exposure, while subjective sleepiness was not affected by CCT. Also, core body temperature was higher under 6500K. Skin temperature parameters and perceived comfort were positively correlated with subjective sleepiness. Reaction time correlated with heat loss, but this association did not explain why the reaction time was improved for 2700K. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voice and choice in health care in England: understanding citizen responses to dissatisfaction.

PubMed

Dowding, Keith; John, Peter

2011-01-01

Using data from a five-year online survey the paper examines the effects of relative satisfaction with health services on individuals' voice-and-choice activity in the English public health care system. Voice is considered in three parts – individual voice (complaints), collective voice voting and participation (collective action). Exercising choice is seen in terms of complete exit (not using health care), internal exit (choosing another public service provider) and private exit (using private health care). The interaction of satisfaction and forms of voice and choice are analysed over time. Both voice and choice are correlated with dissatisfaction with those who are unhappy with the NHS more likely to privately voice and to plan to take up private health care. Those unable to choose private provision are likely to use private voice. These factors are not affected by items associated with social capital – indeed, being more trusting leads to lower voice activity.

75 FR 72773 - Empowering Consumers to Avoid Bill Shock; Consumer Information and Disclosure

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-26

... require mobile service providers to provide usage alerts and information that will assist consumers in... proposes rules that would require mobile service providers to provide usage alerts, such as voice or text... consumers, including methods such as providing voice or text alerts. In addition, the Commission seeks...

31 CFR 901.4 - Reporting debts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... and Urban Development's Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System (CAIVRS). For information about the CAIVRS program, agencies should contact the Director of Information Resources Management Policy and Management Division, Office of Information Technology, Department of Housing and Urban Development...

31 CFR 901.4 - Reporting debts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... and Urban Development's Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System (CAIVRS). For information about the CAIVRS program, agencies should contact the Director of Information Resources Management Policy and Management Division, Office of Information Technology, Department of Housing and Urban Development...

Understanding the mechanisms of familiar voice-identity recognition in the human brain.

PubMed

Maguinness, Corrina; Roswandowitz, Claudia; von Kriegstein, Katharina

2018-03-31

Humans have a remarkable skill for voice-identity recognition: most of us can remember many voices that surround us as 'unique'. In this review, we explore the computational and neural mechanisms which may support our ability to represent and recognise a unique voice-identity. We examine the functional architecture of voice-sensitive regions in the superior temporal gyrus/sulcus, and bring together findings on how these regions may interact with each other, and additional face-sensitive regions, to support voice-identity processing. We also contrast findings from studies on neurotypicals and clinical populations which have examined the processing of familiar and unfamiliar voices. Taken together, the findings suggest that representations of familiar and unfamiliar voices might dissociate in the human brain. Such an observation does not fit well with current models for voice-identity processing, which by-and-large assume a common sequential analysis of the incoming voice signal, regardless of voice familiarity. We provide a revised audio-visual integrative model of voice-identity processing which brings together traditional and prototype models of identity processing. This revised model includes a mechanism of how voice-identity representations are established and provides a novel framework for understanding and examining the potential differences in familiar and unfamiliar voice processing in the human brain. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Applying human factors principles to alert design increases efficiency and reduces prescribing errors in a scenario-based simulation.

PubMed

Russ, Alissa L; Zillich, Alan J; Melton, Brittany L; Russell, Scott A; Chen, Siying; Spina, Jeffrey R; Weiner, Michael; Johnson, Elizabette G; Daggy, Joanne K; McManus, M Sue; Hawsey, Jason M; Puleo, Anthony G; Doebbeling, Bradley N; Saleem, Jason J

2014-10-01

To apply human factors engineering principles to improve alert interface design. We hypothesized that incorporating human factors principles into alerts would improve usability, reduce workload for prescribers, and reduce prescribing errors. We performed a scenario-based simulation study using a counterbalanced, crossover design with 20 Veterans Affairs prescribers to compare original versus redesigned alerts. We redesigned drug-allergy, drug-drug interaction, and drug-disease alerts based upon human factors principles. We assessed usability (learnability of redesign, efficiency, satisfaction, and usability errors), perceived workload, and prescribing errors. Although prescribers received no training on the design changes, prescribers were able to resolve redesigned alerts more efficiently (median (IQR): 56 (47) s) compared to the original alerts (85 (71) s; p=0.015). In addition, prescribers rated redesigned alerts significantly higher than original alerts across several dimensions of satisfaction. Redesigned alerts led to a modest but significant reduction in workload (p=0.042) and significantly reduced the number of prescribing errors per prescriber (median (range): 2 (1-5) compared to original alerts: 4 (1-7); p=0.024). Aspects of the redesigned alerts that likely contributed to better prescribing include design modifications that reduced usability-related errors, providing clinical data closer to the point of decision, and displaying alert text in a tabular format. Displaying alert text in a tabular format may help prescribers extract information quickly and thereby increase responsiveness to alerts. This simulation study provides evidence that applying human factors design principles to medication alerts can improve usability and prescribing outcomes. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

The effect of phasic auditory alerting on visual perception.

PubMed

Petersen, Anders; Petersen, Annemarie Hilkjær; Bundesen, Claus; Vangkilde, Signe; Habekost, Thomas

2017-08-01

Phasic alertness refers to a short-lived change in the preparatory state of the cognitive system following an alerting signal. In the present study, we examined the effect of phasic auditory alerting on distinct perceptual processes, unconfounded by motor components. We combined an alerting/no-alerting design with a pure accuracy-based single-letter recognition task. Computational modeling based on Bundesen's Theory of Visual Attention was used to examine the effect of phasic alertness on visual processing speed and threshold of conscious perception. Results show that phasic auditory alertness affects visual perception by increasing the visual processing speed and lowering the threshold of conscious perception (Experiment 1). By manipulating the intensity of the alerting cue, we further observed a positive relationship between alerting intensity and processing speed, which was not seen for the threshold of conscious perception (Experiment 2). This was replicated in a third experiment, in which pupil size was measured as a physiological marker of alertness. Results revealed that the increase in processing speed was accompanied by an increase in pupil size, substantiating the link between alertness and processing speed (Experiment 3). The implications of these results are discussed in relation to a newly developed mathematical model of the relationship between levels of alertness and the speed with which humans process visual information. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Alert Workplace From Healthcare Workers' Perspective: Behavioral and Environmental Strategies to Improve Vigilance and Alertness in Healthcare Settings.

PubMed

Sagah Zadeh, Rana; Shepley, Mardelle; Sadatsafavi, Hessam; Owora, Arthur Hamie; Krieger, Ana C

2018-04-01

This study aims to identify the behavioral and environmental strategies that healthcare workers view as helpful for managing sleepiness, improving alertness, and therefore optimizing workplace safety. Reduced alertness is a common issue in healthcare work environments and is associated with impaired cognitive performance and decision-making ability as well as increased errors and injuries. We surveyed 136 healthcare professionals at a primary care clinic, an acute care hospital, and a mental health clinic. Nonstructured, semistructured, and structured questionnaires were used to elicit relevant information which was analyzed using qualitative content analysis and logistic regression models, respectively. In order by frequency of endorsement: dietary intervention; physical mobility; cognitive, sensory, or social stimulation; personal lifestyle strategies; and rest/nap opportunities were reported as behavioral strategies used to address workplace alertness. Compared to other environmental features, daylight and thermal comfort were perceived to be more important to addressing workplace alertness ( p < .05). By optimizing the physical environment and organizational policies and providing education programs, we have an opportunity to support healthcare professionals in managing sleepiness and maintaining alertness at work. In addition, such system level interventions may reduce unhealthy choices such as frequent caffeine intake to keep alert. The development of multidisciplinary evidence-based guidelines is needed to address sleepiness and alertness to improve workplace safety in healthcare facilities.

Conditional Outlier Detection for Clinical Alerting

PubMed Central

Hauskrecht, Milos; Valko, Michal; Batal, Iyad; Clermont, Gilles; Visweswaran, Shyam; Cooper, Gregory F.

2010-01-01

We develop and evaluate a data-driven approach for detecting unusual (anomalous) patient-management actions using past patient cases stored in an electronic health record (EHR) system. Our hypothesis is that patient-management actions that are unusual with respect to past patients may be due to a potential error and that it is worthwhile to raise an alert if such a condition is encountered. We evaluate this hypothesis using data obtained from the electronic health records of 4,486 post-cardiac surgical patients. We base the evaluation on the opinions of a panel of experts. The results support that anomaly-based alerting can have reasonably low false alert rates and that stronger anomalies are correlated with higher alert rates. PMID:21346986

Validation of the CME Geomagnetic forecast alerts under COMESEP alert system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dumbovic, Mateja; Srivastava, Nandita; Khodia, Yamini; Vršnak, Bojan; Devos, Andy; Rodriguez, Luciano

2017-04-01

An automated space weather alert system has been developed under the EU FP7 project COMESEP (COronal Mass Ejections and Solar Energetic Particles: http://comesep.aeronomy.be) to forecast solar energetic particles (SEP) and coronal mass ejection (CME) risk levels at Earth. COMESEP alert system uses automated detection tool CACTus to detect potentially threatening CMEs, drag-based model (DBM) to predict their arrival and CME geo-effectiveness tool (CGFT) to predict their geomagnetic impact. Whenever CACTus detects a halo or partial halo CME and issues an alert, DBM calculates its arrival time at Earth and CGFT calculates its geomagnetic risk level. Geomagnetic risk level is calculated based on an estimation of the CME arrival probability and its likely geo-effectiveness, as well as an estimate of the geomagnetic-storm duration. We present the evaluation of the CME risk level forecast with COMESEP alert system based on a study of geo-effective CMEs observed during 2014. The validation of the forecast tool is done by comparing the forecasts with observations. In addition, we test the success rate of the automatic forecasts (without human intervention) against the forecasts with human intervention using advanced versions of DBM and CGFT (self standing tools available at Hvar Observatory website: http://oh.geof.unizg.hr). The results implicate that the success rate of the forecast is higher with human intervention and using more advanced tools. This work has received funding from the European Commission FP7 Project COMESEP (263252). We acknowledge the support of Croatian Science Foundation under the project 6212 „Solar and Stellar Variability".

Sleep, alertness and alertness management among commercial airline pilots on short-haul and long-haul flights.

PubMed

Sallinen, Mikael; Sihvola, Maria; Puttonen, Sampsa; Ketola, Kimmo; Tuori, Antti; Härmä, Mikko; Kecklund, Göran; Åkerstedt, Torbjörn

2017-01-01

Airline pilots' sleep and on-duty alertness are important focus areas in commercial aviation. Until now, studies pertaining to this topic have mainly focused on specific characteristics of flights and thus a comprehensive picture of the matter is not well established. In addition, research knowledge of what airline pilots actually do to maintain their alertness while being on duty is scarce. To address these gaps in research knowledge, we conducted a field study on a representative sample of the airline pilots of a medium-sized airline. The sample consisted of 90 pilots, of whom 30 flew long-haul (LH) routes, 30 short-haul (SH) routes, and 30 flew both. A total of 86 pilots completed the measurements that lasted for almost two months per pilot. The measurements resulted in a total of 965 flight duty periods (FDPs) including SH flights and 627 FDPs including LH flights. During the measurement periods, sleep was measured by a diary and actigraphs, on-duty alertness by the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) in all flight phases, and on-duty alertness management strategies by the diary. Results showed that SH and LH FDPs covering the whole domicile night (00:00-06:00 at home base) were most consistently associated with reduced sleep-wake ratio and subjective alertness. Approximately every 3rd FDP falling into this category involved a reduced sleep-wake ratio (1:3 or lower) and every 2nd a reduced level of subjective alertness (KSS rating 8-9 in at least one flight phase). The corresponding frequencies for the SH and LH FDPs that partly covered the domicile night were every 10th and every 5th FDP and for the pure non-night FDPs every 30th and every 36th FDP, respectively. The results also showed that the pilots tended to increase the use of effective on-duty alertness management strategies (consuming alertness-promoting products and taking strategic naps) in connection with the FDPs that overlapped the domicile night. Finally, the results showed that the frequency of

Digital signal processing algorithms for automatic voice recognition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Botros, Nazeih M.

1987-01-01

The current digital signal analysis algorithms are investigated that are implemented in automatic voice recognition algorithms. Automatic voice recognition means, the capability of a computer to recognize and interact with verbal commands. The digital signal is focused on, rather than the linguistic, analysis of speech signal. Several digital signal processing algorithms are available for voice recognition. Some of these algorithms are: Linear Predictive Coding (LPC), Short-time Fourier Analysis, and Cepstrum Analysis. Among these algorithms, the LPC is the most widely used. This algorithm has short execution time and do not require large memory storage. However, it has several limitations due to the assumptions used to develop it. The other 2 algorithms are frequency domain algorithms with not many assumptions, but they are not widely implemented or investigated. However, with the recent advances in the digital technology, namely signal processors, these 2 frequency domain algorithms may be investigated in order to implement them in voice recognition. This research is concerned with real time, microprocessor based recognition algorithms.

Speech Auditory Alerts Promote Memory for Alerted Events in a Video-Simulated Self-Driving Car Ride.

PubMed

Nees, Michael A; Helbein, Benji; Porter, Anna

2016-05-01

Auditory displays could be essential to helping drivers maintain situation awareness in autonomous vehicles, but to date, few or no studies have examined the effectiveness of different types of auditory displays for this application scenario. Recent advances in the development of autonomous vehicles (i.e., self-driving cars) have suggested that widespread automation of driving may be tenable in the near future. Drivers may be required to monitor the status of automation programs and vehicle conditions as they engage in secondary leisure or work tasks (entertainment, communication, etc.) in autonomous vehicles. An experiment compared memory for alerted events-a component of Level 1 situation awareness-using speech alerts, auditory icons, and a visual control condition during a video-simulated self-driving car ride with a visual secondary task. The alerts gave information about the vehicle's operating status and the driving scenario. Speech alerts resulted in better memory for alerted events. Both auditory display types resulted in less perceived effort devoted toward the study tasks but also greater perceived annoyance with the alerts. Speech auditory displays promoted Level 1 situation awareness during a simulation of a ride in a self-driving vehicle under routine conditions, but annoyance remains a concern with auditory displays. Speech auditory displays showed promise as a means of increasing Level 1 situation awareness of routine scenarios during an autonomous vehicle ride with an unrelated secondary task. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Alertness function of thalamus in conflict adaptation.

PubMed

Wang, Xiangpeng; Zhao, Xiaoyue; Xue, Gui; Chen, Antao

2016-05-15

Conflict adaptation reflects the ability to improve current conflict resolution based on previously experienced conflict, which is crucial for our goal-directed behaviors. In recent years, the roles of alertness are attracting increasing attention when discussing the generation of conflict adaptation. However, due to the difficulty of manipulating alertness, very limited progress has been made in this line. Inspired by that color may affect alertness, we manipulated background color of experimental task and found that conflict adaptation significantly presented in gray and red backgrounds but did not in blue background. Furthermore, behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging results revealed that the modulation of color on conflict adaptation was implemented through changing alertness level. In particular, blue background eliminated conflict adaptation by damping the alertness regulating function of thalamus and the functional connectivity between thalamus and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). In contrast, in gray and red backgrounds where alertness levels are typically high, the thalamus and the right IFG functioned normally and conflict adaptations were significant. Therefore, the alertness function of thalamus is determinant to conflict adaptation, and thalamus and right IFG are crucial nodes of the neural circuit subserving this ability. Present findings provide new insights into the neural mechanisms of conflict adaptation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Relationship between Activity Noise, Voice Parameters, and Voice Symptoms among Female Teachers.

PubMed

Pirilä, Sirpa; Pirilä, Paula; Ansamaa, Terhi; Yliherva, Anneli; Sonning, Samuel; Rantala, Leena

2017-01-01

Our interest was in how teachers' voices behave during the delivery of lessons in core subjects (e.g., mathematics, science, etc.). We sought to evaluate the relationship between voice sound pressure level (SPL), vocal fundamental frequency (F0), voice symptoms, activity noise, and differences therein during the first and the last lessons in core subjects of the day. The participants were 24 female elementary school teachers. Voice symptoms were evaluated by questionnaire. The data were recorded on 2 portable voice accumulators (VoxLog) from the first and last lessons of the day. The versions of accumulators differed by frequency weighting; therefore, the analysis and the results of noise and voice SPL were treated separately: unweighted (group 1) and A-weighted (group 2). Difference in voice SPL followed difference in activity noise. F0 increased between the first and last lessons. Correlations were found between differences in the noise and the voice symptoms of tiredness and dryness. Irritating mucus was associated with high F0 during the first lesson. An apparent increase in voice loading due to the activity noise was observed during lessons in core subjects. Collaboration between specialists in voice and acoustics and teachers and pupils is needed to reduce this voice loading. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Auditory and visual modulation of temporal lobe neurons in voice-sensitive and association cortices.

PubMed

Perrodin, Catherine; Kayser, Christoph; Logothetis, Nikos K; Petkov, Christopher I

2014-02-12

Effective interactions between conspecific individuals can depend upon the receiver forming a coherent multisensory representation of communication signals, such as merging voice and face content. Neuroimaging studies have identified face- or voice-sensitive areas (Belin et al., 2000; Petkov et al., 2008; Tsao et al., 2008), some of which have been proposed as candidate regions for face and voice integration (von Kriegstein et al., 2005). However, it was unclear how multisensory influences occur at the neuronal level within voice- or face-sensitive regions, especially compared with classically defined multisensory regions in temporal association cortex (Stein and Stanford, 2008). Here, we characterize auditory (voice) and visual (face) influences on neuronal responses in a right-hemisphere voice-sensitive region in the anterior supratemporal plane (STP) of Rhesus macaques. These results were compared with those in the neighboring superior temporal sulcus (STS). Within the STP, our results show auditory sensitivity to several vocal features, which was not evident in STS units. We also newly identify a functionally distinct neuronal subpopulation in the STP that appears to carry the area's sensitivity to voice identity related features. Audiovisual interactions were prominent in both the STP and STS. However, visual influences modulated the responses of STS neurons with greater specificity and were more often associated with congruent voice-face stimulus pairings than STP neurons. Together, the results reveal the neuronal processes subserving voice-sensitive fMRI activity patterns in primates, generate hypotheses for testing in the visual modality, and clarify the position of voice-sensitive areas within the unisensory and multisensory processing hierarchies.

Auditory and Visual Modulation of Temporal Lobe Neurons in Voice-Sensitive and Association Cortices

PubMed Central

Perrodin, Catherine; Kayser, Christoph; Logothetis, Nikos K.

2014-01-01

Effective interactions between conspecific individuals can depend upon the receiver forming a coherent multisensory representation of communication signals, such as merging voice and face content. Neuroimaging studies have identified face- or voice-sensitive areas (Belin et al., 2000; Petkov et al., 2008; Tsao et al., 2008), some of which have been proposed as candidate regions for face and voice integration (von Kriegstein et al., 2005). However, it was unclear how multisensory influences occur at the neuronal level within voice- or face-sensitive regions, especially compared with classically defined multisensory regions in temporal association cortex (Stein and Stanford, 2008). Here, we characterize auditory (voice) and visual (face) influences on neuronal responses in a right-hemisphere voice-sensitive region in the anterior supratemporal plane (STP) of Rhesus macaques. These results were compared with those in the neighboring superior temporal sulcus (STS). Within the STP, our results show auditory sensitivity to several vocal features, which was not evident in STS units. We also newly identify a functionally distinct neuronal subpopulation in the STP that appears to carry the area's sensitivity to voice identity related features. Audiovisual interactions were prominent in both the STP and STS. However, visual influences modulated the responses of STS neurons with greater specificity and were more often associated with congruent voice-face stimulus pairings than STP neurons. Together, the results reveal the neuronal processes subserving voice-sensitive fMRI activity patterns in primates, generate hypotheses for testing in the visual modality, and clarify the position of voice-sensitive areas within the unisensory and multisensory processing hierarchies. PMID:24523543

The role of voice input for human-machine communication.

PubMed Central

Cohen, P R; Oviatt, S L

1995-01-01

Optimism is growing that the near future will witness rapid growth in human-computer interaction using voice. System prototypes have recently been built that demonstrate speaker-independent real-time speech recognition, and understanding of naturally spoken utterances with vocabularies of 1000 to 2000 words, and larger. Already, computer manufacturers are building speech recognition subsystems into their new product lines. However, before this technology can be broadly useful, a substantial knowledge base is needed about human spoken language and performance during computer-based spoken interaction. This paper reviews application areas in which spoken interaction can play a significant role, assesses potential benefits of spoken interaction with machines, and compares voice with other modalities of human-computer interaction. It also discusses information that will be needed to build a firm empirical foundation for the design of future spoken and multimodal interfaces. Finally, it argues for a more systematic and scientific approach to investigating spoken input and performance with future language technology. PMID:7479803

I like my voice better: self-enhancement bias in perceptions of voice attractiveness.

PubMed

Hughes, Susan M; Harrison, Marissa A

2013-01-01

Previous research shows that the human voice can communicate a wealth of nonsemantic information; preferences for voices can predict health, fertility, and genetic quality of the speaker, and people often use voice attractiveness, in particular, to make these assessments of others. But it is not known what we think of the attractiveness of our own voices as others hear them. In this study eighty men and women rated the attractiveness of an array of voice recordings of different individuals and were not told that their own recorded voices were included in the presentation. Results showed that participants rated their own voices as sounding more attractive than others had rated their voices, and participants also rated their own voices as sounding more attractive than they had rated the voices of others. These findings suggest that people may engage in vocal implicit egotism, a form of self-enhancement.

Real-Time Mapping alert system; characteristics and capabilities

USGS Publications Warehouse

Torres, L.A.; Lambert, S.C.; Liebermann, T.D.

1995-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey has an extensive hydrologic network that records and transmits precipitation, stage, discharge, and other water-related data on a real-time basis to an automated data processing system. Data values are recorded on electronic data collection platforms at field sampling sites. These values are transmitted by means of orbiting satellites to receiving ground stations, and by way of telecommunication lines to a U.S. Geological Survey office where they are processed on a computer system. Data that exceed predefined thresholds are identified as alert values. The current alert status at monitoring sites within a state or region is of critical importance during floods, hurricanes, and other extreme hydrologic events. This report describes the characteristics and capabilities of a series of computer programs for real-time mapping of hydrologic data. The software provides interactive graphics display and query of hydrologic information from the network in a real-time, map-based, menu-driven environment.

Warfarin monitoring in nursing homes assessed by case histories. Do recommendations and electronic alerts affect judgements?

PubMed

Teruel, Reyes Serrano; Thue, Geir; Fylkesnes, Svein Ivar; Sandberg, Sverre; Kristoffersen, Ann Helen

2017-09-01

Older adults treated with warfarin are prone to complications, and high-quality monitoring is essential. The aim of this case history based study was to assess the quality of warfarin monitoring in a routine situation, and in a situation with an antibiotic-warfarin interaction, before and after receiving an electronic alert. In April 2014, a national web-based survey with two case histories was distributed among Norwegian nursing home physicians and general practitioners working part-time in nursing homes. Case A represented a patient on stable warfarin treatment, but with a substantial INR increase within the therapeutic interval. Case B represented a more challenging patient with trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole (TMS) treatment due to pyelonephritis. In both cases, the physicians were asked to state the next warfarin dose and the INR recall interval. In case B, the physicians could change their suggestions after receiving an electronic alert on the TMS-warfarin interaction. Three hundred and ninety eight physicians in 292 nursing homes responded. Suggested INR recall intervals and warfarin doses varied substantially in both cases. In case A, 61% gave acceptable answers according to published recommendations, while only 9% did so for case B. Regarding the TMS-warfarin interaction in case history B, the electronic alert increased the percentage of respondents correctly suggesting a dose reduction from 29% to 53%. Having an INR instrument in the nursing home was associated with shortened INR recall times. Practical advice on handling of warfarin treatment and drug interactions is needed. Electronic alerts as presented in electronic medical records seem insufficient to change practice. Availability of INR instruments may be important regarding recall time.

Auditory traits of "own voice".

PubMed

Kimura, Marino; Yotsumoto, Yuko

2018-01-01

People perceive their recorded voice differently from their actively spoken voice. The uncanny valley theory proposes that as an object approaches humanlike characteristics, there is an increase in the sense of familiarity; however, eventually a point is reached where the object becomes strangely similar and makes us feel uneasy. The feeling of discomfort experienced when people hear their recorded voice may correspond to the floor of the proposed uncanny valley. To overcome the feeling of eeriness of own-voice recordings, previous studies have suggested equalization of the recorded voice with various types of filters, such as step, bandpass, and low-pass, yet the effectiveness of these filters has not been evaluated. To address this, the aim of experiment 1 was to identify what type of voice recording was the most representative of one's own voice. The voice recordings were presented in five different conditions: unadjusted recorded voice, step filtered voice, bandpass filtered voice, low-pass filtered voice, and a voice for which the participants freely adjusted the parameters. We found large individual differences in the most representative own-voice filter. In order to consider roles of sense of agency, experiment 2 investigated if lip-synching would influence the rating of own voice. The result suggested lip-synching did not affect own voice ratings. In experiment 3, based on the assumption that the voices used in previous experiments corresponded to continuous representations of non-own voice to own voice, the existence of an uncanny valley was examined. Familiarity, eeriness, and the sense of own voice were rated. The result did not support the existence of an uncanny valley. Taken together, the experiments led us to the following conclusions: there is no general filter that can represent own voice for everyone, sense of agency has no effect on own voice rating, and the uncanny valley does not exist for own voice, specifically.

Safety Alerts: An Observational Study in Portugal.

PubMed

Soares, Sara; Roque, Fátima; Teixeira Rodrigues, António; Figueiras, Adolfo; Herdeiro, Maria Teresa

2015-09-01

The information that is available when marketing authorizations are approved is limited. Pharmacovigilance has an important role during the postauthorization period, and alerts published by national authorities allow health care professionals to be informed about new data on safety profiles. This study therefore sought to analyze all safety alerts published by the Portuguese National Authority of Medicines and Health Products I.P. (INFARMED). We conducted an observational study of all alerts published on the INFARMED website from January 2002 through December 2014. From the data included in the alerts, the following information was abstracted: active substance name (and trade name), event that led to the alert, and the resulting safety measures. Active substances were classified according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) code. A total of 562 alerts were published, and 304 were eligible for inclusion. The musculoskeletal system was the ATC code with more alerts (n = 53), followed by the nervous system (n = 42). Communication of the information and recommendations to the health care professionals and the public in general was the most frequent safety measure (n = 128), followed by changes in the Summary of the Product Characteristics and package information leaflet (n = 66). During the study period, 26 marketing authorizations were temporarily suspended and 10 were revoked. The knowledge of the alerts published during the postmarketing period is very useful to the health care professionals for improving prescription and use of medicines and to the scientific community for the development of new researches. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier HS Journals, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pilot Non-Conformance to Alerting System Commands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pritchett, Amy R.; Hansman, R. John

1997-01-01

Instances of pilot non-conformance to alerting system commands have been identified in previous studies. Pilot non-conformance changes the final behavior of the system, and therefore may reduce actual performance from that anticipated. A simulator study has examined pilot non-conformance, using the task of collision avoidance during closely spaced parallel approaches as a case study. Consonance between the display and the alerting system was found to significantly improve subject agreement with automatic alerts. Based on these results, a more general discussion of the factors involved in pilot conformance is given, and design guidelines for alerting systems are given.

The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) adaption in National Early Warning Alerting Systems of China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Chao

2017-04-01

The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) [1] is an XML-based data format for exchanging public warnings and emergencies between alerting technologies. In China, from local communities to entire nations, there was a patchwork of specialized hazard public alerting systems. And each system was often designed just for certain emergency situations and for certain communications media. Application took place in the NEWAS (National Early Warning Alerting Systems) [2]project where CAP serves as central message to integrate all kind of hazard situations, including the natural calamity, accident disaster, public health emergency , social safety etc. Officially operated on May 2015, NEWAS now has completed docking work with 14 departments including civil administration, safety supervision, forestry, land, water conservancy, earthquake, traffic, meteorology, agriculture, tourism, food and drug supervision, public security and oceanic administration. Thus, several items in CAP has been modified, redefined and extended according to the various grading standards and publishing strategies, as well as the characteristics of Chinese Geocoding. NEWAS successfully delivers information to end users through 4 levels (i.e. State, province, prefecture and county) structure and by various means. [1] CAP, http://www.oasis-emergency.org/cap [2] http://www.12379.cn/

Connections between voice ergonomic risk factors in classrooms and teachers' voice production.

PubMed

Rantala, Leena M; Hakala, Suvi; Holmqvist, Sofia; Sala, Eeva

2012-01-01

The aim of the study was to investigate if voice ergonomic risk factors in classrooms correlated with acoustic parameters of teachers' voice production. The voice ergonomic risk factors in the fields of working culture, working postures and indoor air quality were assessed in 40 classrooms using the Voice Ergonomic Assessment in Work Environment - Handbook and Checklist. Teachers (32 females, 8 males) from the above-mentioned classrooms recorded text readings before and after a working day. Fundamental frequency, sound pressure level (SPL) and the slope of the spectrum (alpha ratio) were analyzed. The higher the number of the risk factors in the classrooms, the higher SPL the teachers used and the more strained the males' voices (increased alpha ratio) were. The SPL was already higher before the working day in the teachers with higher risk than in those with lower risk. In the working environment with many voice ergonomic risk factors, speakers increase voice loudness and use more strained voice quality (males). A practical implication of the results is that voice ergonomic assessments are needed in schools. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

47 CFR 10.310 - Federal alert gateway. [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Federal alert gateway. [Reserved] 10.310 Section 10.310 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL WIRELESS EMERGENCY ALERTS System Architecture § 10.310 Federal alert gateway. [Reserved] ...

47 CFR 10.310 - Federal alert gateway. [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Federal alert gateway. [Reserved] 10.310 Section 10.310 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL WIRELESS EMERGENCY ALERTS System Architecture § 10.310 Federal alert gateway. [Reserved] ...

Natural asynchronies in audiovisual communication signals regulate neuronal multisensory interactions in voice-sensitive cortex.

PubMed

Perrodin, Catherine; Kayser, Christoph; Logothetis, Nikos K; Petkov, Christopher I

2015-01-06

When social animals communicate, the onset of informative content in one modality varies considerably relative to the other, such as when visual orofacial movements precede a vocalization. These naturally occurring asynchronies do not disrupt intelligibility or perceptual coherence. However, they occur on time scales where they likely affect integrative neuronal activity in ways that have remained unclear, especially for hierarchically downstream regions in which neurons exhibit temporally imprecise but highly selective responses to communication signals. To address this, we exploited naturally occurring face- and voice-onset asynchronies in primate vocalizations. Using these as stimuli we recorded cortical oscillations and neuronal spiking responses from functional MRI (fMRI)-localized voice-sensitive cortex in the anterior temporal lobe of macaques. We show that the onset of the visual face stimulus resets the phase of low-frequency oscillations, and that the face-voice asynchrony affects the prominence of two key types of neuronal multisensory responses: enhancement or suppression. Our findings show a three-way association between temporal delays in audiovisual communication signals, phase-resetting of ongoing oscillations, and the sign of multisensory responses. The results reveal how natural onset asynchronies in cross-sensory inputs regulate network oscillations and neuronal excitability in the voice-sensitive cortex of macaques, a suggested animal model for human voice areas. These findings also advance predictions on the impact of multisensory input on neuronal processes in face areas and other brain regions.

Natural asynchronies in audiovisual communication signals regulate neuronal multisensory interactions in voice-sensitive cortex

PubMed Central

Perrodin, Catherine; Kayser, Christoph; Logothetis, Nikos K.; Petkov, Christopher I.

2015-01-01

When social animals communicate, the onset of informative content in one modality varies considerably relative to the other, such as when visual orofacial movements precede a vocalization. These naturally occurring asynchronies do not disrupt intelligibility or perceptual coherence. However, they occur on time scales where they likely affect integrative neuronal activity in ways that have remained unclear, especially for hierarchically downstream regions in which neurons exhibit temporally imprecise but highly selective responses to communication signals. To address this, we exploited naturally occurring face- and voice-onset asynchronies in primate vocalizations. Using these as stimuli we recorded cortical oscillations and neuronal spiking responses from functional MRI (fMRI)-localized voice-sensitive cortex in the anterior temporal lobe of macaques. We show that the onset of the visual face stimulus resets the phase of low-frequency oscillations, and that the face–voice asynchrony affects the prominence of two key types of neuronal multisensory responses: enhancement or suppression. Our findings show a three-way association between temporal delays in audiovisual communication signals, phase-resetting of ongoing oscillations, and the sign of multisensory responses. The results reveal how natural onset asynchronies in cross-sensory inputs regulate network oscillations and neuronal excitability in the voice-sensitive cortex of macaques, a suggested animal model for human voice areas. These findings also advance predictions on the impact of multisensory input on neuronal processes in face areas and other brain regions. PMID:25535356

17 Ways to Say Yes: Toward Nuanced Tone of Voice in AAC and Speech Technology

PubMed Central

Pullin, Graham; Hennig, Shannon

2015-01-01

Abstract People with complex communication needs who use speech-generating devices have very little expressive control over their tone of voice. Despite its importance in human interaction, the issue of tone of voice remains all but absent from AAC research and development however. In this paper, we describe three interdisciplinary projects, past, present and future: The critical design collection Six Speaking Chairs has provoked deeper discussion and inspired a social model of tone of voice; the speculative concept Speech Hedge illustrates challenges and opportunities in designing more expressive user interfaces; the pilot project Tonetable could enable participatory research and seed a research network around tone of voice. We speculate that more radical interactions might expand frontiers of AAC and disrupt speech technology as a whole. PMID:25965913

47 CFR 10.310 - Federal alert gateway. [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Federal alert gateway. [Reserved] 10.310 Section 10.310 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM System Architecture § 10.310 Federal alert gateway. [Reserved] ...

47 CFR 10.310 - Federal alert gateway. [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Federal alert gateway. [Reserved] 10.310 Section 10.310 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM System Architecture § 10.310 Federal alert gateway. [Reserved] ...

47 CFR 10.310 - Federal alert gateway. [Reserved

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Federal alert gateway. [Reserved] 10.310 Section 10.310 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM System Architecture § 10.310 Federal alert gateway. [Reserved] ...

Processing of voices in deafness rehabilitation by auditory brainstem implant.

PubMed

Coez, Arnaud; Zilbovicius, Monica; Ferrary, Evelyne; Bouccara, Didier; Mosnier, Isabelle; Ambert-Dahan, Emmanuèle; Kalamarides, Michel; Bizaguet, Eric; Syrota, André; Samson, Yves; Sterkers, Olivier

2009-10-01

The superior temporal sulcus (STS) is specifically involved in processing the human voice. Profound acquired deafness by post-meningitis ossified cochlea and by bilateral vestibular schwannoma in neurofibromatosis type 2 patients are two indications for auditory brainstem implantation (ABI). In order to objectively measure the cortical voice processing of a group of ABI patients, we studied the activation of the human temporal voice areas (TVA) by PET H(2)(15)O, performed in a group of implanted deaf adults (n=7) with more than two years of auditory brainstem implant experience, with an intelligibility score average of 17%+/-17 [mean+/-SD]. Relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured in the three following conditions: during silence, while passive listening to human voice, and to non-voice stimuli. Compared to silence, the activations induced by voice and non-voice stimuli were bilaterally located in the superior temporal regions. However, compared to non-voice stimuli, the voice stimuli did not induce specific supplementary activation of the TVA along the STS. The comparison of ABI group with a normal-hearing controls group (n=7) showed that TVA activations were significantly enhanced among controls group. ABI allowed the transmission of sound stimuli to temporal brain regions but lacked transmitting the specific cues of the human voice to the TVA. Moreover, among groups, during silent condition, brain visual regions showed higher rCBF in ABI group, although temporal brain regions had higher rCBF in the controls group. ABI patients had consequently developed enhanced visual strategies to keep interacting with their environment.

Matching Speaking to Singing Voices and the Influence of Content.

PubMed

Peynircioğlu, Zehra F; Rabinovitz, Brian E; Repice, Juliana

2017-03-01

We tested whether speaking voices of unfamiliar people could be matched to their singing voices, and, if so, whether the content of the utterances would influence this matching performance. Our hypothesis was that enough acoustic features would remain the same between speaking and singing voices such that their identification as belonging to the same or different individuals would be possible even upon a single hearing. We also hypothesized that the contents of the utterances would influence this identification process such that voices uttering words would be easier to match than those uttering vowels. We used a within-participant design with blocked stimuli that were counterbalanced using a Latin square design. In one block, mode (speaking vs singing) was manipulated while content was held constant; in another block, content (word vs syllable) was manipulated while mode was held constant, and in the control block, both mode and content were held constant. Participants indicated whether the voices in any given pair of utterances belonged to the same person or to different people. Cross-mode matching was above chance level, although mode-congruent performance was better. Further, only speaking voices were easier to match when uttering words. We can identify speaking and singing voices as the same or different even on just a single hearing. However, content interacts with mode such that words benefit matching of speaking voices but not of singing voices. Results are discussed within an attentional framework. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voice responses to changes in pitch of voice or tone auditory feedback

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sivasankar, Mahalakshmi; Bauer, Jay J.; Babu, Tara; Larson, Charles R.

2005-02-01

The present study was undertaken to examine if a subject's voice F0 responded not only to perturbations in pitch of voice feedback but also to changes in pitch of a side tone presented congruent with voice feedback. Small magnitude brief duration perturbations in pitch of voice or tone auditory feedback were randomly introduced during sustained vowel phonations. Results demonstrated a higher rate and larger magnitude of voice F0 responses to changes in pitch of the voice compared with a triangular-shaped tone (experiment 1) or a pure tone (experiment 2). However, response latencies did not differ across voice or tone conditions. Data suggest that subjects responded to the change in F0 rather than harmonic frequencies of auditory feedback because voice F0 response prevalence, magnitude, or latency did not statistically differ across triangular-shaped tone or pure-tone feedback. Results indicate the audio-vocal system is sensitive to the change in pitch of a variety of sounds, which may represent a flexible system capable of adapting to changes in the subject's voice. However, lower prevalence and smaller responses to tone pitch-shifted signals suggest that the audio-vocal system may resist changes to the pitch of other environmental sounds when voice feedback is present. .

Singing voice outcomes following singing voice therapy.

PubMed

Dastolfo-Hromack, Christina; Thomas, Tracey L; Rosen, Clark A; Gartner-Schmidt, Jackie

2016-11-01

The objectives of this study were to describe singing voice therapy (SVT), describe referred patient characteristics, and document the outcomes of SVT. Retrospective. Records of patients receiving SVT between June 2008 and June 2013 were reviewed (n = 51). All diagnoses were included. Demographic information, number of SVT sessions, and symptom severity were retrieved from the medical record. Symptom severity was measured via the 10-item Singing Voice Handicap Index (SVHI-10). Treatment outcome was analyzed by diagnosis, history of previous training, and SVHI-10. SVHI-10 scores decreased following SVT (mean change = 11, 40% decrease) (P < .001). Approximately 18% (n = 9) of patient SVHI-10 scores decreased to normal range. The average number of sessions attended was three (± 2); patients who concurrently attended singing lessons (n = 10) also completed an average of three SVT sessions. Primary muscle tension dysphonia (MTD1) and benign vocal fold lesion (lesion) were the most common diagnoses. Most patients (60%) had previous vocal training. SVHI-10 decrease was not significantly different between MTD and lesion. This is the first outcome-based study of SVT in a disordered population. Diagnosis of MTD or lesion did not influence treatment outcomes. Duration of SVT was short (approximately three sessions). Voice care providers are encouraged to partner with a singing voice therapist to provide optimal care for the singing voice. This study supports the use of SVT as a tool for the treatment of singing voice disorders. 4 Laryngoscope, 126:2546-2551, 2016. © 2016 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Keeping Your Voice Healthy

MedlinePlus

... an ENT Doctor Near You Keeping Your Voice Healthy Keeping Your Voice Healthy Patient Health Information News ... voice-related. Key Steps for Keeping Your Voice Healthy Drink plenty of water. Moisture is good for ...

76 FR 80780 - Review of the Emergency Alert System

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-27

... Emergency Alert System AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission amends its rules governing the Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules to extend the deadline for EAS Participants to be able to receive Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)- formatted EAS alerts to...

An IDS Alerts Aggregation Algorithm Based on Rough Set Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ru; Guo, Tao; Liu, Jianyi

2018-03-01

Within a system in which has been deployed several IDS, a great number of alerts can be triggered by a single security event, making real alerts harder to be found. To deal with redundant alerts, we propose a scheme based on rough set theory. In combination with basic concepts in rough set theory, the importance of attributes in alerts was calculated firstly. With the result of attributes importance, we could compute the similarity of two alerts, which will be compared with a pre-defined threshold to determine whether these two alerts can be aggregated or not. Also, time interval should be taken into consideration. Allowed time interval for different types of alerts is computed individually, since different types of alerts may have different time gap between two alerts. In the end of this paper, we apply proposed scheme on DAPRA98 dataset and the results of experiment show that our scheme can efficiently reduce the redundancy of alerts so that administrators of security system could avoid wasting time on useless alerts.

Voice Habits and Behaviors: Voice Care Among Flamenco Singers.

PubMed

Garzón García, Marina; Muñoz López, Juana; Y Mendoza Lara, Elvira

2017-03-01

The purpose of this study is to analyze the vocal behavior of flamenco singers, as compared with classical music singers, to establish a differential vocal profile of voice habits and behaviors in flamenco music. Bibliographic review was conducted, and the Singer's Vocal Habits Questionnaire, an experimental tool designed by the authors to gather data regarding hygiene behavior, drinking and smoking habits, type of practice, voice care, and symptomatology perceived in both the singing and the speaking voice, was administered. We interviewed 94 singers, divided into two groups: the flamenco experimental group (FEG, n = 48) and the classical control group (CCG, n = 46). Frequency analysis, a Likert scale, and discriminant and exploratory factor analysis were used to obtain a differential profile for each group. The FEG scored higher than the CCG in speaking voice symptomatology. The FEG scored significantly higher than the CCG in use of "inadequate vocal technique" when singing. Regarding voice habits, the FEG scored higher in "lack of practice and warm-up" and "environmental habits." A total of 92.6% of the subjects classified themselves correctly in each group. The Singer's Vocal Habits Questionnaire has proven effective in differentiating flamenco and classical singers. Flamenco singers are exposed to numerous vocal risk factors that make them more prone to vocal fatigue, mucosa dehydration, phonotrauma, and muscle stiffness than classical singers. Further research is needed in voice training in flamenco music, as a means to strengthen the voice and enable it to meet the requirements of this musical genre. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

47 CFR 10.320 - Provider alert gateway requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Provider alert gateway requirements. 10.320 Section 10.320 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL WIRELESS EMERGENCY ALERTS System Architecture § 10.320 Provider alert gateway requirements. This section specifies the functions...

47 CFR 10.320 - Provider alert gateway requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Provider alert gateway requirements. 10.320 Section 10.320 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL WIRELESS EMERGENCY ALERTS System Architecture § 10.320 Provider alert gateway requirements. This section specifies the functions...

Prototype app for voice therapy: a peer review.

PubMed

Lavaissiéri, Paula; Melo, Paulo Eduardo Damasceno

2017-03-09

Voice speech therapy promotes changes in patients' voice-related habits and rehabilitation. Speech-language therapists use a host of materials ranging from pictures to electronic resources and computer tools as aids in this process. Mobile technology is attractive, interactive and a nearly constant feature in the daily routine of a large part of the population and has a growing application in healthcare. To develop a prototype application for voice therapy, submit it to peer assessment, and to improve the initial prototype based on these assessments. a prototype of the Q-Voz application was developed based on Apple's Human Interface Guidelines. The prototype was analyzed by seven speech therapists who work in the voice area. Improvements to the product were made based on these assessments. all features of the application were considered satisfactory by most evaluators. All evaluators found the application very useful; evaluators reported that patients would find it easier to make changes in voice behavior with the application than without it; the evaluators stated they would use this application with their patients with dysphonia and in the process of rehabilitation and that the application offers useful tools for voice self-management. Based on the suggestions provided, six improvements were made to the prototype. the prototype Q-Voz Application was developed and evaluated by seven judges and subsequently improved. All evaluators stated they would use the application with their patients undergoing rehabilitation, indicating that the Q-Voz Application for mobile devices can be considered an auxiliary tool for voice speech therapy.

Outlier Detection for Patient Monitoring and Alerting

PubMed Central

Hauskrecht, Milos; Batal, Iyad; Valko, Michal; Visweswaran, Shyam; Cooper, Gregory F.; Clermont, Gilles

2012-01-01

We develop and evaluate a data-driven approach for detecting unusual (anomalous) patient-management decisions using past patient cases stored in electronic health records (EHRs). Our hypothesis is that a patient-management decision that is unusual with respect to past patient care may be due to an error and that it is worthwhile to generate an alert if such a decision is encountered. We evaluate this hypothesis using data obtained from EHRs of 4,486 post-cardiac surgical patients and a subset of 222 alerts generated from the data. We base the evaluation on the opinions of a panel of experts. The results of the study support our hypothesis that the outlier-based alerting can lead to promising true alert rates. We observed true alert rates that ranged from 25% to 66% for a variety of patient-management actions, with 66% corresponding to the strongest outliers. PMID:22944172

Voice Therapy Practices and Techniques: A Survey of Voice Clinicians.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mueller, Peter B.; Larson, George W.

1992-01-01

Eighty-three voice disorder therapists' ratings of statements regarding voice therapy practices indicated that vocal nodules are the most frequent disorder treated; vocal abuse and hard glottal attack elimination, counseling, and relaxation were preferred treatment approaches; and voice therapy is more effective with adults than with children.…

Alerts in mobile healthcare applications: requirements and pilot study.

PubMed

Kafeza, Eleanna; Chiu, Dickson K W; Cheung, S C; Kafeza, Marina

2004-06-01

Recent advances in mobile technologies have greatly extended traditional communication technologies to mobile devices. At the same time, healthcare environments are by nature "mobile" where doctors and nurses do not have fixed workspaces. Irregular and exceptional events are generated in daily hospital routines, such as operations rescheduling, laboratory/examination results, and adverse drug events. These events may create requests that should be delivered to the appropriate person at the appropriate time. Those requests that are classified as urgent are referred to as alerts. Efficient routing and monitoring of alerts are keys to quality and cost-effective healthcare services. Presently, these are generally handled in an ad hoc manner. In this paper, we propose the use of a healthcare alert management system to handle these alert messages systematically. We develop a model for specifying alerts that are associated with medical tasks and a set of parameters for their routing. We design an alert monitor that matches medical staff and their mobile devices to receive alerts, based on the requirements of these alerts. We also propose a mechanism to handle and reroute, if necessary, an alert message when it has not been acknowledged within a specific deadline.

47 CFR 10.320 - Provider alert gateway requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Provider alert gateway requirements. 10.320 Section 10.320 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM System Architecture § 10.320 Provider alert gateway requirements. This section specifies the functions...

The use of an automated interactive voice response system to manage medication identification calls to a poison center.

PubMed

Krenzelok, Edward P; Mrvos, Rita

2009-05-01

In 2007, medication identification requests (MIRs) accounted for 26.2% of all calls to U.S. poison centers. MIRs are documented with minimal information, but they still require an inordinate amount of work by specialists in poison information (SPI). An analysis was undertaken to identify options to reduce the impact of MIRs on both human and financial resources. All MIRs (2003-2007) to a certified regional poison information center were analyzed to determine call patterns and staffing. The data were used to justify an efficient and cost-effective solution. MIRs represented 42.3% of the 2007 call volume. Optimal staffing would require hiring an additional four full-time equivalent SPI. An interactive voice response (IVR) system was developed to respond to the MIRs. The IVR was used to develop the Medication Identification System that allowed the diversion of up to 50% of the MIRs, enhancing surge capacity and allowing specialists to address the more emergent poison exposure calls. This technology is an entirely voice-activated response call management system that collects zip code, age, gender and drug data and stores all responses as .csv files for reporting purposes. The query bank includes the 200 most common MIRs, and the system features text-to-voice synthesis that allows easy modification of the drug identification menu. Callers always have the option of engaging a SPI at any time during the IVR call flow. The IVR is an efficient and effective alternative that creates better staff utilization.

Perceptual evaluation of visual alerts in surveillance videos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogowitz, Bernice E.; Topkara, Mercan; Pfeiffer, William; Hampapur, Arun

2015-03-01

Visual alerts are commonly used in video monitoring and surveillance systems to mark events, presumably making them more salient to human observers. Surprisingly, the effectiveness of computer-generated alerts in improving human performance has not been widely studied. To address this gap, we have developed a tool for simulating different alert parameters in a realistic visual monitoring situation, and have measured human detection performance under conditions that emulated different set-points in a surveillance algorithm. In the High-Sensitivity condition, the simulated alerts identified 100% of the events with many false alarms. In the Lower-Sensitivity condition, the simulated alerts correctly identified 70% of the targets, with fewer false alarms. In the control condition, no simulated alerts were provided. To explore the effects of learning, subjects performed these tasks in three sessions, on separate days, in a counterbalanced, within subject design. We explore these results within the context of cognitive models of human attention and learning. We found that human observers were more likely to respond to events when marked by a visual alert. Learning played a major role in the two alert conditions. In the first session, observers generated almost twice as many False Alarms as in the No-Alert condition, as the observers responded pre-attentively to the computer-generated false alarms. However, this rate dropped equally dramatically in later sessions, as observers learned to discount the false cues. Highest observer Precision, Hits/(Hits + False Alarms), was achieved in the High Sensitivity condition, but only after training. The successful evaluation of surveillance systems depends on understanding human attention and performance.

16 CFR 613.1 - Duration of active duty alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Duration of active duty alerts. 613.1 Section 613.1 Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT DURATION OF ACTIVE DUTY ALERTS § 613.1 Duration of active duty alerts. The duration of an active duty alert shall be...

16 CFR 613.1 - Duration of active duty alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Duration of active duty alerts. 613.1 Section 613.1 Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT DURATION OF ACTIVE DUTY ALERTS § 613.1 Duration of active duty alerts. The duration of an active duty alert shall be...

16 CFR 613.1 - Duration of active duty alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Duration of active duty alerts. 613.1 Section 613.1 Commercial Practices FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION THE FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT DURATION OF ACTIVE DUTY ALERTS § 613.1 Duration of active duty alerts. The duration of an active duty alert shall be...

Secure voice-based authentication for mobile devices: vaulted voice verification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, R. C.; Scheirer, Walter J.; Boult, Terrance E.

2013-05-01

As the use of biometrics becomes more wide-spread, the privacy concerns that stem from the use of biometrics are becoming more apparent. As the usage of mobile devices grows, so does the desire to implement biometric identification into such devices. A large majority of mobile devices being used are mobile phones. While work is being done to implement different types of biometrics into mobile phones, such as photo based biometrics, voice is a more natural choice. The idea of voice as a biometric identifier has been around a long time. One of the major concerns with using voice as an identifier is the instability of voice. We have developed a protocol that addresses those instabilities and preserves privacy. This paper describes a novel protocol that allows a user to authenticate using voice on a mobile/remote device without compromising their privacy. We first discuss the Vaulted Verification protocol, which has recently been introduced in research literature, and then describe its limitations. We then introduce a novel adaptation and extension of the Vaulted Verification protocol to voice, dubbed Vaulted Voice Verification (V3). Following that we show a performance evaluation and then conclude with a discussion of security and future work.

47 CFR 80.277 - Ship Security Alert System (SSAS).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). 80.277... Security Alert System (SSAS). (a) Vessels equipped with a Ship Security Alert System pursuant to the Safety..., “RTCM Standard 11020.0—Ship Security Alert Systems (SSAS) using the Cospas-Sarsat System,” Version 1.0...

The Zwicky Transient Facility Public Alert Stream

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masci, F.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Graham, M.; Prince, T.; Helou, G.

2018-06-01

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF; ATel #11266) announces the start of public alerts. These alerts will originate from the ZTF public surveys (Bellm & Kulkarni 2017; Nature Astronomy 1, 71) as described at www.ztf.caltech.edu/page/msip Alerts are generated by the ZTF Science Data System housed at IPAC-Caltech (www.ipac.caltech.edu) using a realtime image-subtraction pipeline (Masci et al. 2018; www.ztf.caltech.edu/page/technical).

Selective attention modulates early human evoked potentials during emotional face-voice processing.

PubMed

Ho, Hao Tam; Schröger, Erich; Kotz, Sonja A

2015-04-01

Recent findings on multisensory integration suggest that selective attention influences cross-sensory interactions from an early processing stage. Yet, in the field of emotional face-voice integration, the hypothesis prevails that facial and vocal emotional information interacts preattentively. Using ERPs, we investigated the influence of selective attention on the perception of congruent versus incongruent combinations of neutral and angry facial and vocal expressions. Attention was manipulated via four tasks that directed participants to (i) the facial expression, (ii) the vocal expression, (iii) the emotional congruence between the face and the voice, and (iv) the synchrony between lip movement and speech onset. Our results revealed early interactions between facial and vocal emotional expressions, manifested as modulations of the auditory N1 and P2 amplitude by incongruent emotional face-voice combinations. Although audiovisual emotional interactions within the N1 time window were affected by the attentional manipulations, interactions within the P2 modulation showed no such attentional influence. Thus, we propose that the N1 and P2 are functionally dissociated in terms of emotional face-voice processing and discuss evidence in support of the notion that the N1 is associated with cross-sensory prediction, whereas the P2 relates to the derivation of an emotional percept. Essentially, our findings put the integration of facial and vocal emotional expressions into a new perspective-one that regards the integration process as a composite of multiple, possibly independent subprocesses, some of which are susceptible to attentional modulation, whereas others may be influenced by additional factors.

Wireless clinical alerts for physiologic, laboratory and medication data.

PubMed Central

Shabot, M. M.; LoBue, M.; Chen, J.

2000-01-01

A fully interfaced clinical information system (CIS) contains physiologic, laboratory, blood gas, medication and other data that can be used as the information base for a comprehensive alerting system. Coupled with an event driven rules engine, a CIS can generate clinical alerts which may both prevent medical errors and assist caregivers in responding to critical events in a timely way. The authors have developed a clinical alerting system which delivers alerts and reminders to clinicians in real time via a alphanumeric display pagers. This paper will describe the system, the type and number of alerts generated, and the impact on clinical practice. A major issue remains in measuring the impact of wireless alerts on patient outcomes. PMID:11079992

Exploring expressivity and emotion with artificial voice and speech technologies.

PubMed

Pauletto, Sandra; Balentine, Bruce; Pidcock, Chris; Jones, Kevin; Bottaci, Leonardo; Aretoulaki, Maria; Wells, Jez; Mundy, Darren P; Balentine, James

2013-10-01

Emotion in audio-voice signals, as synthesized by text-to-speech (TTS) technologies, was investigated to formulate a theory of expression for user interface design. Emotional parameters were specified with markup tags, and the resulting audio was further modulated with post-processing techniques. Software was then developed to link a selected TTS synthesizer with an automatic speech recognition (ASR) engine, producing a chatbot that could speak and listen. Using these two artificial voice subsystems, investigators explored both artistic and psychological implications of artificial speech emotion. Goals of the investigation were interdisciplinary, with interest in musical composition, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), commercial voice announcement applications, human-computer interaction (HCI), and artificial intelligence (AI). The work-in-progress points towards an emerging interdisciplinary ontology for artificial voices. As one study output, HCI tools are proposed for future collaboration.

Deficits in voice and multisensory processing in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome.

PubMed

Salles, Juliette; Strelnikov, Kuzma; Carine, Mantoulan; Denise, Thuilleaux; Laurier, Virginie; Molinas, Catherine; Tauber, Maïthé; Barone, Pascal

2016-05-01

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare neurodevelopmental and genetic disorder that is characterized by various expression of endocrine, cognitive and behavioral problems, among which a true obsession for food and a deficit of satiety that leads to hyperphagia and severe obesity. Neuropsychological studies have reported that PWS display altered social interactions with a specific weakness in interpreting social information and in responding to them, a symptom closed to that observed in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Based on the hypothesis that atypical multisensory integration such as face and voice interactions would contribute in PWS to social impairment we investigate the abilities of PWS to process communication signals including the human voice. Patients with PWS recruited from the national reference center for PWS performed a simple detection task of stimuli presented in an uni-o or bimodal condition, as well as a voice discrimination task. Compared to control typically developing (TD) individuals, PWS present a specific deficit in discriminating human voices from environmental sounds. Further, PWS present a much lower multisensory benefits with an absence of violation of the race model indicating that multisensory information do not converge and interact prior to the initiation of the behavioral response. All the deficits observed in PWS were stronger for the subgroup of patients suffering from Uniparental Disomy, a population known to be more sensitive to ASD. Altogether, our study suggests that the deficits in social behavior observed in PWS derive at least partly from an impairment in deciphering the social information carried by voice signals, face signals, and the combination of both. In addition, our work is in agreement with the brain imaging studies revealing an alteration in PWS of the "social brain network" including the STS region involved in processing human voices. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Alerting System Failures in Commercial Aviation Accidents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mumaw, Randall J.

2017-01-01

The role of an alerting system is to make the system operator (e.g., pilot) aware of an impending hazard or unsafe state so the hazard can be avoided or managed successfully. A review of 46 commercial aviation accidents (between 1998 and 2014) revealed that, in the vast majority of events, either the hazard was not alerted or relevant hazard alerting occurred but failed to aid the flight crew sufficiently. For this set of events, alerting system failures were placed in one of five phases: Detection, Understanding, Action Selection, Prioritization, and Execution. This study also reviewed the evolution of alerting system schemes in commercial aviation, which revealed naive assumptions about pilot reliability in monitoring flight path parameters; specifically, pilot monitoring was assumed to be more effective than it actually is. Examples are provided of the types of alerting system failures that have occurred, and recommendations are provided for alerting system improvements.

Alerts Visualization and Clustering in Network-based Intrusion Detection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Dr. Li; Gasior, Wade C; Dasireddy, Swetha

2010-04-01

Today's Intrusion detection systems when deployed on a busy network overload the network with huge number of alerts. This behavior of producing too much raw information makes it less effective. We propose a system which takes both raw data and Snort alerts to visualize and analyze possible intrusions in a network. Then we present with two models for the visualization of clustered alerts. Our first model gives the network administrator with the logical topology of the network and detailed information of each node that involves its associated alerts and connections. In the second model, flocking model, presents the network administratormore » with the visual representation of IDS data in which each alert is represented in different color and the alerts with maximum similarity move together. This gives network administrator with the idea of detecting various of intrusions through visualizing the alert patterns.« less

Triggering Interventions for Influenza: The ALERT Algorithm

PubMed Central

Reich, Nicholas G.; Cummings, Derek A. T.; Lauer, Stephen A.; Zorn, Martha; Robinson, Christine; Nyquist, Ann-Christine; Price, Connie S.; Simberkoff, Michael; Radonovich, Lewis J.; Perl, Trish M.

2015-01-01

Background. Early, accurate predictions of the onset of influenza season enable targeted implementation of control efforts. Our objective was to develop a tool to assist public health practitioners, researchers, and clinicians in defining the community-level onset of seasonal influenza epidemics. Methods. Using recent surveillance data on virologically confirmed infections of influenza, we developed the Above Local Elevated Respiratory Illness Threshold (ALERT) algorithm, a method to identify the period of highest seasonal influenza activity. We used data from 2 large hospitals that serve Baltimore, Maryland and Denver, Colorado, and the surrounding geographic areas. The data used by ALERT are routinely collected surveillance data: weekly case counts of laboratory-confirmed influenza A virus. The main outcome is the percentage of prospective seasonal influenza cases identified by the ALERT algorithm. Results. When ALERT thresholds designed to capture 90% of all cases were applied prospectively to the 2011–2012 and 2012–2013 influenza seasons in both hospitals, 71%–91% of all reported cases fell within the ALERT period. Conclusions. The ALERT algorithm provides a simple, robust, and accurate metric for determining the onset of elevated influenza activity at the community level. This new algorithm provides valuable information that can impact infection prevention recommendations, public health practice, and healthcare delivery. PMID:25414260

Voices Not Heard: Voice-Use Profiles of Elementary Music Teachers, the Effects of Voice Amplification on Vocal Load, and Perceptions of Issues Surrounding Voice Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrow, Sharon L.

2009-01-01

Teachers represent the largest group of occupational voice users and have voice-related problems at a rate of over twice that found in the general population. Among teachers, music teachers are roughly four times more likely than classroom teachers to develop voice-related problems. Although it has been established that music teachers use their…

Voice hearing within the context of hearers' social worlds: an interpretative phenomenological analysis.

PubMed

Mawson, Amy; Berry, Katherine; Murray, Craig; Hayward, Mark

2011-09-01

Research has found relational qualities of power and intimacy to exist within hearer-voice interactions. The present study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the interpersonal context of voice hearing by exploring participants' relationships with their voices and other people in their lives. This research was designed in consultation with service users and employed a qualitative, phenomenological, and idiographic design using semi-structured interviews. Ten participants, recruited via mental health services, and who reported hearing voices in the previous week, completed the interviews. These were transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Five themes resulted from the analysis. Theme 1: 'person and voice' demonstrated that participants' voices often reflected the identity, but not always the quality of social acquaintances. Theme 2: 'voices changing and confirming relationship with the self' explored the impact of voice hearing in producing an inferior sense-of-self in comparison to others. Theme 3: 'a battle for control' centred on issues of control and a dilemma of independence within voice relationships. Theme 4: 'friendships facilitating the ability to cope' and theme 5: 'voices creating distance in social relationships' explored experiences of social relationships within the context of voice hearing, and highlighted the impact of social isolation for voice hearers. The study demonstrated the potential role of qualitative research in developing theories of voice hearing. It extended previous research by highlighting the interface between voices and the social world of the hearer, including reciprocal influences of social relationships on voices and coping. Improving voice hearers' sense-of-self may be a key factor in reducing the distress caused by voices. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

Dimensionality in voice quality.

PubMed

Bele, Irene Velsvik

2007-05-01

This study concerns speaking voice quality in a group of male teachers (n = 35) and male actors (n = 36), as the purpose was to investigate normal and supranormal voices. The goal was the development of a method of valid perceptual evaluation for normal to supranormal and resonant voices. The voices (text reading at two loudness levels) had been evaluated by 10 listeners, for 15 vocal characteristics using VA scales. In this investigation, the results of an exploratory factor analysis of the vocal characteristics used in this method are presented, reflecting four dimensions of major importance for normal and supranormal voices. Special emphasis is placed on the effects on voice quality of a change in the loudness variable, as two loudness levels are studied. Furthermore, the vocal characteristics Sonority and Ringing voice quality are paid special attention, as the essence of the term "resonant voice" was a basic issue throughout a doctoral dissertation where this study was included.

Temporal voice areas exist in autism spectrum disorder but are dysfunctional for voice identity recognition

PubMed Central

Borowiak, Kamila; von Kriegstein, Katharina

2016-01-01

The ability to recognise the identity of others is a key requirement for successful communication. Brain regions that respond selectively to voices exist in humans from early infancy on. Currently, it is unclear whether dysfunction of these voice-sensitive regions can explain voice identity recognition impairments. Here, we used two independent functional magnetic resonance imaging studies to investigate voice processing in a population that has been reported to have no voice-sensitive regions: autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Our results refute the earlier report that individuals with ASD have no responses in voice-sensitive regions: Passive listening to vocal, compared to non-vocal, sounds elicited typical responses in voice-sensitive regions in the high-functioning ASD group and controls. In contrast, the ASD group had a dysfunction in voice-sensitive regions during voice identity but not speech recognition in the right posterior superior temporal sulcus/gyrus (STS/STG)—a region implicated in processing complex spectrotemporal voice features and unfamiliar voices. The right anterior STS/STG correlated with voice identity recognition performance in controls but not in the ASD group. The findings suggest that right STS/STG dysfunction is critical for explaining voice recognition impairments in high-functioning ASD and show that ASD is not characterised by a general lack of voice-sensitive responses. PMID:27369067

Academic voice: On feminism, presence, and objectivity in writing.

PubMed

Mitchell, Kim M

2017-10-01

Academic voice is an oft-discussed, yet variably defined concept, and confusion exists over its meaning, evaluation, and interpretation. This paper will explore perspectives on academic voice and counterarguments to the positivist origins of objectivity in academic writing. While many epistemological and methodological perspectives exist, the feminist literature on voice is explored here as the contrary position. From the feminist perspective, voice is a socially constructed concept that cannot be separated from the experiences, emotions, and identity of the writer and, thus, constitutes a reflection of an author's way of knowing. A case study of how author presence can enhance meaning in text is included. Subjective experience is imperative to a practice involving human interaction. Nursing practice, our intimate involvement in patient's lives, and the nature of our research are not value free. A view is presented that a visible presence of an author in academic writing is relevant to the nursing discipline. The continued valuing of an objective, colorless academic voice has consequences for student writers and the faculty who teach them. Thus, a strategically used multivoiced writing style is warranted. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Eye-movements and Voice as Interface Modalities to Computer Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farid, Mohsen M.; Murtagh, Fionn D.

2003-03-01

We investigate the visual and vocal modalities of interaction with computer systems. We focus our attention on the integration of visual and vocal interface as possible replacement and/or additional modalities to enhance human-computer interaction. We present a new framework for employing eye gaze as a modality of interface. While voice commands, as means of interaction with computers, have been around for a number of years, integration of both the vocal interface and the visual interface, in terms of detecting user's eye movements through an eye-tracking device, is novel and promises to open the horizons for new applications where a hand-mouse interface provides little or no apparent support to the task to be accomplished. We present an array of applications to illustrate the new framework and eye-voice integration.

Mindfulness of voices, self-compassion, and secure attachment in relation to the experience of hearing voices.

PubMed

Dudley, James; Eames, Catrin; Mulligan, John; Fisher, Naomi

2018-03-01

Developing compassion towards oneself has been linked to improvement in many areas of psychological well-being, including psychosis. Furthermore, developing a non-judgemental, accepting way of relating to voices is associated with lower levels of distress for people who hear voices. These factors have also been associated with secure attachment. This study explores associations between the constructs of mindfulness of voices, self-compassion, and distress from hearing voices and how secure attachment style related to each of these variables. Cross-sectional online. One hundred and twenty-eight people (73% female; M age  = 37.5; 87.5% Caucasian) who currently hear voices completed the Self-Compassion Scale, Southampton Mindfulness of Voices Questionnaire, Relationships Questionnaire, and Hamilton Programme for Schizophrenia Voices Questionnaire. Results showed that mindfulness of voices mediated the relationship between self-compassion and severity of voices, and self-compassion mediated the relationship between mindfulness of voices and severity of voices. Self-compassion and mindfulness of voices were significantly positively correlated with each other and negatively correlated with distress and severity of voices. Mindful relation to voices and self-compassion are associated with reduced distress and severity of voices, which supports the proposed potential benefits of mindful relating to voices and self-compassion as therapeutic skills for people experiencing distress by voice hearing. Greater self-compassion and mindfulness of voices were significantly associated with less distress from voices. These findings support theory underlining compassionate mind training. Mindfulness of voices mediated the relationship between self-compassion and distress from voices, indicating a synergistic relationship between the constructs. Although the current findings do not give a direction of causation, consideration is given to the potential impact of mindful and

Context-Sensitive Clinical Alert Packages Written in Arden Syntax.

PubMed

Zeckl, Julia; Adlassnig, Katharina; Fossler, Renate; Blacky, Alexander; de Bruin, Jeroen S; Koller, Walter; Rappelsberger, Andrea; Adlassnig, Klaus-Peter

2017-01-01

An increasing body of raw patient data is generated on each day of a patient's stay at a hospital. It is of paramount importance that critical patient information be extracted from these large data volumes and presented to the patient's clinical caregivers as early as possible. Contemporary clinical alert systems attempt to provide this service with moderate success. The efficacy of the systems is limited by the fact that they are too general to fit specific patient populations or healthcare institutions. In this study we present an extendable alerting framework implemented in Arden Syntax, which can be configured to the needs and preferences of healthcare institutions and individual patient caregivers. We illustrate the potential of this alerting framework via an alert package that analyzes hematological laboratory results with data from intensive care units at the Vienna General Hospital, Austria. The results show the effectiveness of this alert package and its ability to generate key alerts while avoiding over-alerting.

Interface Anywhere: Development of a Voice and Gesture System for Spaceflight Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, Shelby; Haddock, Maxwell; Overland, David

2013-01-01

The Interface Anywhere Project was funded through Innovation Charge Account (ICA) at NASA JSC in the Fall of 2012. The project was collaboration between human factors and engineering to explore the possibility of designing an interface to control basic habitat operations through gesture and voice control; (a) Current interfaces require the users to be physically near an input device in order to interact with the system; and (b) By using voice and gesture commands, the user is able to interact with the system anywhere they want within the work environment.

Successful ShakeAlert Performance for the Napa Quake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allen, R. M.; Given, D. D.; Heaton, T. H.; Vidale, J. E.

2014-12-01

ShakeAlert, the demonstration earthquake early warning system, developed by the USGS, UC Berkeley, Caltech, ETH, and the University of Washington, functioned as expected for the August 24, 2014, M6.0 Napa earthquake. The first ShakeAlert was generated by the ElarmS algorithm 5.1 sec after the origin time of the earthquake, and 3.3 sec after the P-wave arrived at the closest station 6.5 km from the epicenter. This initial alert, based on P-wave triggers from four stations, estimated the magnitude to be 5.7. The warning was received at the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory 5 seconds before the S-wave and about 10 sec prior to the onset of the strongest shaking. ShakeAlert beta-testers across the San Francisco Bay Area simultaneously received the alert, including the San Francisco 911 center with 8 sec warning, and the BART train system. BART has implemented an automated train-stopping system that was activated (although no trains were running at 3:20 am). With the available network geometry and communications, the blind zone of the first alert had a radius of 16 km. The four stations that contributed to the first alert all encapsulate data into 1-second packets, but the latency in transmitting data to the processing center ranged from 0.27 to 2.62 seconds. If all the stations were to deliver data in 0.27 seconds, then the alert would have been available 2.3 sec sooner and the blind zone would be reduced to about 8 km. This would also mean that the city of Napa would have received about 1 second of warning. The magnitude estimate and event location were accurate from the initial alert onwards. The magnitude estimate did first increase to 5.8 and then dip to 5.4 2.6 sec after the initial alert, stayed at that level for 2 sec, and then returned to 5.7. The final magnitude estimate was 6.0, consistent with the ANSS catalog.

An Obstacle Alerting System for Agricultural Application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeMaio, Joe

2003-01-01

Wire strikes are a significant cause of helicopter accidents. The aircraft most at risk are aerial applicators. The present study examines the effectiveness of a wire alert delivered by way of the lightbar, a GPS-based guidance system for aerial application. The alert lead-time needed to avoid an invisible wire is compared with that to avoid a visible wire. A flight simulator was configured to simulate an agricultural application helicopter. Two pilots flew simulated spray runs in fields with visible wires, invisible wires, and no wires. The wire alert was effective in reducing wire strikes. A lead-time of 3.5 sec was required for the alert to be effective. The lead- time required was the same whether the pilot could see the wire or not.

Voice activity and participation profile: assessing the impact of voice disorders on daily activities.

PubMed

Ma, E P; Yiu, E M

2001-06-01

Traditional clinical voice evaluation focuses primarily on the severity of voice impairment, with little emphasis on the impact of voice disorders on the individual's quality of life. This study reports the development of a 28-item assessment tool that evaluates the perception of voice problem, activity limitation, and participation restriction using the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps-2 Beta-1 concept (World Health Organization, 1997). The questionnaire was administered to 40 subjects with dysphonia and 40 control subjects with normal voices. Results showed that the dysphonic group reported significantly more severe voice problems, limitation in daily voice activities, and restricted participation in these activities than the control group. The study also showed that the perception of a voice problem by the dysphonic subjects correlated positively with the perception of limitation in voice activities and restricted participation. However, the self-perceived voice problem had little correlation with the degree of voice-quality impairment measured acoustically and perceptually by speech pathologists. The data also showed that the aggregate scores of activity limitation and participation restriction were positively correlated, and the extent of activity limitation and participation restriction was similar in all except the job area. These findings highlight the importance of identifying and quantifying the impact of dysphonia on the individual's quality of life in the clinical management of voice disorders.

The effect of automated alerts on preoperative anemia management.

PubMed

Dilla, Andrew; Wisniewski, Mary Kay; Waters, Jonathan H; Triulzi, Darrell J; Yazer, Mark H

2015-04-01

This study evaluated the role of an automated anemia notification system that alerted providers about anemic pre-operative patients. After scheduling surgery, the alert program continuously searched the patient's laboratory data for hemoglobin value(s) in the medical record. When an anemic patient according to the World Health Oganization's criteria was identified, an email was sent to the patient's surgeon, and/or assistant, and/or patient's primary care physician suggesting that the anemia be managed before surgery. Thirteen surgeons participated in this pilot study. In 11 months, there were 70 pre-surgery anemia alerts generated on 69 patients. The surgeries were 60 orthopedic, 7 thoracic, 2 general surgery, and 1 urological. The alerts were sent 15 ± 10 days before surgery. No pre-operative anemia treatment could be found in 37 of 69 (54%) patients. Some form of anemia management was found in 32 of 69 (46%) patients. Of the 23 patients who received iron, only 3 of 23 (13%) of these patients started iron shortly after the alert was generated. The alert likely resulted in the postponement of one surgery for anemia correction. Although anemia diagnosis and management can be complex, it was hoped that receipt of the alert would lead to the management of all anemic patients. Alerts are only effective if they are received and read by a healthcare provider empowered to treat the patient or to make an appropriate referral. Automated preoperative alerts alone are not likely to alter surgeons' anemia management practices. These alerts need to be part of a comprehensive anemia management strategy.

The effectiveness of a voice treatment approach for teachers with self-reported voice problems.

PubMed

Gillivan-Murphy, Patricia; Drinnan, Michael J; O'Dwyer, Tadhg P; Ridha, Hayder; Carding, Paul

2006-09-01

Teachers are considered the professional group most at risk of developing voice-problems, but limited treatment effectiveness evidence exists. We studied prospectively the effectiveness of a 6-week combined treatment approach using vocal function exercises (VFEs) and vocal hygiene (VH) education with 20 teachers with self-reported voice problems. Twenty subjects were randomly assigned to a no-treatment control (n = 11) and a treatment group (n = 9). Fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation was carried out on all subjects before randomization. Two self-report voice outcome measures were used: the Voice-Related Quality of Life (VRQOL) and the Voice Symptom Severity Scale (VoiSS). A Voice Care Knowledge Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), developed specifically for the study, was also used to evaluate change in selected voice knowledge areas. A Student unpaired t test revealed a statistically significant (P < 0.05) improvement in the treatment group as measured by the VoiSS. There was not a significant improvement in the treatment group as measured by the V-RQOL. The difference in voice care knowledge areas was also significant for the treatment group (P < 0.05). This study suggests that a voice treatment approach of VFEs and VH education improved self-reported voice symptoms and voice care knowledge in a group of teachers.

Experimental evaluation of candidate graphical microburst alert displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wanke, Craig; Hansman, R. John

1992-01-01

The topics addressed are: (1) experimental evaluation of candidate graphical microburst displays; (2) microburst detection and alerting; (3) previous part-task simulator experiment-comparison of presentation modes; (4) presentation mode comparison-results; (5) advantages of graphical mode of presentation; (6) graphical microburst alert experiment-objectives; and graphical microburst alert experiment-overview; and (7) candidate display design.

Subjective alertness rhythms in elderly people

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Monk, T. H.; Buysse, D. J.; Reynolds, C. F. 3rd; Kupfer, D. J.; Houck, P. R.

1996-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate age-related changes in the circadian rhythm of subjective alertness and to explore the circadian mechanisms underlying such changes. Using a visual analogue scale (VAS) instrument, 25 older men and women (71 y and older; 15 female, 10 male) rated their subjective alertness about 7 times per day during 5 baseline days of temporal isolation during which habitual bedtimes and waketimes were enforced. Comparisons were made with 13 middle-aged men (37-52 y) experiencing the same protocol. Advancing age (particularly in the men) resulted in less rhythmic alertness patterns, as indicated by lower amplitudes and less reliability of fitted 24-h sinusoids. This appeared in spite of the absence of any reliable age-related diminution in circadian temperature rhythm amplitude, thus suggesting the effect was not due to SCN weakness per se, but to weakened transduction of SCN output. In a further experiment, involving 36 h of constant wakeful bedrest, differences in the amplitude of the alertness rhythm were observed between 9 older men (79 y+), 7 older women (79 y+), and 17 young controls (9 males, 8 females, 19-28 y) suggesting that with advancing age (particularly in men) there is less rhythmic input into subjective alertness from the endogenous circadian pacemaker. These results may explain some of the nocturnal insomnia and daytime hypersomnia that afflict many elderly people.

Voice Use Among Music Theory Teachers: A Voice Dosimetry and Self-Assessment Study.

PubMed

Schiller, Isabel S; Morsomme, Dominique; Remacle, Angélique

2017-07-25

This study aimed (1) to investigate music theory teachers' professional and extra-professional vocal loading and background noise exposure, (2) to determine the correlation between vocal loading and background noise, and (3) to determine the correlation between vocal loading and self-evaluation data. Using voice dosimetry, 13 music theory teachers were monitored for one workweek. The parameters analyzed were voice sound pressure level (SPL), fundamental frequency (F0), phonation time, vocal loading index (VLI), and noise SPL. Spearman correlation was used to correlate vocal loading parameters (voice SPL, F0, and phonation time) and noise SPL. Each day, the subjects self-assessed their voice using visual analog scales. VLI and self-evaluation data were correlated using Spearman correlation. Vocal loading parameters and noise SPL were significantly higher in the professional than in the extra-professional environment. Voice SPL, phonation time, and female subjects' F0 correlated positively with noise SPL. VLI correlated with self-assessed voice quality, vocal fatigue, and amount of singing and speaking voice produced. Teaching music theory is a profession with high vocal demands. More background noise is associated with increased vocal loading and may indirectly increase the risk for voice disorders. Correlations between VLI and self-assessments suggest that these teachers are well aware of their vocal demands and feel their effect on voice quality and vocal fatigue. Visual analog scales seem to represent a useful tool for subjective vocal loading assessment and associated symptoms in these professional voice users. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Applicability of voice acoustic analysis with vocal loading testto diagnostics of occupational voice diseases].

PubMed

Niebudek-Bogusz, Ewa; Sliwińska-Kowalska, Mariola

2006-01-01

An assessment of the vocal system, as a part of the medical certification of occupational diseases, should be objective and reliable. Therefore, interest in the method of acoustic voice analysis enabling objective assessment of voice parameters is still growing. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the applicability of acoustic analysis with vocal loading test to the diagnostics of occupational voice disorders. The results of acoustic voice analysis were compared using IRIS software for phoniatrics, before and after a 30-min vocal loading test in 35 female teachers with diagnosed occupational voice disorders (group I) and in 31 female teachers with functional dysphonia (group II). In group I, vocal effort produced significant abnormalities in voice acoustic parameters, compared to group II. These included significantly increased mean fundamental frequency (Fo) value (by 11 Hz) and worsened jitter, shimmer and NHR parameters. Also, the percentage of subjects showing abnormalities in voice acoustic analysis was higher in this group. Conducting voice acoustic analysis before and after the vocal loading test makes it possible to objectively confirm irreversible voice impairments in persons with work-related pathologies of the larynx, which is essential for medical certification of occupational voice diseases.

Using Ambulatory Voice Monitoring to Investigate Common Voice Disorders: Research Update

PubMed Central

Mehta, Daryush D.; Van Stan, Jarrad H.; Zañartu, Matías; Ghassemi, Marzyeh; Guttag, John V.; Espinoza, Víctor M.; Cortés, Juan P.; Cheyne, Harold A.; Hillman, Robert E.

2015-01-01

Many common voice disorders are chronic or recurring conditions that are likely to result from inefficient and/or abusive patterns of vocal behavior, referred to as vocal hyperfunction. The clinical management of hyperfunctional voice disorders would be greatly enhanced by the ability to monitor and quantify detrimental vocal behaviors during an individual’s activities of daily life. This paper provides an update on ongoing work that uses a miniature accelerometer on the neck surface below the larynx to collect a large set of ambulatory data on patients with hyperfunctional voice disorders (before and after treatment) and matched-control subjects. Three types of analysis approaches are being employed in an effort to identify the best set of measures for differentiating among hyperfunctional and normal patterns of vocal behavior: (1) ambulatory measures of voice use that include vocal dose and voice quality correlates, (2) aerodynamic measures based on glottal airflow estimates extracted from the accelerometer signal using subject-specific vocal system models, and (3) classification based on machine learning and pattern recognition approaches that have been used successfully in analyzing long-term recordings of other physiological signals. Preliminary results demonstrate the potential for ambulatory voice monitoring to improve the diagnosis and treatment of common hyperfunctional voice disorders. PMID:26528472

How do teachers with self-reported voice problems differ from their peers with self-reported voice health?

PubMed

Lyberg Åhlander, Viveka; Rydell, Roland; Löfqvist, Anders

2012-07-01

This randomized case-control study compares teachers with self-reported voice problems to age-, gender-, and school-matched colleagues with self-reported voice health. The self-assessed voice function is related to factors known to influence the voice: laryngeal findings, voice quality, personality, psychosocial and coping aspects, searching for causative factors of voice problems in teachers. Subjects and controls, recruited from a teacher group in an earlier questionnaire study, underwent examinations of the larynx by high-speed imaging and kymograms; voice recordings; voice range profile; audiometry; self-assessment of voice handicap and voice function; teaching and environmental aspects; personality; coping; burnout, and work-related issues. The laryngeal and voice recordings were assessed by experienced phoniatricians and speech pathologists. The subjects with self-assessed voice problems differed from their peers with self-assessed voice health by significantly longer recovery time from voice problems and scored higher on all subscales of the Voice Handicap Index-Throat. The results show that the cause of voice dysfunction in this group of teachers with self-reported voice problems is not found in the vocal apparatus or within the individual. The individual's perception of a voice problem seems to be based on a combination of the number of symptoms and of how often the symptoms occur, along with the recovery time. The results also underline the importance of using self-assessed reports of voice dysfunction. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Writing with Voice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kesler, Ted

2012-01-01

In this Teaching Tips article, the author argues for a dialogic conception of voice, based in the work of Mikhail Bakhtin. He demonstrates a dialogic view of voice in action, using two writing examples about the same topic from his daughter, a fifth-grade student. He then provides five practical tips for teaching a dialogic conception of voice in…

The NAS Alert System: A look at the first eight years

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fuller, Pamela L.; Neilson, Matt; Huge, Dane H.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey's Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) database program (http://nas.er.usgs.gov) tracks the distribution of introduced aquatic organisms across the United States. Awareness of, and timely response to, novel species introductions by those involved in nonindigenous aquatic species management and research requires a framework for rapid dissemination of occurrence data as it is incorporated into the NAS database. In May 2004, the NAS program developed an alert system to notify registered users of new introductions as part of a national early detection/rapid response system. This article summarizes information on system users and dispatched alerts from the system's inception through the end of 2011. The NAS alert system has registered over 1,700 users, with approximately 800 current subscribers. A total of 1,189 alerts had been transmitted through 2011. More alerts were sent for Florida (134 alerts) than for any other state. Fishes comprise the largest taxonomic group of alerts (440), with mollusks, plants, and crustaceans each containing over 100 alerts. Most alerts were for organisms that were intentionally released (414 alerts), with shipping, escape from captivity, and hitchhiking also representing major vectors. To explore the archive of sent alerts and to register, the search and signup page for the alert system can be found online at http://nas.er.usgs.gov/AlertSystem/default.aspx.

Multi-modal assessment of on-road demand of voice and manual phone calling and voice navigation entry across two embedded vehicle systems.

PubMed

Mehler, Bruce; Kidd, David; Reimer, Bryan; Reagan, Ian; Dobres, Jonathan; McCartt, Anne

2016-03-01

One purpose of integrating voice interfaces into embedded vehicle systems is to reduce drivers' visual and manual distractions with 'infotainment' technologies. However, there is scant research on actual benefits in production vehicles or how different interface designs affect attentional demands. Driving performance, visual engagement, and indices of workload (heart rate, skin conductance, subjective ratings) were assessed in 80 drivers randomly assigned to drive a 2013 Chevrolet Equinox or Volvo XC60. The Chevrolet MyLink system allowed completing tasks with one voice command, while the Volvo Sensus required multiple commands to navigate the menu structure. When calling a phone contact, both voice systems reduced visual demand relative to the visual-manual interfaces, with reductions for drivers in the Equinox being greater. The Equinox 'one-shot' voice command showed advantages during contact calling but had significantly higher error rates than Sensus during destination address entry. For both secondary tasks, neither voice interface entirely eliminated visual demand. Practitioner Summary: The findings reinforce the observation that most, if not all, automotive auditory-vocal interfaces are multi-modal interfaces in which the full range of potential demands (auditory, vocal, visual, manipulative, cognitive, tactile, etc.) need to be considered in developing optimal implementations and evaluating drivers' interaction with the systems. Social Media: In-vehicle voice-interfaces can reduce visual demand but do not eliminate it and all types of demand need to be taken into account in a comprehensive evaluation.

Multi-modal assessment of on-road demand of voice and manual phone calling and voice navigation entry across two embedded vehicle systems

PubMed Central

Mehler, Bruce; Kidd, David; Reimer, Bryan; Reagan, Ian; Dobres, Jonathan; McCartt, Anne

2016-01-01

Abstract One purpose of integrating voice interfaces into embedded vehicle systems is to reduce drivers’ visual and manual distractions with ‘infotainment’ technologies. However, there is scant research on actual benefits in production vehicles or how different interface designs affect attentional demands. Driving performance, visual engagement, and indices of workload (heart rate, skin conductance, subjective ratings) were assessed in 80 drivers randomly assigned to drive a 2013 Chevrolet Equinox or Volvo XC60. The Chevrolet MyLink system allowed completing tasks with one voice command, while the Volvo Sensus required multiple commands to navigate the menu structure. When calling a phone contact, both voice systems reduced visual demand relative to the visual–manual interfaces, with reductions for drivers in the Equinox being greater. The Equinox ‘one-shot’ voice command showed advantages during contact calling but had significantly higher error rates than Sensus during destination address entry. For both secondary tasks, neither voice interface entirely eliminated visual demand. Practitioner Summary: The findings reinforce the observation that most, if not all, automotive auditory–vocal interfaces are multi-modal interfaces in which the full range of potential demands (auditory, vocal, visual, manipulative, cognitive, tactile, etc.) need to be considered in developing optimal implementations and evaluating drivers’ interaction with the systems. Social Media: In-vehicle voice-interfaces can reduce visual demand but do not eliminate it and all types of demand need to be taken into account in a comprehensive evaluation. PMID:26269281

Provider acceptance of an automated electronic alert for acute kidney injury

PubMed Central

Oh, Janice; Bia, Joshua R.; Ubaid-Ullah, Muhamad; Testani, Jeffrey M.; Wilson, Francis Perry

2016-01-01

Background Clinical decision support systems, including electronic alerts, ideally provide immediate and relevant patient-specific information to improve clinical decision-making. Despite the growing capabilities of such alerts in conjunction with an expanding electronic medical record, there is a paucity of information regarding their perceived usefulness. We surveyed healthcare providers' opinions concerning the practicality and efficacy of a specific text-based automated electronic alert for acute kidney injury (AKI) in a single hospital during a randomized trial of AKI alerts. Methods Providers who had received at least one electronic AKI alert in the previous 6 months, as part of a separate randomized controlled trial (clinicaltrials.gov #01862419), were asked to complete a survey concerning their opinions about this specific AKI alert system. Individual approval of the alert system was defined by a provider's desire to continue receiving the alert after termination of the trial. Results A total of 98 individuals completed the survey, including 62 physicians, 27 pharmacists and 7 non-physician providers. Sixty-nine percent of responders approved the alert, with no significant difference among the various professions (P = 0.28). Alert approval was strongly correlated with the belief that the alerts improved patient care (P < 0.0001), and negatively correlated with the belief that alerts did not provide novel information (P = 0.0001). With each additional 30 days of trial duration, odds of approval decreased by 20% (3–35%) (P = 0.02). Conclusions The alert system was generally well received, although approval waned with time. Approval was correlated with the belief that this type of alert improved patient care. These findings suggest that perceived efficacy is critical to the success of future alert trials. PMID:27478598

[Health alert management and emerging risk].

PubMed

Pillonel, J

2010-12-01

Following health crisis that have occurred in the nineties (contaminated blood, mad cow, asbestos, etc.) and more recently those generated by the heat wave in 2003 or by emerging infectious pathogens (SARS, West Nile, Chikungunya, H5N1, H1N1…), a real health vigilance system has been progressively developed in France. After a brief historical overview of the health alert system, this article will give the guiding principles of its current organization in France and will present two examples of recent health alerts (Chikungunya in the Reunion Island in 2005-2006 and hepatitis A outbreak in the Côtes-d'Armor in August 2007), that have needed the implementation of preventive measures regarding the blood donor selection. These two examples have shown that the position of the alert in the French health vigilance system needs to be very close to the event. In that case, health alert is a very useful tool for decision making especially when measures have to be taken to prevent transfusion-transmitted pathogens. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Geo-targeted Weather Alerts Coming to Millions of Mobile Devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerber, M.

2011-12-01

The Personal Localized Alert Network (PLAN), aka Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS), is readying for roll out and will be broadcasting emergency public alerts to millions of cell phones by the middle of 2012. Learn how the National Weather Serivce (NWS) is supplying PLAN with geo-referenced weather alert information in the industry standard Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) format and how you can access this same information for integration with mobile devices, other consumer electronics, and decision support systems. Information will also be provided on the NWS' new collaborative venue that encourages wide participation in the evolution and use of NWS CAP alerts in a variety of applications.

Reducing warfarin medication interactions: an interrupted time series evaluation.

PubMed

Feldstein, Adrianne C; Smith, David H; Perrin, Nancy; Yang, Xiuhai; Simon, Steven R; Krall, Michael; Sittig, Dean F; Ditmer, Diane; Platt, Richard; Soumerai, Stephen B

2006-05-08

Computerized decision support reduces medication errors in inpatients, but limited evidence supports its effectiveness in reducing the coprescribing of interacting medications, especially in the outpatient setting. The usefulness of academic detailing to enhance the effectiveness of medication interaction alerts also is uncertain. This study used an interrupted time series design. In a health maintenance organization with an electronic medical record, we evaluated the effectiveness of electronic medical record alerts and group academic detailing to reduce the coprescribing of warfarin and interacting medications. Participants were 239 primary care providers at 15 primary care clinics and 9910 patients taking warfarin. All 15 clinics received electronic medical record alerts for the coprescription of warfarin and 5 interacting medications: acetaminophen, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, fluconazole, metronidazole, and sulfamethoxazole. Seven clinics were randomly assigned to receive group academic detailing. The primary outcome, the interacting prescription rate (ie, the number of coprescriptions of warfarin-interacting medications per 10 000 warfarin users per month), was analyzed with segmented regression models, controlling for preintervention trends. At baseline, nearly a third of patients had an interacting prescription. Coinciding with the alerts, there was an immediate and continued reduction in the warfarin-interacting medication prescription rate (from 3294.0 to 2804.2), resulting in a 14.9% relative reduction (95% confidence interval, -19.5 to -10.2) at 12 months. Group academic detailing did not enhance alert effectiveness. This study, using a strong and quasi-experimental design in ambulatory care, found that medication interaction alerts modestly reduced the frequency of coprescribing of interacting medications. Additional efforts will be required to further reduce rates of inappropriate prescribing of warfarin with interacting drugs.

Long-term effects of Lee Silverman Voice Treatment on daily voice use in Parkinson's disease as measured with a portable voice accumulator.

PubMed

Körner Gustafsson, Joakim; Södersten, Maria; Ternström, Sten; Schalling, Ellika

2018-02-15

This study examines the effects of an intensive voice treatment focusing on increasing voice intensity, LSVT LOUD ® Lee Silverman Voice Treatment, on voice use in daily life in a participant with Parkinson's disease, using a portable voice accumulator, the VoxLog. A secondary aim was to compare voice use between the participant and a matched healthy control. Participants were an individual with Parkinson's disease and his healthy monozygotic twin. Voice use was registered with the VoxLog during 9 weeks for the individual with Parkinson's disease and 2 weeks for the control. This included baseline registrations for both participants, 4 weeks during LSVT LOUD for the individual with Parkinson's disease and 1 week after treatment for both participants. For the participant with Parkinson's disease, follow-up registrations at 3, 6, and 12 months post-treatment were made. The individual with Parkinson's disease increased voice intensity during registrations in daily life with 4.1 dB post-treatment and 1.4 dB at 1-year follow-up compared to before treatment. When monitored during laboratory recordings an increase of 5.6 dB was seen post-treatment and 3.8 dB at 1-year follow-up. Changes in voice intensity were interpreted as a treatment effect as no significant correlations between changes in voice intensity and background noise were found for the individual with Parkinson's disease. The increase in voice intensity in a laboratory setting was comparable to findings previously reported following LSVT LOUD. The increase registered using ambulatory monitoring in daily life was lower but still reflecting a clinically relevant change.

77 FR 26701 - Review of the Emergency Alert System

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-07

... Emergency Alert System AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) amends its rules governing the Emergency Alert... the manner in which EAS Participants must be able to receive alert messages formatted in the Common...

A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis-Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset.

PubMed

Ahmadi, Farzaneh; Noorian, Farzad; Novakovic, Daniel; van Schaik, André

2018-01-01

Despite emergent progress in many fields of bionics, a functional Bionic Voice prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (larynx amputees) has not yet been achieved, leading to a lifetime of vocal disability for these patients. This study introduces a novel framework of Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses as an electronic adaptation of the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL) device. The PAL is a non-invasive mechanical voice source, driven exclusively by respiration with an exceptionally high voice quality, comparable to the existing gold standard of Tracheoesophageal (TE) voice prosthesis. Following PAL design closely as the reference, Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses seem to have a strong potential to substitute the existing gold standard by generating a similar voice quality while remaining non-invasive and non-surgical. This paper designs the first Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis and evaluates its onset and offset control against the PAL device through pre-clinical trials on one laryngectomy patient. The evaluation on a database of more than five hours of continuous/isolated speech recordings shows a close match between the onset/offset control of the Pneumatic Bionic Voice and the PAL with an accuracy of 98.45 ±0.54%. When implemented in real-time, the Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis controller has an average onset/offset delay of 10 milliseconds compared to the PAL. Hence it addresses a major disadvantage of previous electronic voice prostheses, including myoelectric Bionic Voice, in meeting the short time-frames of controlling the onset/offset of the voice in continuous speech.

Computerized Alerts Improve Outpatient Laboratory Monitoring of Transplant Patients

PubMed Central

Staes, Catherine J.; Evans, R. Scott; Rocha, Beatriz H.S.C.; Sorensen, John B.; Huff, Stanley M.; Arata, Joan; Narus, Scott P.

2008-01-01

Authors evaluated the impact of computerized alerts on the quality of outpatient laboratory monitoring for transplant patients. For 356 outpatient liver transplant patients managed at LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, this observational study compared traditional laboratory result reporting, using faxes and printouts, to computerized alerts implemented in 2004. Study alerts within the electronic health record notified clinicians of new results and overdue new orders for creatinine tests and immunosuppression drug levels. After implementing alerts, completeness of reporting increased from 66 to >99 %, as did positive predictive value that a report included new information (from 46 to >99 %). Timeliness of reporting and clinicians' responses improved after implementing alerts (p <0.001): median times for clinicians to receive and complete actions decreased to 9 hours from 33 hours using the prior traditional reporting system. Computerized alerts led to more efficient, complete, and timely management of laboratory information. PMID:18308982

The voices of seduction: cross-gender effects in processing of erotic prosody

PubMed Central

Ethofer, Thomas; Wiethoff, Sarah; Anders, Silke; Kreifelts, Benjamin; Grodd, Wolfgang

2007-01-01

Gender specific differences in cognitive functions have been widely discussed. Considering social cognition such as emotion perception conveyed by non-verbal cues, generally a female advantage is assumed. In the present study, however, we revealed a cross-gender interaction with increasing responses to the voice of opposite sex in male and female subjects. This effect was confined to erotic tone of speech in behavioural data and haemodynamic responses within voice sensitive brain areas (right middle superior temporal gyrus). The observed response pattern, thus, indicates a particular sensitivity to emotional voices that have a high behavioural relevance for the listener. PMID:18985138

Prototype Conflict Alerting Logic for Free Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Lee C.; Kuchar, James K.

1997-01-01

This paper discusses the development of a prototype alerting system for a conceptual Free Flight environment. The concept assumes that datalink between aircraft is available and that conflicts are primarily resolved on the flight deck. Four alert stages are generated depending on the likelihood of a conflict. If the conflict is not resolved by the flight crews, Air Traffic Control is notified to take over separation authority. The alerting logic is based on probabilistic analysis through modeling of aircraft sensor and trajectory uncertainties. Monte Carlo simulations were used over a range of encounter situations to determine conflict probability. The four alert stages were then defined based on probability of conflict and on the number of avoidance maneuvers available to the flight crew. Preliminary results from numerical evaluations and from a piloted simulator study at NASA Ames Research Center are summarized.

Voice similarity in identical twins.

PubMed

Van Gysel, W D; Vercammen, J; Debruyne, F

2001-01-01

If people are asked to discriminate visually the two individuals of a monozygotic twin (MT), they mostly get into trouble. Does this problem also exist when listening to twin voices? Twenty female and 10 male MT voices were randomly assembled with one "strange" voice to get voice trios. The listeners (10 female students in Speech and Language Pathology) were asked to label the twins (voices 1-2, 1-3 or 2-3) in two conditions: two standard sentences read aloud and a 2.5-second midsection of a sustained /a/. The proportion correctly labelled twins was for female voices 82% and 63% and for male voices 74% and 52% for the sentences and the sustained /a/ respectively, both being significantly greater than chance (33%). The acoustic analysis revealed a high intra-twin correlation for the speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) of the sentences and the fundamental frequency (F0) of the sustained /a/. So the voice pitch could have been a useful characteristic in the perceptual identification of the twins. We conclude that there is a greater perceptual resemblance between the voices of identical twins than between voices without genetic relationship. The identification however is not perfect. The voice pitch possibly contributes to the correct twin identifications.

Temporal signatures of processing voiceness and emotion in sound

PubMed Central

Gunter, Thomas C.

2017-01-01

Abstract This study explored the temporal course of vocal and emotional sound processing. Participants detected rare repetitions in a stimulus stream comprising neutral and surprised non-verbal exclamations and spectrally rotated control sounds. Spectral rotation preserved some acoustic and emotional properties of the vocal originals. Event-related potentials elicited to unrepeated sounds revealed effects of voiceness and emotion. Relative to non-vocal sounds, vocal sounds elicited a larger centro-parietally distributed N1. This effect was followed by greater positivity to vocal relative to non-vocal sounds beginning with the P2 and extending throughout the recording epoch (N4, late positive potential) with larger amplitudes in female than in male listeners. Emotion effects overlapped with the voiceness effects but were smaller and differed topographically. Voiceness and emotion interacted only for the late positive potential, which was greater for vocal-emotional as compared with all other sounds. Taken together, these results point to a multi-stage process in which voiceness and emotionality are represented independently before being integrated in a manner that biases responses to stimuli with socio-emotional relevance. PMID:28338796

78 FR 22270 - Special Fraud Alert: Physician-Owned Entities

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-15

...] Special Fraud Alert: Physician-Owned Entities AGENCY: Office of Inspector General (OIG), HHS. ACTION... Physician-Owned Entities. Specifically, the Special Fraud Alert addressed physician-owned entities that... publication of the Special Fraud Alert on Physician-Owned Entities, an inadvertent error appeared in the DATES...

77 FR 33661 - Review of the Emergency Alert System

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-07

... Emergency Alert System AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Final rule; announcement of... Commission's Review of the Emergency Alert System, Fifth Report and Order (Order). This document is... Expiration Date: November 30, 2012. Title: Part 11--Emergency Alert System, Fifth Report and Order, FCC 12-7...

Validation and Adaptation of the Singing Voice Handicap Index for Egyptian Singing Voice.

PubMed

Abou-Elsaad, Tamer; Baz, Hemmat; Afsah, Omayma; Abo-Elsoud, Hend

2017-01-01

Measuring the severity of a voice disorder is difficult. This can be achieved by both subjective and objective measures. The Voice Handicap Index is the most known and used self-rating tool for voice disorders. The Classical Singing Handicap Index (CSHI) is a self-administered questionnaire measuring the impact of vocal deviation on the quality of life of singers. The objective of this study was to develop an Arabic version of the CSHI and to test its validity and reliability in Egyptian singers with different singing styles with normal voice and with voice disorders. The interpreted version was administered to 70 Egyptian singers including artistic singers (classical and popular) and specialized singers (Quran reciters and priests) who were divided into 40 asymptomatic singers (control group) and 30 singers with voice disorders. Participants' responses were statistically analyzed to assess the validity and reliability, and to compare the patient group with the control group. Quran reciters, patients with no previous professional training, and patients with vocal fold lesions demonstrated the highest scores. The Arabic version of CSHI is found to be a reliable, valid, and sensitive self-assessment tool that can be used in the clinical practice for the evaluation of the impact of voice disorders on singing voice. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Building a Communication, Education, an Outreach Program for the ShakeAlert National Earthquake Early Warning Program - Recommendations for Public Alerts Via Cell Phones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeGroot, R. M.; Long, K.; Strauss, J. A.

2017-12-01

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and its partners are developing the ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning System for the West Coast of the United States. To be an integral part of successful implementation, ShakeAlert engagement programs and materials must integrate with and leverage broader earthquake risk programs. New methods and products for dissemination must be multidisciplinary, cost effective, and consistent with existing hazards education and communication efforts. The ShakeAlert Joint Committee for Communication, Education, and Outreach (JCCEO), is identifying, developing, and cultivating partnerships with ShakeAlert stakeholders including Federal, State, academic partners, private companies, policy makers, and local organizations. Efforts include developing materials, methods for delivery, and reaching stakeholders with information on ShakeAlert, earthquake preparedness, and emergency protective actions. It is essential to develop standards to ensure information communicated via the alerts is consistent across the public and private sector and achieving a common understanding of what actions users take when they receive a ShakeAlert warning. In February 2017, the JCCEO convened the Warning Message Focus Group (WMFG) to provide findings and recommendations to the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions on the use of earthquake early warning message content standards for public alerts via cell phones. The WMFG represents communications, education, and outreach stakeholders from various sectors including ShakeAlert regional coordinators, industry, emergency managers, and subject matter experts from the social sciences. The group knowledge was combined with an in-depth literature review to ensure that all groups who could receive the message would be taken into account. The USGS and the participating states and agencies acknowledge that the implementation of ShakeAlert is a collective effort requiring the participation of hundreds of

Translational Systems Biology and Voice Pathophysiology

PubMed Central

Li, Nicole Y. K.; Abbott, Katherine Verdolini; Rosen, Clark; An, Gary; Hebda, Patricia A.; Vodovotz, Yoram

2011-01-01

Objectives/Hypothesis Personalized medicine has been called upon to tailor healthcare to an individual's needs. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has advocated using randomized clinical trials with large populations to evaluate treatment effects. However, due to large variations across patients, the results are likely not to apply to an individual patient. We suggest that a complementary, systems biology approach using computational modeling may help tackle biological complexity in order to improve ultimate patient care. The purpose of the article is: 1) to review the pros and cons of EBM, and 2) to discuss the alternative systems biology method and present its utility in clinical voice research. Study Design Tutorial Methods Literature review and discussion. Results We propose that translational systems biology can address many of the limitations of EBM pertinent to voice and other health care domains, and thus complement current health research models. In particular, recent work using mathematical modeling suggests that systems biology has the ability to quantify the highly complex biologic processes underlying voice pathophysiology. Recent data support the premise that this approach can be applied specifically in the case of phonotrauma and surgically induced vocal fold trauma, and may have particular power to address personalized medicine. Conclusions We propose that evidence around vocal health and disease be expanded beyond a population-based method to consider more fully issues of complexity and systems interactions, especially in implementing personalized medicine in voice care and beyond. PMID:20025041

A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis—Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset

PubMed Central

Noorian, Farzad; Novakovic, Daniel; van Schaik, André

2018-01-01

Despite emergent progress in many fields of bionics, a functional Bionic Voice prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (larynx amputees) has not yet been achieved, leading to a lifetime of vocal disability for these patients. This study introduces a novel framework of Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses as an electronic adaptation of the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL) device. The PAL is a non-invasive mechanical voice source, driven exclusively by respiration with an exceptionally high voice quality, comparable to the existing gold standard of Tracheoesophageal (TE) voice prosthesis. Following PAL design closely as the reference, Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses seem to have a strong potential to substitute the existing gold standard by generating a similar voice quality while remaining non-invasive and non-surgical. This paper designs the first Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis and evaluates its onset and offset control against the PAL device through pre-clinical trials on one laryngectomy patient. The evaluation on a database of more than five hours of continuous/isolated speech recordings shows a close match between the onset/offset control of the Pneumatic Bionic Voice and the PAL with an accuracy of 98.45 ±0.54%. When implemented in real-time, the Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis controller has an average onset/offset delay of 10 milliseconds compared to the PAL. Hence it addresses a major disadvantage of previous electronic voice prostheses, including myoelectric Bionic Voice, in meeting the short time-frames of controlling the onset/offset of the voice in continuous speech. PMID:29466455

Perceptual integration of faces and voices depends on the interaction of emotional content and spatial frequency.

PubMed

Kokinous, Jenny; Tavano, Alessandro; Kotz, Sonja A; Schröger, Erich

2017-02-01

The role of spatial frequencies (SF) is highly debated in emotion perception, but previous work suggests the importance of low SFs for detecting emotion in faces. Furthermore, emotion perception essentially relies on the rapid integration of multimodal information from faces and voices. We used EEG to test the functional relevance of SFs in the integration of emotional and non-emotional audiovisual stimuli. While viewing dynamic face-voice pairs, participants were asked to identify auditory interjections, and the electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Audiovisual integration was measured as auditory facilitation, indexed by the extent of the auditory N1 amplitude suppression in audiovisual compared to an auditory only condition. We found an interaction of SF filtering and emotion in the auditory response suppression. For neutral faces, larger N1 suppression ensued in the unfiltered and high SF conditions as compared to the low SF condition. Angry face perception led to a larger N1 suppression in the low SF condition. While the results for the neural faces indicate that perceptual quality in terms of SF content plays a major role in audiovisual integration, the results for angry faces suggest that early multisensory integration of emotional information favors low SF neural processing pathways, overruling the predictive value of the visual signal per se. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Voice Handicap Index with Post-Laryngectomy Male Voices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Eryl; Carding, Paul; Drinnan, Michael

2009-01-01

Background: Surgical treatment for advanced laryngeal cancer involves complete removal of the larynx ("laryngectomy") and initial total loss of voice. Post-laryngectomy rehabilitation involves implementation of different means of "voicing" for these patients wherever possible. There is little information about laryngectomees'…

47 CFR 80.277 - Ship Security Alert System (SSAS).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). 80.277... SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Equipment Authorization for Compulsory Ships § 80.277 Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). (a) Vessels equipped with a Ship Security Alert System pursuant to the Safety...

47 CFR 80.277 - Ship Security Alert System (SSAS).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). 80.277... SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Equipment Authorization for Compulsory Ships § 80.277 Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). (a) Vessels equipped with a Ship Security Alert System pursuant to the Safety...

47 CFR 80.277 - Ship Security Alert System (SSAS).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). 80.277... SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Equipment Authorization for Compulsory Ships § 80.277 Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). (a) Vessels equipped with a Ship Security Alert System pursuant to the Safety...

47 CFR 80.277 - Ship Security Alert System (SSAS).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). 80.277... SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Equipment Authorization for Compulsory Ships § 80.277 Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). (a) Vessels equipped with a Ship Security Alert System pursuant to the Safety...

A theoretical study of F0-F1 interaction with application to resonant speaking and singing voice.

PubMed

Titze, Ingo R

2004-09-01

An interactive source-filter system, consisting of a three-mass body-cover model of the vocal folds and a wave reflection model of the vocal tract, was used to test the dependence of vocal fold vibration on the vocal tract. The degree of interaction is governed by the epilarynx tube, which raises the vocal tract impedance to match the impedance of the glottis. The key component of the impedance is inertive reactance. Whenever there is inertive reactance, the vocal tract assists the vocal folds in vibration. The amplitude of vibration and the glottal flow can more than double, and the oral radiated power can increase up to 10 dB. As F0 approaches F1, the first formant frequency, the interactive source-filter system loses its advantage (because inertive reactance changes to compliant reactance) and the noninteractive system produces greater vocal output. Thus, from a voice training and control standpoint, there may be reasons to operate the system in either interactive and noninteractive modes. The harmonics 2F0 and 3F0 can also benefit from being positioned slightly below F1.

[The singing voice].

PubMed

García-López, Isabel; Gavilán Bouzas, Javier

2010-01-01

Singing voice is a special subgroup within the field of voice. In addition to the differences in physiology between singing and speaking voice, singer patients are often regarded as a challenge for the otolaryngologist. The reason for this is probably that the field of voice has not received as much attention as others in our speciality. Moreover, in the case of singers, empathy is vital in the doctor-patient relationship, and, as in many other cases, it forms part of the therapeutic effect. In order to achieve this, the physician has to know what singers are and which are the main pathologies they suffer, how they are formed and how they are expressed. This review offers an overlook of the pathological-physiology of singing voice from a double point of view, scientific and artistic, which in the case of singing are inevitably linked. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

The effect of voice quality and competing speakers in a passage comprehension task: performance in relation to cognitive functioning in children with normal hearing.

PubMed

von Lochow, Heike; Lyberg-Åhlander, Viveka; Sahlén, Birgitta; Kastberg, Tobias; Brännström, K Jonas

2018-04-01

This study explores the effect of voice quality and competing speaker/-s on children's performance in a passage comprehension task. Furthermore, it explores the interaction between passage comprehension and cognitive functioning. Forty-nine children (27 girls and 22 boys) with normal hearing (aged 7-12 years) participated. Passage comprehension was tested in six different listening conditions; a typical voice (non-dysphonic voice) in quiet, a typical voice with one competing speaker, a typical voice with four competing speakers, a dysphonic voice in quiet, a dysphonic voice with one competing speaker, and a dysphonic voice with four competing speakers. The children's working memory capacity and executive functioning were also assessed. The findings indicate no direct effect of voice quality on the children's performance, but a significant effect of background listening condition. Interaction effects were seen between voice quality, background listening condition, and executive functioning. The children's susceptibility to the effect of the dysphonic voice and the background listening conditions are related to the individual's executive functions. The findings have several implications for design of interventions in language learning environments such as classrooms.

Short-Term Effect of Two Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Training Programs on the Vocal Quality of Future Occupational Voice Users: "Resonant Voice Training Using Nasal Consonants" Versus "Straw Phonation".

PubMed

Meerschman, Iris; Van Lierde, Kristiane; Peeters, Karen; Meersman, Eline; Claeys, Sofie; D'haeseleer, Evelien

2017-09-18

The purpose of this study was to determine the short-term effect of 2 semi-occluded vocal tract training programs, "resonant voice training using nasal consonants" versus "straw phonation," on the vocal quality of vocally healthy future occupational voice users. A multigroup pretest-posttest randomized control group design was used. Thirty healthy speech-language pathology students with a mean age of 19 years (range: 17-22 years) were randomly assigned into a resonant voice training group (practicing resonant exercises across 6 weeks, n = 10), a straw phonation group (practicing straw phonation across 6 weeks, n = 10), or a control group (receiving no voice training, n = 10). A voice assessment protocol consisting of both subjective (questionnaire, participant's self-report, auditory-perceptual evaluation) and objective (maximum performance task, aerodynamic assessment, voice range profile, acoustic analysis, acoustic voice quality index, dysphonia severity index) measurements and determinations was used to evaluate the participants' voice pre- and posttraining. Groups were compared over time using linear mixed models and generalized linear mixed models. Within-group effects of time were determined using post hoc pairwise comparisons. No significant time × group interactions were found for any of the outcome measures, indicating no differences in evolution over time among the 3 groups. Within-group effects of time showed a significant improvement in dysphonia severity index in the resonant voice training group, and a significant improvement in the intensity range in the straw phonation group. Results suggest that the semi-occluded vocal tract training programs using resonant voice training and straw phonation may have a positive impact on the vocal quality and vocal capacities of future occupational voice users. The resonant voice training caused an improved dysphonia severity index, and the straw phonation training caused an expansion of the intensity range in

Provider management strategies of abnormal test result alerts: a cognitive task analysis.

PubMed

Hysong, Sylvia J; Sawhney, Mona K; Wilson, Lindsay; Sittig, Dean F; Espadas, Donna; Davis, Traber; Singh, Hardeep

2010-01-01

Electronic medical records (EMRs) facilitate abnormal test result communication through "alert" notifications. The aim was to evaluate how primary care providers (PCPs) manage alerts related to critical diagnostic test results on their EMR screens, and compare alert-management strategies of providers with high versus low rates of timely follow-up of results. 28 PCPs from a large, tertiary care Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) were purposively sampled according to their rates of timely follow-up of alerts, determined in a previous study. Using techniques from cognitive task analysis, participants were interviewed about how and when they manage alerts, focusing on four alert-management features to filter, sort and reduce unnecessary alerts on their EMR screens. Provider knowledge of alert-management features ranged between 4% and 75%. Almost half (46%) of providers did not use any of these features, and none used more than two. Providers with higher versus lower rates of timely follow-up used the four features similarly, except one (customizing alert notifications). Providers with low rates of timely follow-up tended to manually scan the alert list and process alerts heuristically using their clinical judgment. Additionally, 46% of providers used at least one workaround strategy to manage alerts. Considerable heterogeneity exists in provider use of alert-management strategies; specific strategies may be associated with lower rates of timely follow-up. Standardization of alert-management strategies including improving provider knowledge of appropriate tools in the EMR to manage alerts could reduce the lack of timely follow-up of abnormal diagnostic test results.

Prioritizing earthquake and tsunami alerting efforts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allen, R. M.; Allen, S.; Aranha, M. A.; Chung, A. I.; Hellweg, M.; Henson, I. H.; Melgar, D.; Neuhauser, D. S.; Nof, R. N.; Strauss, J. A.

2015-12-01

The timeline of hazards associated with earthquakes ranges from seconds for the strong shaking at the epicenter, to minutes for strong shaking at more distant locations in big quakes, to tens of minutes for a local tsunami. Earthquake and tsunami warning systems must therefore include very fast initial alerts, while also taking advantage of available time in bigger and tsunami-generating quakes. At the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory we are developing a suite of algorithms to provide the fullest possible information about earthquake shaking and tsunami inundation from seconds to minutes after a quake. The E-larmS algorithm uses the P-wave to rapidly detect an earthquake and issue a warning. It is currently issuing alerts to test users in as little as 3 sec after the origin time. Development of a new waveform detector may lead to even faster alerts. G-larmS uses permanent deformation estimates from GNSS stations to estimate the geometry and extent of rupture underway providing more accurate ground shaking estimates in big (M>~7) earthquakes. It performed well in the M6.0 2014 Napa earthquake. T-larmS is a new algorithm designed to extend alert capabilities to tsunami inundation. Rapid estimates of source characteristics for subduction zones event can not only be used to warn of the shaking hazard, but also the local tsunami inundation hazard. These algorithms are being developed, implemented and tested with a focus on the western US, but are also now being tested in other parts of the world including Israel, Turkey, Korea and Chile. Beta users in the Bay Area are receiving the alerts and beginning to implement automated actions. They also provide feedback on users needs, which has led to the development of the MyEEW smartphone app. This app allows beta users to receive the alerts on their cell phones. All these efforts feed into our ongoing assessment of directions and priorities for future development and implementation efforts.

Modeling, Analyzing, and Mitigating Dissonance Between Alerting Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Song, Lixia; Kuchar, James K.

2003-01-01

Alerting systems are becoming pervasive in process operations, which may result in the potential for dissonance or conflict in information from different alerting systems that suggests different threat levels and/or actions to resolve hazards. Little is currently available to help in predicting or solving the dissonance problem. This thesis presents a methodology to model and analyze dissonance between alerting systems, providing both a theoretical foundation for understanding dissonance and a practical basis from which specific problems can be addressed. A state-space representation of multiple alerting system operation is generalized that can be tailored across a variety of applications. Based on the representation, two major causes of dissonance are identified: logic differences and sensor error. Additionally, several possible types of dissonance are identified. A mathematical analysis method is developed to identify the conditions for dissonance originating from logic differences. A probabilistic analysis methodology is developed to estimate the probability of dissonance originating from sensor error, and to compare the relative contribution to dissonance of sensor error against the contribution from logic differences. A hybrid model, which describes the dynamic behavior of the process with multiple alerting systems, is developed to identify dangerous dissonance space, from which the process can lead to disaster. Methodologies to avoid or mitigate dissonance are outlined. Two examples are used to demonstrate the application of the methodology. First, a conceptual In-Trail Spacing example is presented. The methodology is applied to identify the conditions for possible dissonance, to identify relative contribution of logic difference and sensor error, and to identify dangerous dissonance space. Several proposed mitigation methods are demonstrated in this example. In the second example, the methodology is applied to address the dissonance problem between two air

The Role of Occupational Voice Demand and Patient-Rated Impairment in Predicting Voice Therapy Adherence.

PubMed

Ebersole, Barbara; Soni, Resha S; Moran, Kathleen; Lango, Miriam; Devarajan, Karthik; Jamal, Nausheen

2018-05-01

Examine the relationship among the severity of patient-perceived voice impairment, perceptual dysphonia severity, occupational voice demand, and voice therapy adherence. Identify clinical predictors of increased risk for therapy nonadherence. A retrospective cohort study of patients presenting with a chief complaint of persistent dysphonia at an interdisciplinary voice center was done. The Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) survey scores, clinician rating of dysphonia severity using the Grade score from the Grade, Roughness Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain scale, occupational voice demand, and patient demographics were tested for associations with therapy adherence, defined as completion of the treatment plan. Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis was performed to establish thresholds for nonadherence risk. Of 166 patients evaluated, 111 were recommended for voice therapy. The therapy nonadherence rate was 56%. Occupational voice demand category, VHI-10, and V-RQOL scores were the only factors significantly correlated with therapy adherence (P < 0.0001, P = 0.018, and P = 0.008, respectively). CART analysis found that patients with low or no occupational voice demand are significantly more likely to be nonadherent with therapy than those with high occupational voice demand (P < 0.001). Furthermore, a VHI-10 score of ≤29 or a V-RQOL score of >40 is a significant cutoff point for predicting therapy nonadherence (P < 0.011 and P < 0.004, respectively). Occupational voice demand and patient perception of impairment are significantly and independently correlated with therapy adherence. A VHI-10 score of ≤9 or a V-RQOL score of >40 is a significant cutoff point for predicting nonadherence risk. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interpersonal Processes and Attachment in Voice-Hearers.

PubMed

Robson, George; Mason, Oliver

2015-11-01

Studies of both clinical and non-clinical voice hearers suggest that distress is rather inconsistently associated with the perceived relationship between voice and hearer. It is also not clear if their beliefs about voices are relevant. This study investigated the links between attachment anxiety/avoidance, interpersonal aspects of the voice relationship, and distress whilst considering the impact of beliefs about voices and paranoia. Forty-four voice-hearing participants completed a number of self-report measures tapping attachment, interpersonal processes in the voice relationship, beliefs about voices, paranoia, distress and depression. Attachment avoidance was related to voice intrusiveness, hearer distance and distress. Attachment anxiety was related to voice intrusiveness, hearer dependence and distress. A series of simple mediation analyses were conducted that suggest that the relationship between attachment and voice related distress may be mediated by interpersonal dynamics in the voice-hearer relationship, beliefs about voices and paranoia. Beliefs about voices, the hearer's relationship with their voices, and the distress voices sometimes engender appear to be meaningfully related to their attachment style. This may be important to consider in therapeutic work.

Modeling Pilot State in Next Generation Aircraft Alert Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carlin, Alan S.; Alexander, Amy L.; Schurr, Nathan

2011-01-01

The Next Generation Air Transportation System will introduce new, advanced sensor technologies into the cockpit that must convey a large number of potentially complex alerts. Our work focuses on the challenges associated with prioritizing aircraft sensor alerts in a quick and efficient manner, essentially determining when and how to alert the pilot This "alert decision" becomes very difficult in NextGen due to the following challenges: 1) the increasing number of potential hazards, 2) the uncertainty associated with the state of potential hazards as well as pilot slate , and 3) the limited time to make safely-critical decisions. In this paper, we focus on pilot state and present a model for anticipating duration and quality of pilot behavior, for use in a larger system which issues aircraft alerts. We estimate pilot workload, which we model as being dependent on factors including mental effort, task demands. and task performance. We perform a mathematically rigorous analysis of the model and resulting alerting plans. We simulate the model in software and present simulated results with respect to manipulation of the pilot measures.

Evaluation of Antimicrobial Stewardship-Related Alerts Using a Clinical Decision Support System.

PubMed

Ghamrawi, Riane J; Kantorovich, Alexander; Bauer, Seth R; Pallotta, Andrea M; Sekeres, Jennifer K; Gordon, Steven M; Neuner, Elizabeth A

2017-11-01

Background: Information technology, including clinical decision support systems (CDSS), have an increasingly important and growing role in identifying opportunities for antimicrobial stewardship-related interventions. Objective: The aim of this study was to describe and compare types and outcomes of CDSS-built antimicrobial stewardship alerts. Methods: Fifteen alerts were evaluated in the initial antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) review. Preimplementation, alerts were reviewed retrospectively. Postimplementation, alerts were reviewed in real-time. Data collection included total number of actionable alerts, recommendation acceptance rates, and time spent on each alert. Time to de-escalation to narrower spectrum agents was collected. Results: In total, 749 alerts were evaluated. Overall, 306 (41%) alerts were actionable (173 preimplementation, 133 postimplementation). Rates of actionable alerts were similar for custom-built and prebuilt alert types (39% [53 of 135] vs 41% [253 of 614], P = .68]. In the postimplementation group, an intervention was attempted in 97% of actionable alerts and 70% of interventions were accepted. The median time spent per alert was 7 minutes (interquartile range [IQR], 5-13 minutes; 15 [12-17] minutes for actionable alerts vs 6 [5-7] minutes for nonactionable alerts, P < .001). In cases where the antimicrobial was eventually de-escalated, the median time to de-escalation was 28.8 hours (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.0-69.1 hours) preimplementation vs 4.7 hours (95% CI, 2.4-22.1 hours) postimplementation, P < .001. Conclusions: CDSS have played an important role in ASPs to help identify opportunities to optimize antimicrobial use through prebuilt and custom-built alerts. As ASP roles continue to expand, focusing time on customizing institution specific alerts will be of vital importance to help redistribute time needed to manage other ASP tasks and opportunities.

Acoustic passaggio pedagogy for the male voice.

PubMed

Bozeman, Kenneth Wood

2013-07-01

Awareness of interactions between the lower harmonics of the voice source and the first formant of the vocal tract, and of the passive vowel modifications that accompany them, can assist in working out a smooth transition through the passaggio of the male voice. A stable vocal tract length establishes the general location of all formants, including the higher formants that form the singer's formant cluster. Untrained males instinctively shorten the tube to preserve the strong F1/H2 acoustic coupling of voce aperta, resulting in 'yell' timbre. If tube length and shape are kept stable during pitch ascent, the yell can be avoided by allowing the second harmonic to rise above the first formant, creating the balanced timbre of voce chiusa.

How Regrouping Alerts in Computerized Physician Order Entry Layout Influences Physicians' Prescription Behavior: Results of a Crossover Randomized Trial.

PubMed

Wipfli, Rolf; Ehrler, Frederic; Bediang, Georges; Bétrancourt, Mireille; Lovis, Christian

2016-06-02

As demonstrated in several publications, low positive predictive value alerts in computerized physician order entry (CPOE) induce fatigue and may interrupt physicians unnecessarily during prescription of medication. Although it is difficult to increase the consideration of medical alerts by physician through an improvement of their predictive value, another approach consists to act on the way they are presented. The interruption management model inspired us to propose an alternative alert display strategy of regrouping the alerts in the screen layout, as a possible solution for reducing the interruption in physicians' workflow. In this study, we compared 2 CPOE designs based on a particular alert presentation strategy: one design involved regrouping the alerts in a single place on the screen, and in the other, the alerts were located next to the triggering information. Our objective was to evaluate experimentally whether the new design led to fewer interruptions in workflow and if it affected alert handling. The 2 CPOE designs were compared in a controlled crossover randomized trial. All interactions with the system and eye movements were stored for quantitative analysis. The study involved a group of 22 users consisting of physicians and medical students who solved medical scenarios containing prescription tasks. Scenario completion time was shorter when the alerts were regrouped (mean 117.29 seconds, SD 36.68) than when disseminated on the screen (mean 145.58 seconds, SD 75.07; P=.045). Eye tracking revealed that physicians fixated longer on alerts in the classic design (mean 119.71 seconds, SD 76.77) than in the centralized alert design (mean 70.58 seconds, SD 33.53; P=.001). Visual switches between prescription and alert areas, indicating interruption, were reduced with centralized alerts (mean 41.29, SD 21.26) compared with the classic design (mean 57.81, SD 35.97; P=.04). Prescription behavior (ie, prescription changes after alerting), however, did not change

Children's Voice or Children's Voices? How Educational Research Can Be at the Heart of Schooling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stern, Julian

2015-01-01

There are problems with considering children and young people in schools as quite separate individuals, and with considering them as members of a single collectivity. The tension is represented in the use of "voice" and "voices" in educational debates. Voices in dialogue, in contrast to "children's voice", are…

V-Alert: Description and Validation of a Vulnerable Road User Alert System in the Framework of a Smart City

PubMed Central

Hernandez-Jayo, Unai; De-la-Iglesia, Idoia; Perez, Jagoba

2015-01-01

V-Alert is a cooperative application to be deployed in the frame of Smart Cities with the aim of reducing the probability of accidents involving Vulnerable Road Users (VRU) and vehicles. The architecture of V-Alert combines short- and long-range communication technologies in order to provide more time to the drivers and VRU to take the appropriate maneuver and avoid a possible collision. The information generated by mobile sensors (vehicles and cyclists) is sent over this heterogeneous communication architecture and processed in a central server, the Drivers Cloud, which is in charge of generating the messages that are shown on the drivers’ and cyclists’ Human Machine Interface (HMI). First of all, V-Alert has been tested in a simulated scenario to check the communications architecture in a complex scenario and, once it was validated, all the elements of V-Alert have been moved to a real scenario to check the application reliability. All the results are shown along the length of this paper. PMID:26230695

V-Alert: Description and Validation of a Vulnerable Road User Alert System in the Framework of a Smart City.

PubMed

Hernandez-Jayo, Unai; De-la-Iglesia, Idoia; Perez, Jagoba

2015-07-29

V-Alert is a cooperative application to be deployed in the frame of Smart Cities with the aim of reducing the probability of accidents involving Vulnerable Road Users (VRU) and vehicles. The architecture of V-Alert combines short- and long-range communication technologies in order to provide more time to the drivers and VRU to take the appropriate maneuver and avoid a possible collision. The information generated by mobile sensors (vehicles and cyclists) is sent over this heterogeneous communication architecture and processed in a central server, the Drivers Cloud, which is in charge of generating the messages that are shown on the drivers' and cyclists' Human Machine Interface (HMI). First of all, V-Alert has been tested in a simulated scenario to check the communications architecture in a complex scenario and, once it was validated, all the elements of V-Alert have been moved to a real scenario to check the application reliability. All the results are shown along the length of this paper.

Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Fatigue And Alertness Study Executive Summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-11-01

THE DRIVER FATIGUE AND ALERTNESS STUDY (DFAS) WAS THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE OVER-THE-ROAD STUDY EVER CONDUCTED ON DRIVER FATIGUE AND ALERTNESS IN NORTH AMERICA. IT PROVIDES EXTENSIVE INFORMATION ON THE ALERTNESS, DRIVING PERFORMANCE, AND PHY...

Vocal responses to unanticipated perturbations in voice loudness feedback: an automatic mechanism for stabilizing voice amplitude.

PubMed

Bauer, Jay J; Mittal, Jay; Larson, Charles R; Hain, Timothy C

2006-04-01

The present study tested whether subjects respond to unanticipated short perturbations in voice loudness feedback with compensatory responses in voice amplitude. The role of stimulus magnitude (+/- 1,3 vs 6 dB SPL), stimulus direction (up vs down), and the ongoing voice amplitude level (normal vs soft) were compared across compensations. Subjects responded to perturbations in voice loudness feedback with a compensatory change in voice amplitude 76% of the time. Mean latency of amplitude compensation was 157 ms. Mean response magnitudes were smallest for 1-dB stimulus perturbations (0.75 dB) and greatest for 6-dB conditions (0.98 dB). However, expressed as gain, responses for 1-dB perturbations were largest and almost approached 1.0. Response magnitudes were larger for the soft voice amplitude condition compared to the normal voice amplitude condition. A mathematical model of the audio-vocal system captured the main features of the compensations. Previous research has demonstrated that subjects can respond to an unanticipated perturbation in voice pitch feedback with an automatic compensatory response in voice fundamental frequency. Data from the present study suggest that voice loudness feedback can be used in a similar manner to monitor and stabilize voice amplitude around a desired loudness level.

Provider management strategies of abnormal test result alerts: a cognitive task analysis

PubMed Central

Sawhney, Mona K; Wilson, Lindsay; Sittig, Dean F; Espadas, Donna; Davis, Traber; Singh, Hardeep

2010-01-01

Objective Electronic medical records (EMRs) facilitate abnormal test result communication through “alert” notifications. The aim was to evaluate how primary care providers (PCPs) manage alerts related to critical diagnostic test results on their EMR screens, and compare alert-management strategies of providers with high versus low rates of timely follow-up of results. Design 28 PCPs from a large, tertiary care Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) were purposively sampled according to their rates of timely follow-up of alerts, determined in a previous study. Using techniques from cognitive task analysis, participants were interviewed about how and when they manage alerts, focusing on four alert-management features to filter, sort and reduce unnecessary alerts on their EMR screens. Results Provider knowledge of alert-management features ranged between 4% and 75%. Almost half (46%) of providers did not use any of these features, and none used more than two. Providers with higher versus lower rates of timely follow-up used the four features similarly, except one (customizing alert notifications). Providers with low rates of timely follow-up tended to manually scan the alert list and process alerts heuristically using their clinical judgment. Additionally, 46% of providers used at least one workaround strategy to manage alerts. Conclusion Considerable heterogeneity exists in provider use of alert-management strategies; specific strategies may be associated with lower rates of timely follow-up. Standardization of alert-management strategies including improving provider knowledge of appropriate tools in the EMR to manage alerts could reduce the lack of timely follow-up of abnormal diagnostic test results. PMID:20064805

Designing Audience-Centered Interactive Voice Response Messages to Promote Cancer Screenings Among Low-Income Latinas

PubMed Central

De Jesus, Maria; Sprunck-Harrild, Kim M.; Tellez, Trinidad; Bastani, Roshan; Battaglia, Tracy A.; Michaelson, James S.; Emmons, Karen M.

2014-01-01

Introduction Cancer screening rates among Latinas are suboptimal. The objective of this study was to explore how Latinas perceive cancer screening and the use and design of interactive voice response (IVR) messages to prompt scheduling of 1 or more needed screenings. Methods Seven focus groups were conducted with Latina community health center patients (n = 40) in need of 1 or more cancer screenings: 5 groups were of women in need of 1 cancer screening (breast, cervical, or colorectal), and 2 groups were of women in need of multiple screenings. A bilingual researcher conducted all focus groups in Spanish using a semistructured guide. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed, and translated into English for analysis. Emergent themes were identified by using thematic content analysis. Results Participants were familiar with cancer screening and viewed it positively, although barriers to screening were identified (unaware overdue for screening, lack of physician referral, lack of insurance or insufficient insurance coverage, embarrassment or fear of screening procedures, fear of screening outcomes). Women needing multiple screenings voiced more concern about screening procedures, whereas women in need of a single screening expressed greater worry about the screening outcome. Participants were receptive to receiving IVR messages and believed that culturally appropriate messages that specified needed screenings while emphasizing the benefit of preventive screening would motivate them to schedule needed screenings. Conclusion Participants’ receptiveness to IVR messages suggests that these messages may be an acceptable strategy to promote cancer screening among underserved Latina patients. Additional research is needed to determine the effectiveness of IVR messages in promoting completion of cancer screening. PMID:24625364

Pedagogic Voice: Student Voice in Teaching and Engagement Pedagogies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baroutsis, Aspa; McGregor, Glenda; Mills, Martin

2016-01-01

In this paper, we are concerned with the notion of "pedagogic voice" as it relates to the presence of student "voice" in teaching, learning and curriculum matters at an alternative, or second chance, school in Australia. This school draws upon many of the principles of democratic schooling via its utilisation of student voice…

Temporal signatures of processing voiceness and emotion in sound.

PubMed

Schirmer, Annett; Gunter, Thomas C

2017-06-01

This study explored the temporal course of vocal and emotional sound processing. Participants detected rare repetitions in a stimulus stream comprising neutral and surprised non-verbal exclamations and spectrally rotated control sounds. Spectral rotation preserved some acoustic and emotional properties of the vocal originals. Event-related potentials elicited to unrepeated sounds revealed effects of voiceness and emotion. Relative to non-vocal sounds, vocal sounds elicited a larger centro-parietally distributed N1. This effect was followed by greater positivity to vocal relative to non-vocal sounds beginning with the P2 and extending throughout the recording epoch (N4, late positive potential) with larger amplitudes in female than in male listeners. Emotion effects overlapped with the voiceness effects but were smaller and differed topographically. Voiceness and emotion interacted only for the late positive potential, which was greater for vocal-emotional as compared with all other sounds. Taken together, these results point to a multi-stage process in which voiceness and emotionality are represented independently before being integrated in a manner that biases responses to stimuli with socio-emotional relevance. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

Voice Savers for Music Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cookman, Starr

2012-01-01

Music teachers are in a class all their own when it comes to voice use. These elite vocal athletes require stamina, strength, and flexibility from their voices day in, day out for hours at a time. Voice rehabilitation clinics and research show that music education ranks high among the professionals most commonly affected by voice problems.…

A ''Voice Inversion Effect?''

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bedard, Catherine; Belin, Pascal

2004-01-01

Voice is the carrier of speech but is also an ''auditory face'' rich in information on the speaker's identity and affective state. Three experiments explored the possibility of a ''voice inversion effect,'' by analogy to the classical ''face inversion effect,'' which could support the hypothesis of a voice-specific module. Experiment 1 consisted…

Project "Hypertension Alert."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sailors, Emma Lou

1983-01-01

"Hypertension Alert," a 1979-80 blood pressure screening-awareness project of the Yonkers, New York Public Schools, is described. Data is analyzed in tables for ethnic composition, and range of blood pressure readings for the high school, junior high school, and elementary school students tested. (Author/JMK)

47 CFR 80.334 - False distress alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

....S. Coast Guard; (d) Was repeated; or (e) Was transmitted using a false identity. [68 FR 46968, Aug... § 80.334 False distress alerts. A distress alert is false if it was transmitted without any indication that a mobile unit or person was in distress and required immediate assistance. Transmitting a false...

47 CFR 80.334 - False distress alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

....S. Coast Guard; (d) Was repeated; or (e) Was transmitted using a false identity. [68 FR 46968, Aug... § 80.334 False distress alerts. A distress alert is false if it was transmitted without any indication that a mobile unit or person was in distress and required immediate assistance. Transmitting a false...

47 CFR 80.334 - False distress alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

....S. Coast Guard; (d) Was repeated; or (e) Was transmitted using a false identity. [68 FR 46968, Aug... § 80.334 False distress alerts. A distress alert is false if it was transmitted without any indication that a mobile unit or person was in distress and required immediate assistance. Transmitting a false...

47 CFR 80.334 - False distress alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

....S. Coast Guard; (d) Was repeated; or (e) Was transmitted using a false identity. [68 FR 46968, Aug... § 80.334 False distress alerts. A distress alert is false if it was transmitted without any indication that a mobile unit or person was in distress and required immediate assistance. Transmitting a false...

47 CFR 80.334 - False distress alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

....S. Coast Guard; (d) Was repeated; or (e) Was transmitted using a false identity. [68 FR 46968, Aug... § 80.334 False distress alerts. A distress alert is false if it was transmitted without any indication that a mobile unit or person was in distress and required immediate assistance. Transmitting a false...

Silence and voicing accumulations in Italian primary school teachers with and without voice disorders

PubMed Central

Bottalico, Pasquale; Graetzer, Simone; Astolfi, Arianna; Hunter, Eric J.

2016-01-01

Objectives The relationship between the silence and voicing accumulations of primary school teachers and the teachers’ clinical status was examined. The goal was to determine whether more voicing accumulations and fewer silence accumulations were measured for the vocally unhealthy subjects than for the healthy subjects, which would imply more vocal loading and fewer short-term recovery moments. Methods 26 Italian primary school teachers were allocated by clinicians to three groups: (1) with organic voice disorders, (2) with subjectively mild organic alteration and/or functional voice symptoms, and (3) normal voice quality and physiology. Continuous silence and voicing periods were measured with the APM3200 during the teachers’ 4-hour workdays. The accumulations were grouped into 7 time intervals, ranging from 0.03–0.9 s to 3.16–10 s, according to Italian prosody. The effects of group on silence and voicing accumulations were evaluated. Results Regarding silence accumulations, Group 1 accumulated higher values in intervals between 0.1 and 3.15 s than other groups, while Groups 2 and 3 did not differ from each other. Voicing accumulations between 0.17 and 3.15 s were higher for subjects with a structural disorder. A higher time dose was accumulated by these subjects (40.6%) than other subjects (Group 2, 31.9%; Group 3, 32.3%). Conclusions While previous research has suggested that a rest period of a few seconds may produce some vocal fatigue recovery, these results indicate that periods shorter than 3.16 s may not have an observable effect on recovery. The results provide insight into how vocal fatigue and vocal recovery may relate to voice disorders in occupational voice users. PMID:27316793

The Interaction of Eye-Voice Span with Syntactic Chunking and Predictability in Right- and Left-Embedded Sentences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balajthy, Ernest P., Jr.

Sixty tenth graders participated in this study of relationships between eye/voice span, phrase and clause boundaries, reading ability, and sentence structure. Results indicated that sentences apparently are "chunked" into surface constituents during processing. Better tenth grade readers had longer eye/voice spans than did poorer readers and…

The Glasgow Voice Memory Test: Assessing the ability to memorize and recognize unfamiliar voices.

PubMed

Aglieri, Virginia; Watson, Rebecca; Pernet, Cyril; Latinus, Marianne; Garrido, Lúcia; Belin, Pascal

2017-02-01

One thousand one hundred and twenty subjects as well as a developmental phonagnosic subject (KH) along with age-matched controls performed the Glasgow Voice Memory Test, which assesses the ability to encode and immediately recognize, through an old/new judgment, both unfamiliar voices (delivered as vowels, making language requirements minimal) and bell sounds. The inclusion of non-vocal stimuli allows the detection of significant dissociations between the two categories (vocal vs. non-vocal stimuli). The distributions of accuracy and sensitivity scores (d') reflected a wide range of individual differences in voice recognition performance in the population. As expected, KH showed a dissociation between the recognition of voices and bell sounds, her performance being significantly poorer than matched controls for voices but not for bells. By providing normative data of a large sample and by testing a developmental phonagnosic subject, we demonstrated that the Glasgow Voice Memory Test, available online and accessible from all over the world, can be a valid screening tool (~5 min) for a preliminary detection of potential cases of phonagnosia and of "super recognizers" for voices.

Training outcome in future professional voice users after 18 months of voice training.

PubMed

Timmermans, Bernadette; De Bodt, Marc S; Wuyts, Floris L; Van de Heyning, Paul H

2004-01-01

The goal of this study is to define the long-term influence of vocal hygiene education and the effectiveness of voice training in 46 students. Half of the subjects, called the trained group (n = 23), received vocal hygiene education during 1 school year and voice training during 2 school years (18 months). The other half, also 23 subjects, received neither vocal hygiene education nor voice training as such (called the untrained group). The voice training is made up of technical workshops (30 h a year in groups of 5-8 subjects) and vocal coaching in the radio and drama projects (30 h whole class). In the lectures (30 h) a theoretical background on breathing, articulation, voicing and vocal hygiene was discussed. A multidimensional test battery containing the GRBAS scale, videolaryngostroboscopy, maximum phonation time, jitter, lowest intensity, highest frequency, Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI) and Voice Handicap Index (VHI) was applied before and after 18 months to evaluate the effect of voice training over time. A questionnaire on daily habits was presented before the lectures, and after 18 months to detect the long-term effect of the lectures. The objectively measured voice quality (DSI) of the trained group improved significantly over time (p < 0.001) due to training (p = 0.008), which was not the case in the untrained group. The self-assessed VHI, on the other hand, changed over time (p < 0.001) in both groups. For the trained group the VHI changed from 18.4 to 14.4 and in the untrained group from 20.1 to 15.3. It is important to note that the VHI scores of both groups remained high. The interpretation of the results of the daily habit questionnaire is disturbing: the initial high degree of smoking, vocal abuse, stress and late meals was not influenced by the lectures or training and remained high. This study proves the positive outcome and emphasizes the need for a well-organized voice training program in future professional voice users. However, the lectures

It doesn't matter what you say: FMRI correlates of voice learning and recognition independent of speech content.

PubMed

Zäske, Romi; Awwad Shiekh Hasan, Bashar; Belin, Pascal

2017-09-01

Listeners can recognize newly learned voices from previously unheard utterances, suggesting the acquisition of high-level speech-invariant voice representations during learning. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we investigated the anatomical basis underlying the acquisition of voice representations for unfamiliar speakers independent of speech, and their subsequent recognition among novel voices. Specifically, listeners studied voices of unfamiliar speakers uttering short sentences and subsequently classified studied and novel voices as "old" or "new" in a recognition test. To investigate "pure" voice learning, i.e., independent of sentence meaning, we presented German sentence stimuli to non-German speaking listeners. To disentangle stimulus-invariant and stimulus-dependent learning, during the test phase we contrasted a "same sentence" condition in which listeners heard speakers repeating the sentences from the preceding study phase, with a "different sentence" condition. Voice recognition performance was above chance in both conditions although, as expected, performance was higher for same than for different sentences. During study phases activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was related to subsequent voice recognition performance and same versus different sentence condition, suggesting an involvement of the left IFG in the interactive processing of speaker and speech information during learning. Importantly, at test reduced activation for voices correctly classified as "old" compared to "new" emerged in a network of brain areas including temporal voice areas (TVAs) of the right posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG), as well as the right inferior/middle frontal gyrus (IFG/MFG), the right medial frontal gyrus, and the left caudate. This effect of voice novelty did not interact with sentence condition, suggesting a role of temporal voice-selective areas and extra-temporal areas in the explicit recognition of learned voice identity

You're a What? Voice Actor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liming, Drew

2009-01-01

This article talks about voice actors and features Tony Oliver, a professional voice actor. Voice actors help to bring one's favorite cartoon and video game characters to life. They also do voice-overs for radio and television commercials and movie trailers. These actors use the sound of their voice to sell a character's emotions--or an advertised…

Evaluation of health alerts from an early illness warning system in independent living.

PubMed

Rantz, Marilyn J; Scott, Susan D; Miller, Steven J; Skubic, Marjorie; Phillips, Lorraine; Alexander, Greg; Koopman, Richelle J; Musterman, Katy; Back, Jessica

2013-06-01

Passive sensor networks were deployed in independent living apartments to monitor older adults in their home environments to detect signs of impending illness and alert clinicians so they can intervene and prevent or delay significant changes in health or functional status. A retrospective qualitative deductive content analysis was undertaken to refine health alerts to improve clinical relevance to clinicians as they use alerts in their normal workflow of routine care delivery to older adults. Clinicians completed written free-text boxes to describe actions taken (or not) as a result of each alert; they also rated the clinical significance (relevance) of each health alert on a scale of 1 to 5. Two samples of the clinician's written responses to the health alerts were analyzed after alert algorithms had been adjusted based on results of a pilot study using health alerts to enhance clinical decision-making. In the first sample, a total of 663 comments were generated by seven clinicians in response to 385 unique alerts; there are more comments than alerts because more than one clinician rated the same alert. The second sample had a total of 142 comments produced by three clinicians in response to 88 distinct alerts. The overall clinical relevance of the alerts, as judged by the content of the qualitative comments by clinicians for each alert, improved from 33.3% of the alerts in the first sample classified as clinically relevant to 43.2% in the second. The goal is to produce clinically relevant alerts that clinicians find useful in daily practice. The evaluation methods used are described to assist others as they consider building and iteratively refining health alerts to enhance clinical decision making.

Personal Genres, Public Voices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Danielewicz, Jane

2008-01-01

Writing in personal genres, like autobiography, leads writers to public voices. Public voice is a discursive quality of a text that conveys the writer's authority and position relative to others. To show how voice and authority depend on genre, I analyze the autobiographies of two writers who take opposing positions on the same topic. By producing…

A framework for evaluating the appropriateness of clinical decision support alerts and responses

PubMed Central

Waitman, Lemuel R; Lewis, Julia B; Wright, Julie A; Choma, David P; Miller, Randolph A; Peterson, Josh F

2011-01-01

Objective Alerting systems, a type of clinical decision support, are increasingly prevalent in healthcare, yet few studies have concurrently measured the appropriateness of alerts with provider responses to alerts. Recent reports of suboptimal alert system design and implementation highlight the need for better evaluation to inform future designs. The authors present a comprehensive framework for evaluating the clinical appropriateness of synchronous, interruptive medication safety alerts. Methods Through literature review and iterative testing, metrics were developed that describe successes, justifiable overrides, provider non-adherence, and unintended adverse consequences of clinical decision support alerts. The framework was validated by applying it to a medication alerting system for patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). Results Through expert review, the framework assesses each alert episode for appropriateness of the alert display and the necessity and urgency of a clinical response. Primary outcomes of the framework include the false positive alert rate, alert override rate, provider non-adherence rate, and rate of provider response appropriateness. Application of the framework to evaluate an existing AKI medication alerting system provided a more complete understanding of the process outcomes measured in the AKI medication alerting system. The authors confirmed that previous alerts and provider responses were most often appropriate. Conclusion The new evaluation model offers a potentially effective method for assessing the clinical appropriateness of synchronous interruptive medication alerts prior to evaluating patient outcomes in a comparative trial. More work can determine the generalizability of the framework for use in other settings and other alert types. PMID:21849334

Exploring the feasibility of smart phone microphone for measurement of acoustic voice parameters and voice pathology screening.

PubMed

Uloza, Virgilijus; Padervinskis, Evaldas; Vegiene, Aurelija; Pribuisiene, Ruta; Saferis, Viktoras; Vaiciukynas, Evaldas; Gelzinis, Adas; Verikas, Antanas

2015-11-01

The objective of this study is to evaluate the reliability of acoustic voice parameters obtained using smart phone (SP) microphones and investigate the utility of use of SP voice recordings for voice screening. Voice samples of sustained vowel/a/obtained from 118 subjects (34 normal and 84 pathological voices) were recorded simultaneously through two microphones: oral AKG Perception 220 microphone and SP Samsung Galaxy Note3 microphone. Acoustic voice signal data were measured for fundamental frequency, jitter and shimmer, normalized noise energy (NNE), signal to noise ratio and harmonic to noise ratio using Dr. Speech software. Discriminant analysis-based Correct Classification Rate (CCR) and Random Forest Classifier (RFC) based Equal Error Rate (EER) were used to evaluate the feasibility of acoustic voice parameters classifying normal and pathological voice classes. Lithuanian version of Glottal Function Index (LT_GFI) questionnaire was utilized for self-assessment of the severity of voice disorder. The correlations of acoustic voice parameters obtained with two types of microphones were statistically significant and strong (r = 0.73-1.0) for the entire measurements. When classifying into normal/pathological voice classes, the Oral-NNE revealed the CCR of 73.7% and the pair of SP-NNE and SP-shimmer parameters revealed CCR of 79.5%. However, fusion of the results obtained from SP voice recordings and GFI data provided the CCR of 84.60% and RFC revealed the EER of 7.9%, respectively. In conclusion, measurements of acoustic voice parameters using SP microphone were shown to be reliable in clinical settings demonstrating high CCR and low EER when distinguishing normal and pathological voice classes, and validated the suitability of the SP microphone signal for the task of automatic voice analysis and screening.

Toward a Trustworthy Voice: Increasing the Effectiveness of Automated Outreach Calls to Promote Colorectal Cancer Screening among African Americans

PubMed Central

Albright, Karen; Richardson, Terri; Kempe, Karin L; Wallace, Kristin

2014-01-01

Introduction: Colorectal cancer screening rates are lower among African-American members of Kaiser Permanente Colorado (KPCO) than among members of other races and ethnicities. This study evaluated use of a linguistically congruent voice in interactive voice response outreach calls about colorectal cancer screening as a strategy to increase call completion and response. Methods: After an initial discussion group to assess cultural acceptability of the project, 6 focus groups were conducted with 33 KPCO African-American members. Participants heard and discussed recordings of 5 female voices reading the same segment of the standard-practice colorectal cancer message using interactive voice response. The linguistic palette included the voices of a white woman, a lightly accented Latina, and 3 African-American women. Results: Participants strongly preferred the African-American voices, particularly two voices. Participants considered these voices the most trustworthy and reported that they would be the most effective at increasing motivation to complete an automated call. Participants supported the use of African-American voices when designing outgoing automated calls for African Americans because the sense of familiarity engendered trust among listeners. Participants also indicated that effective automated messages should provide immediate clarity of purpose; explain why the issue is relevant to African Americans; avoid sounding scripted; emphasize that the call is for the listener’s benefit only; sound personable, warm, and positive; and not create fear among listeners. Discussion: Establishing linguistic congruence between African Americans and the voices used in automated calls designed to reach them may increase the effectiveness of outreach efforts. PMID:24867548

Combined Use of Standard and Throat Microphones for Measurement of Acoustic Voice Parameters and Voice Categorization.

PubMed

Uloza, Virgilijus; Padervinskis, Evaldas; Uloziene, Ingrida; Saferis, Viktoras; Verikas, Antanas

2015-09-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the reliability of the measurements of acoustic voice parameters obtained simultaneously using oral and contact (throat) microphones and to investigate utility of combined use of these microphones for voice categorization. Voice samples of sustained vowel /a/ obtained from 157 subjects (105 healthy and 52 pathological voices) were recorded in a soundproof booth simultaneously through two microphones: oral AKG Perception 220 microphone (AKG Acoustics, Vienna, Austria) and contact (throat) Triumph PC microphone (Clearer Communications, Inc, Burnaby, Canada) placed on the lamina of thyroid cartilage. Acoustic voice signal data were measured for fundamental frequency, percent of jitter and shimmer, normalized noise energy, signal-to-noise ratio, and harmonic-to-noise ratio using Dr. Speech software (Tiger Electronics, Seattle, WA). The correlations of acoustic voice parameters in vocal performance were statistically significant and strong (r = 0.71-1.0) for the entire functional measurements obtained for the two microphones. When classifying into healthy-pathological voice classes, the oral-shimmer revealed the correct classification rate (CCR) of 75.2% and the throat-jitter revealed CCR of 70.7%. However, combination of both throat and oral microphones allowed identifying a set of three voice parameters: throat-signal-to-noise ratio, oral-shimmer, and oral-normalized noise energy, which provided the CCR of 80.3%. The measurements of acoustic voice parameters using a combination of oral and throat microphones showed to be reliable in clinical settings and demonstrated high CCRs when distinguishing the healthy and pathological voice patient groups. Our study validates the suitability of the throat microphone signal for the task of automatic voice analysis for the purpose of voice screening. Copyright © 2015 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Revealing the functional neuroanatomy of intrinsic alertness using fMRI: methodological peculiarities.

PubMed

Clemens, Benjamin; Zvyagintsev, Mikhail; Sack, Alexander T; Sack, Alexander; Heinecke, Armin; Willmes, Klaus; Sturm, Walter

2011-01-01

Clinical observations and neuroimaging data revealed a right-hemisphere fronto-parietal-thalamic-brainstem network for intrinsic alertness, and additional left fronto-parietal activity during phasic alertness. The primary objective of this fMRI study was to map the functional neuroanatomy of intrinsic alertness as precisely as possible in healthy participants, using a novel assessment paradigm already employed in clinical settings. Both the paradigm and the experimental design were optimized to specifically assess intrinsic alertness, while at the same time controlling for sensory-motor processing. The present results suggest that the processing of intrinsic alertness is accompanied by increased activity within the brainstem, thalamus, anterior cingulate gyrus, right insula, and right parietal cortex. Additionally, we found increased activation in the left hemisphere around the middle frontal gyrus (BA 9), the insula, the supplementary motor area, and the cerebellum. Our results further suggest that rather minute aspects of the experimental design may induce aspects of phasic alertness, which in turn might lead to additional brain activation in left-frontal areas not normally involved in intrinsic alertness. Accordingly, left BA 9 activation may be related to co-activation of the phasic alertness network due to the switch between rest and task conditions functioning as an external warning cue triggering the phasic alertness network. Furthermore, activation of the intrinsic alertness network during fixation blocks due to enhanced expectancy shortly before the switch to the task block might, when subtracted from the task block, lead to diminished activation in the typical right hemisphere intrinsic alertness network. Thus, we cautiously suggest that--as a methodological artifact--left frontal activations might show up due to phasic alertness involvement and intrinsic alertness activations might be weakened due to contrasting with fixation blocks, when assessing the

Revealing the Functional Neuroanatomy of Intrinsic Alertness Using fMRI: Methodological Peculiarities

PubMed Central

Clemens, Benjamin; Zvyagintsev, Mikhail; Sack, Alexander; Heinecke, Armin; Willmes, Klaus; Sturm, Walter

2011-01-01

Clinical observations and neuroimaging data revealed a right-hemisphere fronto-parietal-thalamic-brainstem network for intrinsic alertness, and additional left fronto-parietal activity during phasic alertness. The primary objective of this fMRI study was to map the functional neuroanatomy of intrinsic alertness as precisely as possible in healthy participants, using a novel assessment paradigm already employed in clinical settings. Both the paradigm and the experimental design were optimized to specifically assess intrinsic alertness, while at the same time controlling for sensory-motor processing. The present results suggest that the processing of intrinsic alertness is accompanied by increased activity within the brainstem, thalamus, anterior cingulate gyrus, right insula, and right parietal cortex. Additionally, we found increased activation in the left hemisphere around the middle frontal gyrus (BA 9), the insula, the supplementary motor area, and the cerebellum. Our results further suggest that rather minute aspects of the experimental design may induce aspects of phasic alertness, which in turn might lead to additional brain activation in left-frontal areas not normally involved in intrinsic alertness. Accordingly, left BA 9 activation may be related to co-activation of the phasic alertness network due to the switch between rest and task conditions functioning as an external warning cue triggering the phasic alertness network. Furthermore, activation of the intrinsic alertness network during fixation blocks due to enhanced expectancy shortly before the switch to the task block might, when subtracted from the task block, lead to diminished activation in the typical right hemisphere intrinsic alertness network. Thus, we cautiously suggest that – as a methodological artifact – left frontal activations might show up due to phasic alertness involvement and intrinsic alertness activations might be weakened due to contrasting with fixation blocks, when assessing

Electronic Immunization Alerts and Spillover Effects on Other Preventive Care.

PubMed

Kim, Julia M; Rivera, Maria; Persing, Nichole; Bundy, David G; Psoter, Kevin J; Ghazarian, Sharon R; Miller, Marlene R; Solomon, Barry S

2017-08-01

The impact of electronic health record (EHR) immunization clinical alert systems on the delivery of other preventive services remains unknown. We assessed for spillover effects of an EHR immunization alert on delivery of 6 other preventive services, in children 18 to 30 months of age needing immunizations. We conducted a secondary data analysis, with additional primary data collection, of a randomized, historically controlled trial to improve immunization rates with EHR alerts, in an urban, primary care clinic. No significant differences were found in screening for anemia, lead, development, nutrition, and injury prevention counseling in children prompting EHR immunization alerts (n = 129), compared with controls (n = 135). Significant increases in oral health screening in patients prompting EHR alerts (odds ratio = 4.8, 95% CI = 1.8-13.0) were likely due to practice changes over time. An EHR clinical alert system targeting immunizations did not have a spillover effect on the delivery of other preventive services.

Optimizing drug-dose alerts using commercial software throughout an integrated health care system.

PubMed

Saiyed, Salim M; Greco, Peter J; Fernandes, Glenn; Kaelber, David C

2017-11-01

All default electronic health record and drug reference database vendor drug-dose alerting recommendations (single dose, daily dose, dose frequency, and dose duration) were silently turned on in inpatient, outpatient, and emergency department areas for pediatric-only and nonpediatric-only populations. Drug-dose alerts were evaluated during a 3-month period. Drug-dose alerts fired on 12% of orders (104 098/834 911). System-level and drug-specific strategies to decrease drug-dose alerts were analyzed. System-level strategies included: (1) turning off all minimum drug-dosing alerts, (2) turning off all incomplete information drug-dosing alerts, (3) increasing the maximum single-dose drug-dose alert threshold to 125%, (4) increasing the daily dose maximum drug-dose alert threshold to 125%, and (5) increasing the dose frequency drug-dose alert threshold to more than 2 doses per day above initial threshold. Drug-specific strategies included changing drug-specific maximum single and maximum daily drug-dose alerting parameters for the top 22 drug categories by alert frequency. System-level approaches decreased alerting to 5% (46 988/834 911) and drug-specific approaches decreased alerts to 3% (25 455/834 911). Drug-dose alerts varied between care settings and patient populations. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

PleurAlert: an augmented chest drainage system with electronic sensing, automated alerts and internet connectivity.

PubMed

Leeson, Cory E; Weaver, Robert A; Bissell, Taylor; Hoyer, Rachel; McClain, Corinne; Nelson, Douglas A; Samosky, Joseph T

2012-01-01

We have enhanced a common medical device, the chest tube drainage container, with electronic sensing of fluid volume, automated detection of critical alarm conditions and the ability to automatically send alert text messages to a nurse's cell phone. The PleurAlert system provides a simple touch-screen interface and can graphically display chest tube output over time. Our design augments a device whose basic function dates back 50 years by adding technology to automate and optimize a monitoring process that can be time consuming and inconvenient for nurses. The system may also enhance detection of emergency conditions and speed response time.

A new method for determining a sector alert

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-09-29

The Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS) currently declares an alert for any 15-minute interval in which the predicted demand exceeds the Monitor/Alert Parameter (MAP) for any airport, sector, or fix. For a sector, TFMS predicts the demand for each ...

47 CFR 11.56 - EAS Participants receive CAP-formatted alerts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false EAS Participants receive CAP-formatted alerts... SYSTEM (EAS) Emergency Operations § 11.56 EAS Participants receive CAP-formatted alerts. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, all EAS Participants must be able to receive CAP-formatted EAS alerts no...

Maximizing Trust in the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) Service

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-01

Homeland Security under Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0003 with Carnegie Mellon University for the operation of the Software En - gineering Institute, a...AOs will protect their alert-generating systems from misuse. A compro- mised alert-generating system could overload the IPAWS-OPEN message validation...greater accessibility, such as accessing the WEA service re- motely from the scene of an incident. Although we are currently unaware of any alerting

Acute alerting effects of light: A systematic literature review.

PubMed

Souman, Jan L; Tinga, Angelica M; Te Pas, Susan F; van Ee, Raymond; Vlaskamp, Björn N S

2018-01-30

Periodic, well timed exposure to light is important for our health and wellbeing. Light, in particular in the blue part of the spectrum, is thought to affect alertness both indirectly, by modifying circadian rhythms, and directly, giving rise to acute effects. We performed a systematic review of empirical studies on direct, acute effects of light on alertness to evaluate the reliability of these effects. In total, we identified 68 studies in which either light intensity, spectral distribution, or both were manipulated, and evaluated the effects on behavioral measures of alertness, either subjectively or measured in reaction time performance tasks. The results show that increasing the intensity of polychromatic white light has been found to increase subjective ratings of alertness in a majority of studies, though a substantial proportion of studies failed to find significant effects, possibly due to small sample sizes or high baseline light intensities. The effect of the color temperature of white light on subjective alertness is less clear. Some studies found increased alertness with higher color temperatures, but other studies reported no detrimental effects of filtering out the short wavelengths from the spectrum. Similarly, studies that used monochromatic light exposure showed no systematic pattern for the effects of blue light compared to longer wavelengths. Far fewer studies investigated the effects of light intensity or spectrum on alertness as measured with reaction time tasks and of those, very few reported significant effects. In general, the small sample sizes used in studies on acute alerting effects of light make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions and better powered studies are needed, especially studies that allow for the construction of dose-response curves. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A unified coding strategy for processing faces and voices

PubMed Central

Yovel, Galit; Belin, Pascal

2013-01-01

Both faces and voices are rich in socially-relevant information, which humans are remarkably adept at extracting, including a person's identity, age, gender, affective state, personality, etc. Here, we review accumulating evidence from behavioral, neuropsychological, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging studies which suggest that the cognitive and neural processing mechanisms engaged by perceiving faces or voices are highly similar, despite the very different nature of their sensory input. The similarity between the two mechanisms likely facilitates the multi-modal integration of facial and vocal information during everyday social interactions. These findings emphasize a parsimonious principle of cerebral organization, where similar computational problems in different modalities are solved using similar solutions. PMID:23664703

Evaluating Alerting and Guidance Performance of a UAS Detect-And-Avoid System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Seung Man; Park, Chunki; Thipphavong, David P.; Isaacson, Douglas R.; Santiago, Confesor

2016-01-01

A key challenge to the routine, safe operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) is the development of detect-and-avoid (DAA) systems to aid the UAS pilot in remaining "well clear" of nearby aircraft. The goal of this study is to investigate the effect of alerting criteria and pilot response delay on the safety and performance of UAS DAA systems in the context of routine civil UAS operations in the National Airspace System (NAS). A NAS-wide fast-time simulation study was conducted to assess UAS DAA system performance with a large number of encounters and a broad set of DAA alerting and guidance system parameters. Three attributes of the DAA system were controlled as independent variables in the study to conduct trade-off analyses: UAS trajectory prediction method (dead-reckoning vs. intent-based), alerting time threshold (related to predicted time to LoWC), and alerting distance threshold (related to predicted Horizontal Miss Distance, or HMD). A set of metrics, such as the percentage of true positive, false positive, and missed alerts, based on signal detection theory and analysis methods utilizing the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were proposed to evaluate the safety and performance of DAA alerting and guidance systems and aid development of DAA system performance standards. The effect of pilot response delay on the performance of DAA systems was evaluated using a DAA alerting and guidance model and a pilot model developed to support this study. A total of 18 fast-time simulations were conducted with nine different DAA alerting threshold settings and two different trajectory prediction methods, using recorded radar traffic from current Visual Flight Rules (VFR) operations, and supplemented with DAA-equipped UAS traffic based on mission profiles modeling future UAS operations. Results indicate DAA alerting distance threshold has a greater effect on DAA system performance than DAA alerting time threshold or ownship trajectory prediction method

Effects of singing training on the speaking voice of voice majors.

PubMed

Mendes, Ana P; Brown, W S; Rothman, Howard B; Sapienza, Christine

2004-03-01

This longitudinal study gathered data with regard to the question: Does singing training have an effect on the speaking voice? Fourteen voice majors (12 females and two males; age range 17 to 20 years) were recorded once a semester for four consecutive semesters, while sustaining vowels and reading the "Rainbow Passage." Acoustic measures included speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) and sound pressure level (SLP). Perturbation measures included jitter, shimmer, and harmonic-to-noise ratio. Temporal measures included sentence, consonant, and diphthong durations. Results revealed that, as the number of semesters increased, the SFF increased while jitter and shimmer slightly decreased. Repeated measure analysis, however, indicated that none of the acoustic, temporal, or perturbation differences were statistically significant. These results confirm earlier cross-sectional studies that compared singers with nonsingers, in that singing training mostly affects the singing voice and rarely the speaking voice.

Alertness Modulates Conflict Adaptation and Feature Integration in an Opposite Way

PubMed Central

Chen, Jia; Huang, Xiting; Chen, Antao

2013-01-01

Previous studies show that the congruency sequence effect can result from both the conflict adaptation effect (CAE) and feature integration effect which can be observed as the repetition priming effect (RPE) and feature overlap effect (FOE) depending on different experimental conditions. Evidence from neuroimaging studies suggests that a close correlation exists between the neural mechanisms of alertness-related modulations and the congruency sequence effect. However, little is known about whether and how alertness mediates the congruency sequence effect. In Experiment 1, the Attentional Networks Test (ANT) and a modified flanker task were used to evaluate whether the alertness of the attentional functions had a correlation with the CAE and RPE. In Experimental 2, the ANT and another modified flanker task were used to investigate whether alertness of the attentional functions correlate with the CAE and FOE. In Experiment 1, through the correlative analysis, we found a significant positive correlation between alertness and the CAE, and a negative correlation between the alertness and the RPE. Moreover, a significant negative correlation existed between CAE and RPE. In Experiment 2, we found a marginally significant negative correlation between the CAE and the RPE, but the correlation between alertness and FOE, CAE and FOE was not significant. These results suggest that alertness can modulate conflict adaptation and feature integration in an opposite way. Participants at the high alerting level group may tend to use the top-down cognitive processing strategy, whereas participants at the low alerting level group tend to use the bottom-up processing strategy. PMID:24250824

47 CFR 10.320 - Provider alert gateway requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Provider alert gateway requirements. 10.320 Section 10.320 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM... that each Participating Commercial Mobile Service provider is required to support and perform at its...

Understanding the 'Anorexic Voice' in Anorexia Nervosa.

PubMed

Pugh, Matthew; Waller, Glenn

2017-05-01

In common with individuals experiencing a number of disorders, people with anorexia nervosa report experiencing an internal 'voice'. The anorexic voice comments on the individual's eating, weight and shape and instructs the individual to restrict or compensate. However, the core characteristics of the anorexic voice are not known. This study aimed to develop a parsimonious model of the voice characteristics that are related to key features of eating disorder pathology and to determine whether patients with anorexia nervosa fall into groups with different voice experiences. The participants were 49 women with full diagnoses of anorexia nervosa. Each completed validated measures of the power and nature of their voice experience and of their responses to the voice. Different voice characteristics were associated with current body mass index, duration of disorder and eating cognitions. Two subgroups emerged, with 'weaker' and 'stronger' voice experiences. Those with stronger voices were characterized by having more negative eating attitudes, more severe compensatory behaviours, a longer duration of illness and a greater likelihood of having the binge-purge subtype of anorexia nervosa. The findings indicate that the anorexic voice is an important element of the psychopathology of anorexia nervosa. Addressing the anorexic voice might be helpful in enhancing outcomes of treatments for anorexia nervosa, but that conclusion might apply only to patients with more severe eating psychopathology. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Experiences of an internal 'anorexic voice' are common in anorexia nervosa. Clinicians should consider the role of the voice when formulating eating pathology in anorexia nervosa, including how individuals perceive and relate to that voice. Addressing the voice may be beneficial, particularly in more severe and enduring forms of anorexia nervosa. When working with the voice, clinicians should aim to address both the content of the voice and how

On shame and voice-hearing

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Hearing voices in the absence of another speaker—what psychiatry terms an auditory verbal hallucination—is often associated with a wide range of negative emotions. Mainstream clinical research addressing the emotional dimensions of voice-hearing has tended to treat these as self-evident, undifferentiated and so effectively interchangeable. But what happens when a richer, more nuanced understanding of specific emotions is brought to bear on the analysis of distressing voices? This article draws findings from the ‘What is it like to hear voices’ study conducted as part of the interdisciplinary Hearing the Voice project into conversation with philosopher Dan Zahavi's Self and Other: Exploring Subjectivity, Empathy and Shame to consider how a focus on shame can open up new questions about the experience of hearing voices. A higher-order emotion of social cognition, shame directs our attention to aspects of voice-hearing which are understudied and elusive, particularly as they concern the status of voices as other and the constitution and conceptualisation of the self. PMID:28389551

Voice disorders in teachers and the general population: effects on work performance, attendance, and future career choices.

PubMed

Roy, Nelson; Merrill, Ray M; Thibeault, Susan; Gray, Steven D; Smith, Elaine M

2004-06-01

To examine the frequency and adverse effects of voice disorders on job performance and attendance in teachers and the general population, 2,401 participants from Iowa and Utah (n1 = 1,243 teachers and n2 = 1,279 nonteachers) were randomly selected and were interviewed by telephone using a voice disorder questionnaire. Teachers were significantly more likely than nonteachers to have experienced multiple voice symptoms and signs including hoarseness, discomfort, and increased effort while using their voice, tiring or experiencing a change in voice quality after short use, difficulty projecting their voice, trouble speaking or singing softly, and a loss of their singing range (all odds ratios [ORs] p <.05). Furthermore, teachers consistently attributed these voice symptoms to their occupation and were significantly more likely to indicate that their voice limited their ability to perform certain tasks at work, and had reduced activities or interactions as a result. Teachers, as compared with nonteachers, had missed more workdays over the preceding year because of voice problems and were more likely to consider changing occupations because of their voice (all comparisons p <.05). These findings strongly suggest that occupationally related voice dysfunction in teachers can have significant adverse effects on job performance, attendance, and future career choices.

The integration of voice science, voice pathology, medicine, public speaking, acting, and singing.

PubMed

Scherer, R C; Brewer, D W; Colton, R; Rubin, L S; Raphael, B N; Miller, R; Howell, E; Moore, G P

1994-12-01

The integration of voice science, voice pathology, medicine, public speaking, acting, and singing has been central to evolution in all fields. The Voice Foundation Symposia have played a seminal and central role in fostering integration among disciplines. The result has been an improvement in the knowledge and practice in each field. And the future promises to be even more informative and exciting.

Real-time monitoring of the human alertness level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alvarez, Robin; del Pozo, Francisco; Hernando, Elena; Gomez, Eduardo; Jimenez, Antonio

2003-04-01

Many accidents are associated with a driver or machine operator's alertness level. Drowsiness often develops as a result of repetitive or monotonous tasks, uninterrupted by external stimuli. In order to enhance safety levels, it would be most desirable to monitor the individual's level of attention. In this work, changes in the power spectrum of the electroencephalographic signal (EEG) are associated with the subject's level of attention. This study reports on the initial research carried out in order to answer the following important questions: (i) Does a trend exist in the shape of the power spectrum, which will indicate the state of a subject's alertness state (drowsy, relaxed or alert)? (ii) What points on the cortex are most suitable to detect drowsiness and/or high alertness? (iii) What parameters in the power spectrum are most suitable to establish a workable alertness classification in human subjects? In this work, we answer these questions and combine power spectrum estimation and artificial neural network techniques to create a non-invasive and real - time system able to classify EEG into three levels of attention: High, Relaxed and Drowsiness. The classification is made every 10 seconds o more, a suitable time span for giving an alarm signal if the individual is with insufficient level of alertness. This time span is set by the user. The system was tested on twenty subjects. High and relaxed attention levels were measured in randomise hours of the day and drowsiness attention level was measured in the morning after one night of sleep deprivation.

Pilot Non-Conformance to Alerting System Commands During Closely Spaced Parallel Approaches

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pritchett, Amy Ruth; Hansman, R. John; Corker, Kevin (Technical Monitor)

1997-01-01

Cockpit alerting systems monitor potentially hazardous situations, both inside and outside the aircraft. When a hazard is projected to occur, the alerting system displays alerts and/or command decisions to the pilot. However, pilots have been observed to not conform to alerting system commands by delaying their response or by not following the automatic commands exactly. This non-conformance to the automatic alerting system can reduce its benefit. Therefore, a need exists to understand the causes and effects of pilot non-conformance in order to develop automatic alerting systems whose commands the pilots are more likely to follow. These considerations were examined through flight simulator evaluations of the collision avoidance task during closely spaced parallel approaches. This task provided a useful case-study because the effects of non-conformance can be significant, given the time-critical nature of the task. A preliminary evaluation of alerting systems identified non-conformance in over 40% of the cases and a corresponding drop in collision avoidance performance. A follow-on experiment found subjects' alerting and maneuver selection criteria were consistent with different strategies than those used by automatic systems, indicating the pilot may potentially disagree with the alerting system if the pilot attempts to verify automatic alerts and commanded avoidance maneuvers. A final experiment found supporting automatic alerts with the explicit display of its underlying criteria resulted in more consistent subject reactions. In light of these experimental results, a general discussion of pilot non-conformance is provided. Contributing factors in pilot non-conformance include a lack of confidence in the automatic system and mismatches between the alerting system's commands and the pilots' own decisions based on the information available to them. The effects of non-conformance on system performance are discussed. Possible methods of reconciling mismatches are

Voice parameters and videonasolaryngoscopy in children with vocal nodules: a longitudinal study, before and after voice therapy.

PubMed

Valadez, Victor; Ysunza, Antonio; Ocharan-Hernandez, Esther; Garrido-Bustamante, Norma; Sanchez-Valerio, Araceli; Pamplona, Ma C

2012-09-01

Vocal Nodules (VN) are a functional voice disorder associated with voice misuse and abuse in children. There are few reports addressing vocal parameters in children with VN, especially after a period of vocal rehabilitation. The purpose of this study is to describe measurements of vocal parameters including Fundamental Frequency (FF), Shimmer (S), and Jitter (J), videonasolaryngoscopy examination and clinical perceptual assessment, before and after voice therapy in children with VN. Voice therapy was provided using visual support through Speech-Viewer software. Twenty patients with VN were studied. An acoustical analysis of voice was performed and compared with data from subjects from a control group matched by age and gender. Also, clinical perceptual assessment of voice and videonasolaryngoscopy were performed to all patients with VN. After a period of voice therapy, provided with visual support using Speech Viewer-III (SV-III-IBM) software, new acoustical analyses, perceptual assessments and videonasolaryngoscopies were performed. Before the onset of voice therapy, there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in mean FF, S and J, between the patients with VN and subjects from the control group. After the voice therapy period, a significant improvement (p<0.05) was found in all acoustic voice parameters. Moreover, perceptual voice analysis demonstrated improvement in all cases. Finally, videonasolaryngoscopy demonstrated that vocal nodules were no longer discernible on the vocal folds in any of the cases. SV-III software seems to be a safe and reliable method for providing voice therapy in children with VN. Acoustic voice parameters, perceptual data and videonasolaryngoscopy were significantly improved after the speech therapy period was completed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optical and X-ray early follow-up of ANTARES neutrino alerts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adrián-Martínez, S.; Ageron, M.; Albert, A.; Samarai, I. Al; André, M.; Anton, G.; Ardid, M.; Aubert, J.-J.; Baret, B.; Barrios-Martí, J.; Basa, S.; Bertin, V.; Biagi, S.; Bogazzi, C.; Bormuth, R.; Bou-Cabo, M.; Bouwhuis, M. C.; Bruijn, R.; Brunner, J.; Busto, J.; Capone, A.; Caramete, L.; Carr, J.; Chiarusi, T.; Circella, M.; Coniglione, R.; Costantini, H.; Coyle, P.; Creusot, A.; Dekeyser, I.; Deschamps, A.; De Bonis, G.; Distefano, C.; Donzaud, C.; Dornic, D.; Drouhin, D.; Dumas, A.; Eberl, T.; Elsässer, D.; Enzenhöfer, A.; Fehn, K.; Felis, I.; Fermani, P.; Folger, F.; Fusco, L. A.; Galatà, S.; Gay, P.; Geißelsöder, S.; Geyer, K.; Giordano, V.; Gleixner, A.; Gracia-Ruiz, R.; Graf, K.; van Haren, H.; Heijboer, A. J.; Hello, Y.; Hernández-Rey, J. J.; Herrero, A.; Hößl, J.; Hofestädt, J.; Hugon, C.; James, C. W.; de Jong, M.; Kadler, M.; Kalekin, O.; Katz, U.; Kießling, D.; Kooijman, P.; Kouchner, A.; Kreykenbohm, I.; Kulikovskiy, V.; Lahmann, R.; Lambard, G.; Lattuada, D.; Lefèvre, D.; Leonora, E.; Loucatos, S.; Mangano, S.; Marcelin, M.; Margiotta, A.; Martínez-Mora, J. A.; Martini, S.; Mathieu, A.; Michael, T.; Migliozzi, P.; Moussa, A.; Mueller, C.; Neff, M.; Nezri, E.; Păvălaš, G. E.; Pellegrino, C.; Perrina, C.; Piattelli, P.; Popa, V.; Pradier, T.; Racca, C.; Riccobene, G.; Richter, R.; Roensch, K.; Rostovtsev, A.; Saldaña, M.; Samtleben, D. F. E.; Sanguineti, M.; Sapienza, P.; Schmid, J.; Schnabel, J.; Schulte, S.; Schüssler, F.; Seitz, T.; Sieger, C.; Spurio, M.; Steijger, J. J. M.; Stolarczyk, Th.; Sánchez-Losa, A.; Taiuti, M.; Tamburini, C.; Trovato, A.; Tselengidou, M.; Tönnis, C.; Turpin, D.; Vallage, B.; Vallée, C.; Van Elewyck, V.; Vecchi, M.; Visser, E.; Vivolo, D.; Wagner, S.; Wilms, J.; Zornoza, J. D.; Zúñiga, J.; Klotz, A.; Boer, M.; Le Van Suu, A.; Akerlof, C.; Zheng, W.; Evans, P.; Gehrels, N.; Kennea, J.; Osborne, J. P.; Coward, D. M.

2016-02-01

High-energy neutrinos could be produced in the interaction of charged cosmic rays with matter or radiation surrounding astrophysical sources. Even with the recent detection of extraterrestrial high-energy neutrinos by the IceCube experiment, no astrophysical neutrino source has yet been discovered. Transient sources, such as gamma-ray bursts, core-collapse supernovae, or active galactic nuclei are promising candidates. Multi-messenger programs offer a unique opportunity to detect these transient sources. By combining the information provided by the ANTARES neutrino telescope with information coming from other observatories, the probability of detecting a source is enhanced, allowing the possibility of identifying a neutrino progenitor from a single detected event. A method based on optical and X-ray follow-ups of high-energy neutrino alerts has been developed within the ANTARES collaboration. This method does not require any assumptions on the relation between neutrino and photon spectra other than time-correlation. This program, denoted as TAToO, triggers a network of robotic optical telescopes (TAROT and ROTSE) and the Swift-XRT with a delay of only a few seconds after a neutrino detection, and is therefore well-suited to search for fast transient sources. To identify an optical or X-ray counterpart to a neutrino signal, the images provided by the follow-up observations are analysed with dedicated pipelines. A total of 42 alerts with optical and 7 alerts with X-ray images taken with a maximum delay of 24 hours after the neutrino trigger have been analysed. No optical or X-ray counterparts associated to the neutrino triggers have been found, and upper limits on transient source magnitudes have been derived. The probability to reject the gamma-ray burst origin hypothesis has been computed for each alert.

Optical and X-ray early follow-up of ANTARES neutrino alerts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Adrián-Martínez, S.; Ardid, M.; Ageron, M.

High-energy neutrinos could be produced in the interaction of charged cosmic rays with matter or radiation surrounding astrophysical sources. Even with the recent detection of extraterrestrial high-energy neutrinos by the IceCube experiment, no astrophysical neutrino source has yet been discovered. Transient sources, such as gamma-ray bursts, core-collapse supernovae, or active galactic nuclei are promising candidates. Multi-messenger programs offer a unique opportunity to detect these transient sources. By combining the information provided by the ANTARES neutrino telescope with information coming from other observatories, the probability of detecting a source is enhanced, allowing the possibility of identifying a neutrino progenitor from amore » single detected event. A method based on optical and X-ray follow-ups of high-energy neutrino alerts has been developed within the ANTARES collaboration. This method does not require any assumptions on the relation between neutrino and photon spectra other than time-correlation. This program, denoted as TAToO, triggers a network of robotic optical telescopes (TAROT and ROTSE) and the Swift-XRT with a delay of only a few seconds after a neutrino detection, and is therefore well-suited to search for fast transient sources. To identify an optical or X-ray counterpart to a neutrino signal, the images provided by the follow-up observations are analysed with dedicated pipelines. A total of 42 alerts with optical and 7 alerts with X-ray images taken with a maximum delay of 24 hours after the neutrino trigger have been analysed. No optical or X-ray counterparts associated to the neutrino triggers have been found, and upper limits on transient source magnitudes have been derived. The probability to reject the gamma-ray burst origin hypothesis has been computed for each alert.« less

Making electronic prescribing alerts more effective: scenario-based experimental study in junior doctors

PubMed Central

Shah, Priya; Wyatt, Jeremy C; Makubate, Boikanyo; Cross, Frank W

2011-01-01

Objective Expert authorities recommend clinical decision support systems to reduce prescribing error rates, yet large numbers of insignificant on-screen alerts presented in modal dialog boxes persistently interrupt clinicians, limiting the effectiveness of these systems. This study compared the impact of modal and non-modal electronic (e-) prescribing alerts on prescribing error rates, to help inform the design of clinical decision support systems. Design A randomized study of 24 junior doctors each performing 30 simulated prescribing tasks in random order with a prototype e-prescribing system. Using a within-participant design, doctors were randomized to be shown one of three types of e-prescribing alert (modal, non-modal, no alert) during each prescribing task. Measurements The main outcome measure was prescribing error rate. Structured interviews were performed to elicit participants' preferences for the prescribing alerts and their views on clinical decision support systems. Results Participants exposed to modal alerts were 11.6 times less likely to make a prescribing error than those not shown an alert (OR 11.56, 95% CI 6.00 to 22.26). Those shown a non-modal alert were 3.2 times less likely to make a prescribing error (OR 3.18, 95% CI 1.91 to 5.30) than those not shown an alert. The error rate with non-modal alerts was 3.6 times higher than with modal alerts (95% CI 1.88 to 7.04). Conclusions Both kinds of e-prescribing alerts significantly reduced prescribing error rates, but modal alerts were over three times more effective than non-modal alerts. This study provides new evidence about the relative effects of modal and non-modal alerts on prescribing outcomes. PMID:21836158

Real-time alerts and reminders using information systems.

PubMed

Wanderer, Jonathan P; Sandberg, Warren S; Ehrenfeld, Jesse M

2011-09-01

Adoption of information systems throughout the hospital environment has enabled the development of real-time physiologic alerts and clinician reminder systems. These clinical tools can be made available through the deployment of anesthesia information management systems (AIMS). Creating usable alert systems requires understanding of technical considerations. Various successful implementations are reviewed, encompassing cost reduction, improved revenue capture, timely antibiotic administration, and postoperative nausea and vomiting prophylaxis. Challenges to the widespread use of real-time alerts and reminders include AIMS adoption rates and the difficulty in choosing appropriate areas and approaches for information systems support. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Depressed mothers' infants are less responsive to faces and voices.

PubMed

Field, Tiffany; Diego, Miguel; Hernandez-Reif, Maria

2009-06-01

A review of our recent research suggests that infants of depressed mothers appeared to be less responsive to faces and voices as early as the neonatal period. At that time they have shown less orienting to the live face/voice stimulus of the Brazelton scale examiner and to their own and other infants' cry sounds. This lesser responsiveness has been attributed to higher arousal, less attentiveness and less "empathy." Their delayed heart rate decelerations to instrumental and vocal music sounds have also been ascribed to their delayed attention and/or slower processing. Later at 3-6 months they showed less negative responding to their mothers' non-contingent and still-face behavior, suggesting that they were more accustomed to this behavior in their mothers. The less responsive behavior of the depressed mothers was further compounded by their comorbid mood states of anger and anxiety and their difficult interaction styles including withdrawn or intrusive interaction styles and their later authoritarian parenting style. Pregnancy massage was effectively used to reduce prenatal depression and facilitate more optimal neonatal behavior. Interaction coaching was used during the postnatal period to help these dyads with their interactions and ultimately facilitate the infants' development.

78 FR 16806 - The Commercial Mobile Alert System

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-19

... FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 47 CFR Part 10 [PS Docket No. 07-287; DA 13-280] The Commercial Mobile Alert System AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission amends its rules to change the name of the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS...

Selective attention in perceptual adjustments to voice.

PubMed

Mullennix, J W; Howe, J N

1999-10-01

The effects of perceptual adjustments to voice information on the perception of isolated spoken words were examined. In two experiments, spoken target words were preceded or followed within a trial by a neutral word spoken in the same voice or in a different voice as the target. Over-all, words were reproduced more accurately on trials on which the voice of the neutral word matched the voice of the spoken target word, suggesting that perceptual adjustments to voice interfere with word processing. This result, however, was mediated by selective attention to voice. The results provide further evidence of a close processing relationship between perceptual adjustments to voice and spoken word recognition.

Loud and angry: sound intensity modulates amygdala activation to angry voices in social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Simon, Doerte; Becker, Michael; Mothes-Lasch, Martin; Miltner, Wolfgang H R; Straube, Thomas

2017-03-01

Angry expressions of both voices and faces represent disorder-relevant stimuli in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Although individuals with SAD show greater amygdala activation to angry faces, previous work has failed to find comparable effects for angry voices. Here, we investigated whether voice sound-intensity, a modulator of a voice's threat-relevance, affects brain responses to angry prosody in SAD. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore brain responses to voices varying in sound intensity and emotional prosody in SAD patients and healthy controls (HCs). Angry and neutral voices were presented either with normal or high sound amplitude, while participants had to decide upon the speaker's gender. Loud vs normal voices induced greater insula activation, and angry vs neutral prosody greater orbitofrontal cortex activation in SAD as compared with HC subjects. Importantly, an interaction of sound intensity, prosody and group was found in the insula and the amygdala. In particular, the amygdala showed greater activation to loud angry voices in SAD as compared with HC subjects. This finding demonstrates a modulating role of voice sound-intensity on amygdalar hyperresponsivity to angry prosody in SAD and suggests that abnormal processing of interpersonal threat signals in amygdala extends beyond facial expressions in SAD. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Loud and angry: sound intensity modulates amygdala activation to angry voices in social anxiety disorder

PubMed Central

Simon, Doerte; Becker, Michael; Mothes-Lasch, Martin; Miltner, Wolfgang H.R.

2017-01-01

Abstract Angry expressions of both voices and faces represent disorder-relevant stimuli in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Although individuals with SAD show greater amygdala activation to angry faces, previous work has failed to find comparable effects for angry voices. Here, we investigated whether voice sound-intensity, a modulator of a voice’s threat-relevance, affects brain responses to angry prosody in SAD. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore brain responses to voices varying in sound intensity and emotional prosody in SAD patients and healthy controls (HCs). Angry and neutral voices were presented either with normal or high sound amplitude, while participants had to decide upon the speaker’s gender. Loud vs normal voices induced greater insula activation, and angry vs neutral prosody greater orbitofrontal cortex activation in SAD as compared with HC subjects. Importantly, an interaction of sound intensity, prosody and group was found in the insula and the amygdala. In particular, the amygdala showed greater activation to loud angry voices in SAD as compared with HC subjects. This finding demonstrates a modulating role of voice sound-intensity on amygdalar hyperresponsivity to angry prosody in SAD and suggests that abnormal processing of interpersonal threat signals in amygdala extends beyond facial expressions in SAD. PMID:27651541

Experimental evaluation of candidate graphical microburst alert displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wanke, Craig R.; Hansman, R. John

1992-01-01

A piloted flight simulator experiment was conducted to evaluate issues related to the display of microburst alerts on electronic cockpit instrumentation. Issues addressed include display clarity, usefulness of multilevel microburst intensity information, and whether information from multiple sensors should be presented separately or 'fused' into combined alerts. Nine active airline pilots of 'glass cockpit' aircraft participated in the study. Microburst alerts presented on a moving map display were found to be visually clear and useful to pilots. Also, multilevel intensity information coded by colors or patterns was found to be important for decision making purposes. Pilot opinion was mixed on whether to 'fuse' data from multiple sensors, and some resulting design tradeoffs were identified. The positional information included in the graphical alert presentation was found useful by the pilots for planning lateral missed approach maneuvers, but may result in deviations which could interfere with normal airport operations. A number of flight crew training issues were also identified.

The development of emotion perception in face and voice during infancy.

PubMed

Grossmann, Tobias

2010-01-01

Interacting with others by reading their emotional expressions is an essential social skill in humans. How this ability develops during infancy and what brain processes underpin infants' perception of emotion in different modalities are the questions dealt with in this paper. Literature review. The first part provides a systematic review of behavioral findings on infants' developing emotion-reading abilities. The second part presents a set of new electrophysiological studies that provide insights into the brain processes underlying infants' developing abilities. Throughout, evidence from unimodal (face or voice) and multimodal (face and voice) processing of emotion is considered. The implications of the reviewed findings for our understanding of developmental models of emotion processing are discussed. The reviewed infant data suggest that (a) early in development, emotion enhances the sensory processing of faces and voices, (b) infants' ability to allocate increased attentional resources to negative emotional information develops earlier in the vocal domain than in the facial domain, and (c) at least by the age of 7 months, infants reliably match and recognize emotional information across face and voice.

Comparison of methods of alert acknowledgement by critical care clinicians in the ICU setting.

PubMed

Harrison, Andrew M; Thongprayoon, Charat; Aakre, Christopher A; Jeng, Jack Y; Dziadzko, Mikhail A; Gajic, Ognjen; Pickering, Brian W; Herasevich, Vitaly

2017-01-01

Electronic Health Record (EHR)-based sepsis alert systems have failed to demonstrate improvements in clinically meaningful endpoints. However, the effect of implementation barriers on the success of new sepsis alert systems is rarely explored. To test the hypothesis time to severe sepsis alert acknowledgement by critical care clinicians in the ICU setting would be reduced using an EHR-based alert acknowledgement system compared to a text paging-based system. In one arm of this simulation study, real alerts for patients in the medical ICU were delivered to critical care clinicians through the EHR. In the other arm, simulated alerts were delivered through text paging. The primary outcome was time to alert acknowledgement. The secondary outcomes were a structured, mixed quantitative/qualitative survey and informal group interview. The alert acknowledgement rate from the severe sepsis alert system was 3% ( N  = 148) and 51% ( N  = 156) from simulated severe sepsis alerts through traditional text paging. Time to alert acknowledgement from the severe sepsis alert system was median 274 min ( N  = 5) and median 2 min ( N  = 80) from text paging. The response rate from the EHR-based alert system was insufficient to compare primary measures. However, secondary measures revealed important barriers. Alert fatigue, interruption, human error, and information overload are barriers to alert and simulation studies in the ICU setting.

Comparison of methods of alert acknowledgement by critical care clinicians in the ICU setting

PubMed Central

Harrison, Andrew M.; Thongprayoon, Charat; Aakre, Christopher A.; Jeng, Jack Y.; Dziadzko, Mikhail A.; Gajic, Ognjen; Pickering, Brian W.

2017-01-01

Background Electronic Health Record (EHR)-based sepsis alert systems have failed to demonstrate improvements in clinically meaningful endpoints. However, the effect of implementation barriers on the success of new sepsis alert systems is rarely explored. Objective To test the hypothesis time to severe sepsis alert acknowledgement by critical care clinicians in the ICU setting would be reduced using an EHR-based alert acknowledgement system compared to a text paging-based system. Study Design In one arm of this simulation study, real alerts for patients in the medical ICU were delivered to critical care clinicians through the EHR. In the other arm, simulated alerts were delivered through text paging. The primary outcome was time to alert acknowledgement. The secondary outcomes were a structured, mixed quantitative/qualitative survey and informal group interview. Results The alert acknowledgement rate from the severe sepsis alert system was 3% (N = 148) and 51% (N = 156) from simulated severe sepsis alerts through traditional text paging. Time to alert acknowledgement from the severe sepsis alert system was median 274 min (N = 5) and median 2 min (N = 80) from text paging. The response rate from the EHR-based alert system was insufficient to compare primary measures. However, secondary measures revealed important barriers. Conclusion Alert fatigue, interruption, human error, and information overload are barriers to alert and simulation studies in the ICU setting. PMID:28316887

Alertness management in two-person long-haul flight operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosekind, M. R.; Gander, P. H.

1992-01-01

Long-haul flight operations involve cumulative sleep loss, circadian disruption, and extended and irregular duty schedules. These factors reduce pilot alertness and performance on the flightdeck. Conceptually and operationally, alertness management in flight operations can be divided into preventive strategies and operational countermeasures. Preventive strategies are utilized prior to a duty period to mitigate or reduce the effects of sleep loss, circadian disruption and fatigue during subsequent flight operations. Operational countermeasures are used during operations as acute techniques for maintaining performance and alertness. Results from previous NASA Ames field studies document the sleep loss and circadian disruption in three-person long-haul flying and illustrate the application of preventive strategies and operational countermeasures. One strategy that can be used in both a preventive and operational manner is strategic napping. The application and effectiveness of strategic napping in long-haul operations will be discussed. Finally, long-haul flying in two-person highly automated aircraft capable of extended range operations will create new challenges to maintaining pilot alertness and performance. Alertness management issues in this flight environment will be explored.

Swinging at a cocktail party: voice familiarity aids speech perception in the presence of a competing voice.

PubMed

Johnsrude, Ingrid S; Mackey, Allison; Hakyemez, Hélène; Alexander, Elizabeth; Trang, Heather P; Carlyon, Robert P

2013-10-01

People often have to listen to someone speak in the presence of competing voices. Much is known about the acoustic cues used to overcome this challenge, but almost nothing is known about the utility of cues derived from experience with particular voices--cues that may be particularly important for older people and others with impaired hearing. Here, we use a version of the coordinate-response-measure procedure to show that people can exploit knowledge of a highly familiar voice (their spouse's) not only to track it better in the presence of an interfering stranger's voice, but also, crucially, to ignore it so as to comprehend a stranger's voice more effectively. Although performance declines with increasing age when the target voice is novel, there is no decline when the target voice belongs to the listener's spouse. This finding indicates that older listeners can exploit their familiarity with a speaker's voice to mitigate the effects of sensory and cognitive decline.

Acoustic and perceptual characteristics of the voice in patients with vocal polyps after surgery and voice therapy.

PubMed

Petrovic-Lazic, Mirjana; Jovanovic, Nadica; Kulic, Milan; Babac, Snezana; Jurisic, Vladimir

2015-03-01

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of endolaryngeal phonomicrosurgery (EPM) and voice therapy in patients with vocal fold polyps using perceptual and acoustic analysis before and after both therapies. The acoustic tests and perceptual evaluation of voice were carried out on 41 female patients with vocal fold polyp before and after EPM and voice therapy. Both therapy strategies were performed. Used acoustic parameters were Jitter percent (Jitt), pitch perturbation quotient (PPQ), shimmer percent (Shim), amplitude perturbation quotient (APQ), fundamental frequency variation (vF0), noise-to-harmonic ratio (NHR), Voice Turbulence Index (VTI). For perceptual evaluation, GRB scale was used. Results indicated higher values of investigated parameters in patients' group than in the control group (P < 0.01). Good correlation between the perceptual hoarseness factors of GRB scale and objective acoustic voice parameters were observed. All analyzed acoustic parameters improved after the phonomicrosurgery and voice therapy and tend to approach to values of the control group. For Jitt percent, Shim percent, vF0, VTI, and NHR, there were statistically significant differences. Perceptual voice evaluation revealed statistically significantly (P < 0.01) decreased rating of G (grade), R (rough) and B (breathy) after surgery and voice therapy. Our data indicated that both acoustic and perceptual characteristic of voice in patients with vocal polyps significantly improved after phonomicrosurgical and voice treatment. Copyright © 2015 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bilingual Voicing: A Study of Code-Switching in the Reported Speech of Finnish Immigrants in Estonia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frick, Maria; Riionheimo, Helka

2013-01-01

Through a conversation analytic investigation of Finnish-Estonian bilingual (direct) reported speech (i.e., voicing) by Finns who live in Estonia, this study shows how code-switching is used as a double contextualization device. The code-switched voicings are shaped by the on-going interactional situation, serving its needs by opening up a context…

Voice amplification versus vocal hygiene instruction for teachers with voice disorders: a treatment outcomes study.

PubMed

Roy, Nelson; Weinrich, Barbara; Gray, Steven D; Tanner, Kristine; Toledo, Sue Walker; Dove, Heather; Corbin-Lewis, Kim; Stemple, Joseph C

2002-08-01

Voice problems are common among schoolteachers. This prospective, randomized clinical trial used patient-based treatment outcomes measures combined with acoustic analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of two treatment programs. Forty-four voice-disordered teachers were randomly assigned to one of three groups: voice amplification using the ChatterVox portable amplifier (VA, n = 15), vocal hygiene (VH, n = 15), and a nontreatment control group (n = 14). Before and after a 6-week treatment phase, all teachers completed: (a) the Voice Handicap Index (VHI), an instrument designed to appraise the self-perceived psychosocial consequences of voice disorders; (b) a voice severity self-rating scale; and (c) an audiorecording for later acoustic analysis. Based on pre- and posttreatment comparisons, only the amplification group experienced significant reductions on mean VHI scores (p = .045), voice severity self-ratings (p = .012), and the acoustic measures of percent jitter (p = .031) and shimmer (p = .008). The nontreatment control group reported a significant increase in level of vocal handicap as assessed by the VHI (p = .012). Although most pre- to posttreatment changes were in the desired direction, no significant improvements were observed within the VH group on any of the dependent measures. Between-group comparisons involving the three possible pairings of the groups revealed a pattern of results to suggest that: (a) compared to the control group, both treatment groups (i.e., VA and VH) experienced significantly more improvement on specific outcomes measures and (b) there were no significant differences between the VA and VH groups to indicate superiority of one treatment over another. Results, however, from a posttreatment questionnaire regarding the perceived benefits of treatment revealed that, compared to the VH group, the VA group reported more clarity of their speaking and singing voice (p = .061), greater ease of voice production (p = .001), and greater

An Evaluation of Alert Services: Quantity versus Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zandian, Fatemeh; Riahinia, Nosrat; Azimi, Ali; Poursalehi, Nastaran

2010-01-01

Purpose: Online information vendors currently offer a variety of additional services; among these are alert services which present requested information on recent publications to registered users. This paper aims to investigate a variety of alert services provided by four online information vendors. Design/methodology/approach: A comparison of the…

[Detection of Brucella with an automatic hemoculture system: Bact/Alert].

PubMed

Casas, J; Partal, Y; Llosá, J; Leiva, J; Navarro, J M; de la Rosa, M

1994-12-01

The ability of in vitro and in vivo detection of Brucella spp. with the Bact/Alert system was studied. Three strains of Brucella melitensis and two of Brucella abortus were used. Different dilutions of the five strains were performed in trypticase soy broth (TSB), achieving concentrations of 1 cfu/ml, 5 cfu/ml, 10 cfu/ml and 100 cfu/ml. Ten ml of each dilution and strain were inoculated into 5 aerobic bottles Bact/Alert and 5 biphasic Hemóline bottles. Furthermore, over a 9 month period, 8,216 bottles of Bact/Alert bottles from hospitalized patients and from the emergency department were processed in the authors' laboratory. The mean detection time for Brucella growth was from 2 to 3 days with the Bact/Alert system, and 14 days in the biphasic bottles. Former bottles processed in the authors' laboratory, 11 aerobic bottles belonged to 5 patients in whom brucelosis was confirmed by bloodculture. The Bact/Alert system detected Brucella melitensis in only on bottle at 2.9 days of incubation. In 7 bottles Bact/Alert detected B. melitensis by a blind pass of these bottles at 10 to 20 days of incubation. These results suggest that the Bact/Alert system does not totally solve the diagnosis of brucellosis. Blind passes of the bloodcultures are required.

The Organizational Voice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Inkster, Bob

This overview of an English course, "Writing for Government, Business, and Industry" (listed as English 339 at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota), emphasizes the essential elements of audience and voice. Composition theorists' assertion that the absence of voice is symptomatic of a profound developmental deficit (suggesting an…

The agile alert system for gamma-ray transients

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bulgarelli, A.; Trifoglio, M.; Gianotti, F.

2014-01-20

In recent years, a new generation of space missions has offered great opportunities for discovery in high-energy astrophysics. In this article we focus on the scientific operations of the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID) on board the AGILE space mission. AGILE-GRID, sensitive in the energy range of 30 MeV-30 GeV, has detected many γ-ray transients of both galactic and extragalactic origin. This work presents the AGILE innovative approach to fast γ-ray transient detection, which is a challenging task and a crucial part of the AGILE scientific program. The goals are to describe (1) the AGILE Gamma-Ray Alert System, (2) a newmore » algorithm for blind search identification of transients within a short processing time, (3) the AGILE procedure for γ-ray transient alert management, and (4) the likelihood of ratio tests that are necessary to evaluate the post-trial statistical significance of the results. Special algorithms and an optimized sequence of tasks are necessary to reach our goal. Data are automatically analyzed at every orbital downlink by an alert pipeline operating on different timescales. As proper flux thresholds are exceeded, alerts are automatically generated and sent as SMS messages to cellular telephones, via e-mail, and via push notifications from an application for smartphones and tablets. These alerts are crosschecked with the results of two pipelines, and a manual analysis is performed. Being a small scientific-class mission, AGILE is characterized by optimization of both scientific analysis and ground-segment resources. The system is capable of generating alerts within two to three hours of a data downlink, an unprecedented reaction time in γ-ray astrophysics.« less

The AGILE Alert System for Gamma-Ray Transients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bulgarelli, A.; Trifoglio, M.; Gianotti, F.; Tavani, M.; Parmiggiani, N.; Fioretti, V.; Chen, A. W.; Vercellone, S.; Pittori, C.; Verrecchia, F.; Lucarelli, F.; Santolamazza, P.; Fanari, G.; Giommi, P.; Beneventano, D.; Argan, A.; Trois, A.; Scalise, E.; Longo, F.; Pellizzoni, A.; Pucella, G.; Colafrancesco, S.; Conforti, V.; Tempesta, P.; Cerone, M.; Sabatini, P.; Annoni, G.; Valentini, G.; Salotti, L.

2014-01-01

In recent years, a new generation of space missions has offered great opportunities for discovery in high-energy astrophysics. In this article we focus on the scientific operations of the Gamma-Ray Imaging Detector (GRID) on board the AGILE space mission. AGILE-GRID, sensitive in the energy range of 30 MeV-30 GeV, has detected many γ-ray transients of both galactic and extragalactic origin. This work presents the AGILE innovative approach to fast γ-ray transient detection, which is a challenging task and a crucial part of the AGILE scientific program. The goals are to describe (1) the AGILE Gamma-Ray Alert System, (2) a new algorithm for blind search identification of transients within a short processing time, (3) the AGILE procedure for γ-ray transient alert management, and (4) the likelihood of ratio tests that are necessary to evaluate the post-trial statistical significance of the results. Special algorithms and an optimized sequence of tasks are necessary to reach our goal. Data are automatically analyzed at every orbital downlink by an alert pipeline operating on different timescales. As proper flux thresholds are exceeded, alerts are automatically generated and sent as SMS messages to cellular telephones, via e-mail, and via push notifications from an application for smartphones and tablets. These alerts are crosschecked with the results of two pipelines, and a manual analysis is performed. Being a small scientific-class mission, AGILE is characterized by optimization of both scientific analysis and ground-segment resources. The system is capable of generating alerts within two to three hours of a data downlink, an unprecedented reaction time in γ-ray astrophysics.

Development of attention networks and their interactions in childhood.

PubMed

Pozuelos, Joan P; Paz-Alonso, Pedro M; Castillo, Alejandro; Fuentes, Luis J; Rueda, M Rosario

2014-10-01

In the present study, we investigated developmental trajectories of alerting, orienting, and executive attention networks and their interactions over childhood. Two cross-sectional experiments were conducted with different samples of 6- to 12-year-old children using modified versions of the attention network task (ANT). In Experiment 1 (N = 106), alerting and orienting cues were independently manipulated, thus allowing examination of interactions between these 2 networks, as well as between them and the executive attention network. In Experiment 2 (N = 159), additional changes were made to the task in order to foster exogenous orienting cues. Results from both studies consistently revealed separate developmental trajectories for each attention network. Children younger than 7 years exhibited stronger benefits from having an alerting auditory signal prior to the target presentation. Developmental changes in orienting were mostly observed on response accuracy between middle and late childhood, whereas executive attention showed increases in efficiency between 7 years and older ages, and further improvements in late childhood. Of importance, across both experiments, significant interactions between alerting and orienting, as well as between each of these and the executive attention network, were observed. Alerting cues led to speeding shifts of attention and enhancing orienting processes. Also, both alerting and orienting cues modulated the magnitude of the flanker interference effect. These findings inform current theoretical models of human attention and its development, characterizing for the first time, the age-related course of attention networks interactions that, present in adults, stem from further refinements over childhood.

Inadequate vocal hygiene habits associated with the presence of self-reported voice symptoms in telemarketers.

PubMed

Fuentes-López, Eduardo; Fuente, Adrian; Contreras, Karem V

2017-12-18

The aim of this study is to determine possible associations between vocal hygiene habits and self-reported vocal symptoms in telemarketers. A cross-sectional study that included 79 operators from call centres in Chile was carried out. Their vocal hygiene habits and self-reported symptoms were investigated using a validated and reliable questionnaire created for the purposes of this study. Forty-five percent of telemarketers reported having one or more vocal symptoms. Among them, 16.46% reported that their voices tense up when talking and 10.13% needed to clear their throat to make their voices clearer. Five percent mentioned that they always talk without taking a break and 40.51% reported using their voices in noisy environments. The number of working hours per day and inadequate vocal hygiene habits were associated with the presence of self-reported symptoms. Additionally, an interaction between the use of the voice in noisy environments and not taking breaks during the day was observed. Finally, the frequency of inadequate vocal hygiene habits was associated with the number of symptoms reported. Using the voice in noisy environments and talking without taking breaks were both associated with the presence of specific vocal symptoms. This study provides some evidence about the interaction between these two inadequate vocal hygiene habits that potentiates vocal symptoms.

The relation of vocal fold lesions and voice quality to voice handicap and psychosomatic well-being.

PubMed

Smits, R; Marres, H; de Jong, Felix

2012-07-01

Voice disorders have a multifactorial genesis and may be present in various ways. They can cause a significant communication handicap and impaired quality of life. To assess the effect of vocal fold lesions and voice quality on voice handicap and psychosomatic well-being. Female patients, aged 18-65 years, who were referred to the outpatient clinic with voice problems were subsequently assessed. Laryngostroboscopic examination and acoustic voice analysis were carried out, and the patients were asked to fill in the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) and Symptom Check List-90 questionnaires. Eighty-two patients were included. In 43 patients (52.4%), a vocal fold lesion was observed. The VHI and psychosomatic well-being did not differ significantly between patients with and without a vocal fold lesion. The patients with a vocal fold lesion showed lower scores on the Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI) compared with those without a vocal fold lesion. However, the DSI was not correlated with voice handicap and psychosomatic well-being, except for the VHI physical subscale. Objective measurement does not necessarily correlate with the subjective appraisal of the patient's voice handicap and psychosomatic well-being. Furthermore, the criterion of the presence of a vocal fold lesion as the base of indemnity that is applied by health insurance institutions should be questioned. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Computerized pharmacy surveillance and alert system for drug-related problems.

PubMed

Ferrández, O; Urbina, O; Grau, S; Mateu-de-Antonio, J; Marin-Casino, M; Portabella, J; Mojal, S; Riu, M; Salas, E

2017-04-01

Because of the impact of drug-related problems (DRPs) on morbidity and mortality, there is a need for computerized strategies to increase drug safety. The detection and identification of the causes of potential DRPs can be facilitated by the incorporation of a pharmacy warning system (PWS) in the computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) and its application in the routine validation of inpatient drug therapy. A limited number of studies have evaluated a clinical decision support system to monitor drug treatment. Most of these applications have utilized a small range of drugs with alerts and/or types of alert. The objective of this study was to describe the implementation of a PWS integrated in the electronic medical record (EMR). The PWS was developed in 2003-2004. Pharmacological information to generate drug alerts was entered on demographic data, drug dosage, laboratory tests related to the prescribed drug and drug combinations (interactions, duplications and necessary combinations). The PWS was applied in the prescription reviews conducted in patients admitted to the hospital in 2012. Information on 83% of the drugs included in the pharmacopeia was introduced into the PWS, allowing detection of 2808 potential DRPs, representing 79·1% of all potential DRPs detected during the study period. Twenty per cent of PWS DRPs were clinically relevant, requiring pharmacist intervention. The PWS detected most potential DRPs, thus increasing inpatient safety. The detection ability of the PWS was higher than that reported for other tools described in the literature. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Thermodynamic Alerter for Microbursts (TAMP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eccles, Peter J.

1991-01-01

The following subject areas are covered: microburst detection, location and measurement; thermal alerter for microbursts prototypes (TAMP); sensor-transmitters (Senstrans) design; TAMP installation; and DAPAD software.

14 CFR 23.1457 - Cockpit voice recorders.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Cockpit voice recorders. 23.1457 Section 23... Equipment § 23.1457 Cockpit voice recorders. (a) Each cockpit voice recorder required by the operating rules...) Voice communications transmitted from or received in the airplane by radio. (2) Voice communications of...

Crossing Cultures with Multi-Voiced Journals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Styslinger, Mary E.; Whisenant, Alison

2004-01-01

In this article, the authors discuss the benefits of using multi-voiced journals as a teaching strategy in reading instruction. Multi-voiced journals, an adaptation of dual-voiced journals, encourage responses to reading in varied, cultured voices of characters. It is similar to reading journals in that they prod students to connect to the lives…

Collaborative knowledge acquisition for the design of context-aware alert systems.

PubMed

Joffe, Erel; Havakuk, Ofer; Herskovic, Jorge R; Patel, Vimla L; Bernstam, Elmer Victor

2012-01-01

To present a framework for combining implicit knowledge acquisition from multiple experts with machine learning and to evaluate this framework in the context of anemia alerts. Five internal medicine residents reviewed 18 anemia alerts, while 'talking aloud'. They identified features that were reviewed by two or more physicians to determine appropriate alert level, etiology and treatment recommendation. Based on these features, data were extracted from 100 randomly-selected anemia cases for a training set and an additional 82 cases for a test set. Two staff internists assigned an alert level, etiology and treatment recommendation before and after reviewing the entire electronic medical record. The training set of 118 cases (100 plus 18) and the test set of 82 cases were explored using RIDOR and JRip algorithms. The feature set was sufficient to assess 93% of anemia cases (intraclass correlation for alert level before and after review of the records by internists 1 and 2 were 0.92 and 0.95, respectively). High-precision classifiers were constructed to identify low-level alerts (precision p=0.87, recall R=0.4), iron deficiency (p=1.0, R=0.73), and anemia associated with kidney disease (p=0.87, R=0.77). It was possible to identify low-level alerts and several conditions commonly associated with chronic anemia. This approach may reduce the number of clinically unimportant alerts. The study was limited to anemia alerts. Furthermore, clinicians were aware of the study hypotheses potentially biasing their evaluation. Implicit knowledge acquisition, collaborative filtering and machine learning were combined automatically to induce clinically meaningful and precise decision rules.

Analysis of UAS DAA Alerting in Fast-Time Simulations without DAA Mitigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thipphavong, David P.; Santiago, Confesor; Isaacson, Douglas R.; Lee, Seung Man; Park, Chunki; Refai, Mohamad Said; Snow, James

2015-01-01

Realization of the expected proliferation of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operations in the National Airspace System (NAS) depends on the development and validation of performance standards for UAS Detect and Avoid (DAA) Systems. The RTCA Special Committee 228 is charged with leading the development of draft Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for UAS DAA Systems. NASA, as a participating member of RTCA SC-228 is committed to supporting the development and validation of draft requirements for DAA alerting system performance. A recent study conducted using NASA's ACES (Airspace Concept Evaluation System) simulation capability begins to address questions surrounding the development of draft MOPS for DAA alerting systems. ACES simulations were conducted to study the performance of alerting systems proposed by the SC-228 DAA Alerting sub-group. Analysis included but was not limited to: 1) correct alert (and timeliness), 2) false alert (and severity and duration), 3) missed alert, and 4) probability of an alert type at the time of loss of well clear. The performance of DAA alerting systems when using intent vs. dead-reckoning for UAS ownship trajectories was also compared. The results will be used by SC-228 to inform decisions about the surveillance standards of UAS DAA systems and future requirements development and validation efforts.

Static Analysis Alert Audits: Lexicon and Rules

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-11-04

collaborators • Includes a standard set of well-defined determinations for static analysis alerts • Includes a set of auditing rules to help auditors make...consistent decisions in commonly-encountered situations Different auditors should make the same determination for a given alert! Improve the quality and...scenarios • Establish assumptions auditors can make • Overall: help make audit determinations more consistent We developed 12 rules • Drew on our own

Human voice quality measurement in noisy environments.

PubMed

Ueng, Shyh-Kuang; Luo, Cheng-Ming; Tsai, Tsung-Yu; Yeh, Hsuan-Chen

2015-01-01

Computerized acoustic voice measurement is essential for the diagnosis of vocal pathologies. Previous studies showed that ambient noises have significant influences on the accuracy of voice quality assessment. This paper presents a voice quality assessment system that can accurately measure qualities of voice signals, even though the input voice data are contaminated by low-frequency noises. The ambient noises in our living rooms and laboratories are collected and the frequencies of these noises are analyzed. Based on the analysis, a filter is designed to reduce noise level of the input voice signal. Then, improved numerical algorithms are employed to extract voice parameters from the voice signal to reveal the health of the voice signal. Compared with MDVP and Praat, the proposed method outperforms these two widely used programs in measuring fundamental frequency and harmonic-to-noise ratio, and its performance is comparable to these two famous programs in computing jitter and shimmer. The proposed voice quality assessment method is resistant to low-frequency noises and it can measure human voice quality in environments filled with noises from air-conditioners, ceiling fans and cooling fans of computers.

Interventions for preventing voice disorders in adults.

PubMed

Ruotsalainen, J H; Sellman, J; Lehto, L; Jauhiainen, M; Verbeek, J H

2007-10-17

Poor voice quality due to a voice disorder can lead to a reduced quality of life. In occupations where voice use is substantial it can lead to periods of absence from work. To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to prevent voice disorders in adults. We searched MEDLINE (PubMed, 1950 to 2006), EMBASE (1974 to 2006), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library, Issue 2 2006), CINAHL (1983 to 2006), PsychINFO (1967 to 2006), Science Citation Index (1986 to 2006) and the Occupational Health databases OSH-ROM (to 2006). The date of the last search was 05/04/06. Randomised controlled clinical trials (RCTs) of interventions evaluating the effectiveness of treatments to prevent voice disorders in adults. For work-directed interventions interrupted time series and prospective cohort studies were also eligible. Two authors independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. Meta-analysis was performed where appropriate. We identified two randomised controlled trials including a total of 53 participants in intervention groups and 43 controls. One study was conducted with teachers and the other with student teachers. Both trials were poor quality. Interventions were grouped into 1) direct voice training, 2) indirect voice training and 3) direct and indirect voice training combined.1) Direct voice training: One study did not find a significant decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for direct voice training compared to no intervention.2) Indirect voice training: One study did not find a significant decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for indirect voice training when compared to no intervention.3) Direct and indirect voice training combined: One study did not find a decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for direct and indirect voice training combined when compared to no intervention. The same study did however find an improvement in maximum phonation time (Mean Difference -3.18 sec; 95 % CI -4.43 to -1.93) for direct and indirect voice training combined when compared to no

Correlation of VHI-10 to voice laboratory measurements across five common voice disorders.

PubMed

Gillespie, Amanda I; Gooding, William; Rosen, Clark; Gartner-Schmidt, Jackie

2014-07-01

To correlate change in Voice Handicap Index (VHI)-10 scores with corresponding voice laboratory measures across five voice disorders. Retrospective study. One hundred fifty patients aged >18 years with primary diagnosis of vocal fold lesions, primary muscle tension dysphonia-1, atrophy, unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP), and scar. For each group, participants with the largest change in VHI-10 between two periods (TA and TB) were selected. The dates of the VHI-10 values were linked to corresponding acoustic/aerodynamic and audio-perceptual measures. Change in voice laboratory values were analyzed for correlation with each other and with VHI-10. VHI-10 scores were greater for patients with UVFP than other disorders. The only disorder-specific correlation between voice laboratory measure and VHI-10 was average phonatory airflow in speech for patients with UVFP. Average airflow in repeated phonemes was strongly correlated with average airflow in speech (r=0.75). Acoustic measures did not significantly change between time points. The lack of correlations between the VHI-10 change scores and voice laboratory measures may be due to differing constructs of each measure; namely, handicap versus physiological function. Presuming corroboration between these measures may be faulty. Average airflow in speech may be the most ecologically valid measure for patients with UVFP. Although aerodynamic measures changed between the time points, acoustic measures did not. Correlations to VHI-10 and change between time points may be found with other acoustic measures. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

R&D Alert. Volume 7, Number 2, 2005

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Noel, Ed.

2005-01-01

"R&D Alert" covers issues affecting schools in the Western Regional Educational Laboratory's four-state region--Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah--and throughout the United States. This issue of "R&D Alert" shares what WestEd is learning from a sample of their latest work, focusing on three points in the process:…

Measuring positive and negative affect in the voiced sounds of African elephants (Loxodonta africana).

PubMed

Soltis, Joseph; Blowers, Tracy E; Savage, Anne

2011-02-01

As in other mammals, there is evidence that the African elephant voice reflects affect intensity, but it is less clear if positive and negative affective states are differentially reflected in the voice. An acoustic comparison was made between African elephant "rumble" vocalizations produced in negative social contexts (dominance interactions), neutral social contexts (minimal social activity), and positive social contexts (affiliative interactions) by four adult females housed at Disney's Animal Kingdom®. Rumbles produced in the negative social context exhibited higher and more variable fundamental frequencies (F(0)) and amplitudes, longer durations, increased voice roughness, and higher first formant locations (F1), compared to the neutral social context. Rumbles produced in the positive social context exhibited similar shifts in most variables (F(0 )variation, amplitude, amplitude variation, duration, and F1), but the magnitude of response was generally less than that observed in the negative context. Voice roughness and F(0) observed in the positive social context remained similar to that observed in the neutral context. These results are most consistent with the vocal expression of affect intensity, in which the negative social context elicited higher intensity levels than the positive context, but differential vocal expression of positive and negative affect cannot be ruled out.

Tracking wakefulness as it fades: Micro-measures of alertness.

PubMed

Jagannathan, Sridhar R; Ezquerro-Nassar, Alejandro; Jachs, Barbara; Pustovaya, Olga V; Bareham, Corinne A; Bekinschtein, Tristan A

2018-08-01

A major problem in psychology and physiology experiments is drowsiness: around a third of participants show decreased wakefulness despite being instructed to stay alert. In some non-visual experiments participants keep their eyes closed throughout the task, thus promoting the occurrence of such periods of varying alertness. These wakefulness changes contribute to systematic noise in data and measures of interest. To account for this omnipresent problem in data acquisition we defined criteria and code to allow researchers to detect and control for varying alertness in electroencephalography (EEG) experiments under eyes-closed settings. We first revise a visual-scoring method developed for detection and characterization of the sleep-onset process, and adapt the same for detection of alertness levels. Furthermore, we show the major issues preventing the practical use of this method, and overcome these issues by developing an automated method (micro-measures algorithm) based on frequency and sleep graphoelements, which are capable of detecting micro variations in alertness. The validity of the micro-measures algorithm was verified by training and testing using a dataset where participants are known to fall asleep. In addition, we tested generalisability by independent validation on another dataset. The methods developed constitute a unique tool to assess micro variations in levels of alertness and control trial-by-trial retrospectively or prospectively in every experiment performed with EEG in cognitive neuroscience under eyes-closed settings. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Quantitative analysis of professionally trained versus untrained voices.

PubMed

Siupsinskiene, Nora

2003-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare healthy trained and untrained voices as well as healthy and dysphonic trained voices in adults using combined voice range profile and aerodynamic tests, to define the normal range limiting values of quantitative voice parameters and to select the most informative quantitative voice parameters for separation between healthy and dysphonic trained voices. Three groups of persons were evaluated. One hundred eighty six healthy volunteers were divided into two groups according to voice training: non-professional speakers group consisted of 106 untrained voices persons (36 males and 70 females) and professional speakers group--of 80 trained voices persons (21 males and 59 females). Clinical group consisted of 103 dysphonic professional speakers (23 males and 80 females) with various voice disorders. Eighteen quantitative voice parameters from combined voice range profile (VRP) test were analyzed: 8 of voice range profile, 8 of speaking voice, overall vocal dysfunction degree and coefficient of sound, and aerodynamic maximum phonation time. Analysis showed that healthy professional speakers demonstrated expanded vocal abilities in comparison to healthy non-professional speakers. Quantitative voice range profile parameters- pitch range, high frequency limit, area of high frequencies and coefficient of sound differed significantly between healthy professional and non-professional voices, and were more informative than speaking voice or aerodynamic parameters in showing the voice training. Logistic stepwise regression revealed that VRP area in high frequencies was sufficient to discriminate between healthy and dysphonic professional speakers for male subjects (overall discrimination accuracy--81.8%) and combination of three quantitative parameters (VRP high frequency limit, maximum voice intensity and slope of speaking curve) for female subjects (overall model discrimination accuracy--75.4%). We concluded that quantitative voice assessment