Computer-based training for safety: comparing methods with older and younger workers.

PubMed

Wallen, Erik S; Mulloy, Karen B

2006-01-01

Computer-based safety training is becoming more common and is being delivered to an increasingly aging workforce. Aging results in a number of changes that make it more difficult to learn from certain types of computer-based training. Instructional designs derived from cognitive learning theories may overcome some of these difficulties. Three versions of computer-based respiratory safety training were shown to older and younger workers who then took a high and a low level learning test. Younger workers did better overall. Both older and younger workers did best with the version containing text with pictures and audio narration. Computer-based training with pictures and audio narration may be beneficial for workers over 45 years of age. Computer-based safety training has advantages but workers of different ages may benefit differently. Computer-based safety programs should be designed and selected based on their ability to effectively train older as well as younger learners.

Telemedicine in emergency evaluation of acute stroke: interrater agreement in remote video examination with a novel multimedia system.

PubMed

Handschu, René; Littmann, Rebekka; Reulbach, Udo; Gaul, Charly; Heckmann, Josef G; Neundörfer, Bernhard; Scibor, Mateusz

2003-12-01

In acute stroke care, rapid but careful evaluation of patients is mandatory but requires an experienced stroke neurologist. Telemedicine offers the possibility of bringing such expertise quickly to more patients. This study tested for the first time whether remote video examination is feasible and reliable when applied in emergency stroke care using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). We used a novel multimedia telesupport system for transfer of real-time video sequences and audio data. The remote examiner could direct the set-top camera and zoom from distant overviews to close-ups from the personal computer in his office. Acute stroke patients admitted to our stroke unit were examined on admission in the emergency room. Standardized examination was performed by use of the NIHSS (German version) via telemedicine and compared with bedside application. In this pilot study, 41 patients were examined. Total examination time was 11.4 minutes on average (range, 8 to 18 minutes). None of the examinations had to be stopped or interrupted for technical reasons, although minor problems (brightness, audio quality) with influence on the examination process occurred in 2 sessions. Unweighted kappa coefficients ranged from 0.44 to 0.89; weighted kappa coefficients, from 0.85 to 0.99. Remote examination of acute stroke patients with a computer-based telesupport system is feasible and reliable when applied in the emergency room; interrater agreement was good to excellent in all items. For more widespread use, some problems that emerge from details like brightness, optimal camera position, and audio quality should be solved.

Toward a Better Implementation of the Audio-Lingual Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valdman, Albert

1970-01-01

Revised version of a paper presented at the Fifth Symposium of the PILEI, Programa Interamericano de Linguistica y Ensenanza de Idiomas (Inter-American Program on Linguistics and Foreign Language Instruction), Sao Paolo, Brazil, January 11, 1969. (DS)

The effect of context and audio-visual modality on emotions elicited by a musical performance

PubMed Central

Coutinho, Eduardo; Scherer, Klaus R.

2016-01-01

In this work, we compared emotions induced by the same performance of Schubert Lieder during a live concert and in a laboratory viewing/listening setting to determine the extent to which laboratory research on affective reactions to music approximates real listening conditions in dedicated performances. We measured emotions experienced by volunteer members of an audience that attended a Lieder recital in a church (Context 1) and emotional reactions to an audio-video-recording of the same performance in a university lecture hall (Context 2). Three groups of participants were exposed to three presentation versions in Context 2: (1) an audio-visual recording, (2) an audio-only recording, and (3) a video-only recording. Participants achieved statistically higher levels of emotional convergence in the live performance than in the laboratory context, and the experience of particular emotions was determined by complex interactions between auditory and visual cues in the performance. This study demonstrates the contribution of the performance setting and the performers’ appearance and nonverbal expression to emotion induction by music, encouraging further systematic research into the factors involved. PMID:28781419

The impact of modality and working memory capacity on achievement in a multimedia environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stromfors, Charlotte M.

This study explored the impact of working memory capacity and student learning in a dual modality, multimedia environment titled Visualizing Topography. This computer-based instructional program focused on the basic skills in reading and interpreting topographic maps. Two versions of the program presented the same instructional content but varied the modality of verbal information: the audio-visual condition coordinated topographic maps and narration; the visual-visual condition provided the same topographic maps with readable text. An analysis of covariance procedure was conducted to evaluate the effects due to the two conditions in relation to working memory capacity, controlling for individual differences in spatial visualization and prior knowledge. The scores on the Figural Intersection Test were used to separate subjects into three levels in terms of their measured working memory capacity: low, medium, and high. Subjects accessed Visualizing Topography by way of the Internet and proceeded independently through the program. The program architecture was linear in format. Subjects had a minimum amount of flexibility within each of five segments, but not between segments. One hundred and fifty-one subjects were randomly assigned to either the audio-visual or the visual-visual condition. The average time spent in the program was thirty-one minutes. The results of the ANCOVA revealed a small to moderate modality effect favoring an audio-visual condition. The results also showed that subjects with low and medium working capacity benefited more from the audio-visual condition than the visual-visual condition, while subjects with a high working memory capacity did not benefit from either condition. Although splitting the data reduced group sizes, ANCOVA results by gender suggested that the audio-visual condition favored females with low working memory capacities. The results have implications for designers of educational software, the teachers who select software, and the students themselves. Splitting information into two, non-redundant sources, one audio and one visual, may effectively extend working memory capacity. This is especially significant for the student population encountering difficult science concepts that require the formation and manipulation of mental representations. It is recommended that multimedia environments be designed or selected with attention to modality conditions that facilitate student learning.

Portrayed emotions in the movie "Forrest Gump"

PubMed Central

Boennen, Manuel; Mareike, Gehrke; Golz, Madleen; Hartigs, Benita; Hoffmann, Nico; Keil, Sebastian; Perlow, Malú; Peukmann, Anne Katrin; Rabe, Lea Noell; von Sobbe, Franca-Rosa; Hanke, Michael

2015-01-01

Here we present a dataset with a description of portrayed emotions in the movie ”Forrest Gump”. A total of 12 observers independently annotated emotional episodes regarding their temporal location and duration. The nature of an emotion was characterized with basic attributes, such as arousal and valence, as well as explicit emotion category labels. In addition, annotations include a record of the perceptual evidence for the presence of an emotion. Two variants of the movie were annotated separately: 1) an audio-movie version of Forrest Gump that has been used as a stimulus for the acquisition of a large public functional brain imaging dataset, and 2) the original audio-visual movie. We present reliability and consistency estimates that suggest that both stimuli can be used to study visual and auditory emotion cue processing in real-life like situations. Raw annotations from all observers are publicly released in full in order to maximize their utility for a wide range of applications and possible future extensions. In addition, aggregate time series of inter-observer agreement with respect to particular attributes of portrayed emotions are provided to facilitate adoption of these data. PMID:25977755

AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF AUDIO-VISUAL METHODS--CHANGING ATTITUDES TOWARD EDUCATION.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LOWELL, EDGAR L.; AND OTHERS

AUDIOVISUAL PROGRAMS FOR PARENTS OF DEAF CHILDREN WERE DEVELOPED AND EVALUATED. EIGHTEEN SOUND FILMS AND ACCOMPANYING RECORDS PRESENTED INFORMATION ON HEARING, LIPREADING AND SPEECH, AND ATTEMPTED TO CHANGE PARENTAL ATTITUDES TOWARD CHILDREN AND SPOUSES. TWO VERSIONS OF THE FILMS AND RECORDS WERE NARRATED BY (1) "STARS" WHO WERE…

[Intermodal timing cues for audio-visual speech recognition].

PubMed

Hashimoto, Masahiro; Kumashiro, Masaharu

2004-06-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the limitations of lip-reading advantages for Japanese young adults by desynchronizing visual and auditory information in speech. In the experiment, audio-visual speech stimuli were presented under the six test conditions: audio-alone, and audio-visually with either 0, 60, 120, 240 or 480 ms of audio delay. The stimuli were the video recordings of a face of a female Japanese speaking long and short Japanese sentences. The intelligibility of the audio-visual stimuli was measured as a function of audio delays in sixteen untrained young subjects. Speech intelligibility under the audio-delay condition of less than 120 ms was significantly better than that under the audio-alone condition. On the other hand, the delay of 120 ms corresponded to the mean mora duration measured for the audio stimuli. The results implied that audio delays of up to 120 ms would not disrupt lip-reading advantage, because visual and auditory information in speech seemed to be integrated on a syllabic time scale. Potential applications of this research include noisy workplace in which a worker must extract relevant speech from all the other competing noises.

How actions shape perception: learning action-outcome relations and predicting sensory outcomes promote audio-visual temporal binding

PubMed Central

Desantis, Andrea; Haggard, Patrick

2016-01-01

To maintain a temporally-unified representation of audio and visual features of objects in our environment, the brain recalibrates audio-visual simultaneity. This process allows adjustment for both differences in time of transmission and time for processing of audio and visual signals. In four experiments, we show that the cognitive processes for controlling instrumental actions also have strong influence on audio-visual recalibration. Participants learned that right and left hand button-presses each produced a specific audio-visual stimulus. Following one action the audio preceded the visual stimulus, while for the other action audio lagged vision. In a subsequent test phase, left and right button-press generated either the same audio-visual stimulus as learned initially, or the pair associated with the other action. We observed recalibration of simultaneity only for previously-learned audio-visual outcomes. Thus, learning an action-outcome relation promotes temporal grouping of the audio and visual events within the outcome pair, contributing to the creation of a temporally unified multisensory object. This suggests that learning action-outcome relations and the prediction of perceptual outcomes can provide an integrative temporal structure for our experiences of external events. PMID:27982063

How actions shape perception: learning action-outcome relations and predicting sensory outcomes promote audio-visual temporal binding.

PubMed

Desantis, Andrea; Haggard, Patrick

2016-12-16

To maintain a temporally-unified representation of audio and visual features of objects in our environment, the brain recalibrates audio-visual simultaneity. This process allows adjustment for both differences in time of transmission and time for processing of audio and visual signals. In four experiments, we show that the cognitive processes for controlling instrumental actions also have strong influence on audio-visual recalibration. Participants learned that right and left hand button-presses each produced a specific audio-visual stimulus. Following one action the audio preceded the visual stimulus, while for the other action audio lagged vision. In a subsequent test phase, left and right button-press generated either the same audio-visual stimulus as learned initially, or the pair associated with the other action. We observed recalibration of simultaneity only for previously-learned audio-visual outcomes. Thus, learning an action-outcome relation promotes temporal grouping of the audio and visual events within the outcome pair, contributing to the creation of a temporally unified multisensory object. This suggests that learning action-outcome relations and the prediction of perceptual outcomes can provide an integrative temporal structure for our experiences of external events.

Measuring verbal communication in initial physical therapy encounters.

PubMed

Roberts, Lisa C; Whittle, Christopher T; Cleland, Jennifer; Wald, Mike

2013-04-01

Communication in clinical encounters is vital in ensuring a positive experience and outcome for both patient and clinician. The purpose of this study was to measure verbal communication between physical therapists and patients with back pain during their initial consultation and trial management of the data using a novel, Web-based application. A cross-sectional study was conducted. Nine musculoskeletal physical therapists and 27 patients with back pain participated in this study. Twenty-five initial consultations were observed, audio recorded, and categorized using the Medical Communications Behavior System. Data were managed using Synote, a freely available application enabling synchronization of audio recordings with transcripts and coded notes. In this sample, physical therapists spoke for 49.5% of the encounter and patients for 33.1%. Providers and patients spent little time overtly discussing emotions (1.4% and 0.9%, respectively). More-experienced clinicians used more "history/background probes," more "advice/suggestion," and less "restatement" than less-experienced staff, although they demonstrated a greater prevalence of talking concurrently and interrupting patients (7.6% compared with 2.6%). Although studies measuring actual behavior are considered to be the gold standard, audio recordings do not enable nonverbal behaviors to be recorded. This study investigated a method for measuring the verbal content of clinical encounters in a physical therapy outpatient setting. The study has directly contributed to developing a research-friendly version of the application (i.e., Synote Researcher). Given the pivotal role of communication in ensuring a positive experience and outcome for both patient and provider, investing time in further developing communication skills should be an on-going priority for providers. Further work is needed to explore affective behaviors and the prevalence of interrupting patients, considering differences in sex and provider experience.

Sonic Boom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hurtig, Brent

1998-01-01

Reviews and evaluates Pro Tools 4.1, a multitrack digital audio workstation (DAWs) that imports and synchronizes to QuickTime or AVI digital movies. Audio-for-picture editors lock their digital audio workstations to linear videotape recorders, using complex, expensive time code synchronizers. Highlights Macintosh and Windows based alternatives.…

CPFP Video | Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program

Cancer.gov

The Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program (CPFP) trains future leaders in the field of cancer prevention and control. This video will highlight unique features of the CPFP through testimonials from current fellows and alumni, remarks from the director, and reflections from the Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention, NCI. Audio described version of the CPFP video

Unit: Micro-Organisms and Man, Inspection Pack, National Trial Print.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Australian Science Education Project, Toorak, Victoria.

This unit, intended for students in grades eight or nine, is a revised version of ED 053 990. The teacher's guide lists the aims of the unit, behavioral objectives, suitable references and audio-visual aids, required apparatus and materials, and provides teaching notes for each activity, including comments concerning microbiological techniques.…

How we give personalised audio feedback after summative OSCEs.

PubMed

Harrison, Christopher J; Molyneux, Adrian J; Blackwell, Sara; Wass, Valerie J

2015-04-01

Students often receive little feedback after summative objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) to enable them to improve their performance. Electronic audio feedback has shown promise in other educational areas. We investigated the feasibility of electronic audio feedback in OSCEs. An electronic OSCE system was designed, comprising (1) an application for iPads allowing examiners to mark in the key consultation skill domains, provide "tick-box" feedback identifying strengths and difficulties, and record voice feedback; (2) a feedback website giving students the opportunity to view/listen in multiple ways to the feedback. Acceptability of the audio feedback was investigated, using focus groups with students and questionnaires with both examiners and students. 87 (95%) students accessed the examiners' audio comments; 83 (90%) found the comments useful and 63 (68%) reported changing the way they perform a skill as a result of the audio feedback. They valued its highly personalised, relevant nature and found it much more useful than written feedback. Eighty-nine per cent of examiners gave audio feedback to all students on their stations. Although many found the method easy, lack of time was a factor. Electronic audio feedback provides timely, personalised feedback to students after a summative OSCE provided enough time is allocated to the process.

Interactive MPEG-4 low-bit-rate speech/audio transmission over the Internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Fang; Kim, JongWon; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

1999-11-01

The recently developed MPEG-4 technology enables the coding and transmission of natural and synthetic audio-visual data in the form of objects. In an effort to extend the object-based functionality of MPEG-4 to real-time Internet applications, architectural prototypes of multiplex layer and transport layer tailored for transmission of MPEG-4 data over IP are under debate among Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and MPEG-4 systems Ad Hoc group. In this paper, we present an architecture for interactive MPEG-4 speech/audio transmission system over the Internet. It utilities a framework of Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) over Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) to provide controlled, on-demand delivery of real time speech/audio data. Based on a client-server model, a couple of low bit-rate bit streams (real-time speech/audio, pre- encoded speech/audio) are multiplexed and transmitted via a single RTP channel to the receiver. The MPEG-4 Scene Description (SD) and Object Descriptor (OD) bit streams are securely sent through the RTSP control channel. Upon receiving, an initial MPEG-4 audio- visual scene is constructed after de-multiplexing, decoding of bit streams, and scene composition. A receiver is allowed to manipulate the initial audio-visual scene presentation locally, or interactively arrange scene changes by sending requests to the server. A server may also choose to update the client with new streams and list of contents for user selection.

Wistar-Kyoto rats as an animal model of anxiety vulnerability: support for a hypervigilance hypothesis.

PubMed

McAuley, J D; Stewart, A L; Webber, E S; Cromwell, H C; Servatius, R J; Pang, K C H

2009-12-01

Inbred Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats have been proposed as a model of anxiety vulnerability as they display behavioral inhibition and a constellation of learning and reactivity abnormalities relative to outbred Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Together, the behaviors of the WKY rat suggest a hypervigilant state that may contribute to its anxiety vulnerability. To test this hypothesis, open-field behavior, acoustic startle, pre-pulse inhibition and timing behavior were assessed in WKY and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Timing behavior was evaluated using a modified version of the peak-interval timing procedure. Training and testing of timing first occurred without audio-visual (AV) interference. Following this initial test, AV interference was included on some trials. Overall, WKY rats took much longer to leave the center of the arena, made fewer line crossings, and reared less, than did SD rats. WKY rats showed much greater startle responses to acoustic stimuli and significantly greater pre-pulse inhibition than did the SD rats. During timing conditions without AV interference, timing accuracy for both strains was similar; peak times for WKY and SD rats were not different. During interference conditions, however, the timing behavior of the two strains was very different. Whereas peak times for SD rats were similar between non-interference and interference conditions, peak times for WKY rats were shorter and response rates higher in interference conditions than in non-interference conditions. The enhanced acoustic startle response, greater prepulse inhibition and altered timing behavior with audio-visual interference supports a characterization of WKY strain as hypervigilant and provides further evidence for the use of the WKY strain as a model of anxiety vulnerability.

Activity Catalog Tool (ACT) user manual, version 2.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Segal, Leon D.; Andre, Anthony D.

1994-01-01

This report comprises the user manual for version 2.0 of the Activity Catalog Tool (ACT) software program, developed by Leon D. Segal and Anthony D. Andre in cooperation with NASA Ames Aerospace Human Factors Research Division, FLR branch. ACT is a software tool for recording and analyzing sequences of activity over time that runs on the Macintosh platform. It was designed as an aid for professionals who are interested in observing and understanding human behavior in field settings, or from video or audio recordings of the same. Specifically, the program is aimed at two primary areas of interest: human-machine interactions and interactions between humans. The program provides a means by which an observer can record an observed sequence of events, logging such parameters as frequency and duration of particular events. The program goes further by providing the user with a quantified description of the observed sequence, through application of a basic set of statistical routines, and enables merging and appending of several files and more extensive analysis of the resultant data.

Design and Implementation of a Video-Zoom Driven Digital Audio-Zoom System for Portable Digital Imaging Devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Nam In; Kim, Seon Man; Kim, Hong Kook; Kim, Ji Woon; Kim, Myeong Bo; Yun, Su Won

In this paper, we propose a video-zoom driven audio-zoom algorithm in order to provide audio zooming effects in accordance with the degree of video-zoom. The proposed algorithm is designed based on a super-directive beamformer operating with a 4-channel microphone system, in conjunction with a soft masking process that considers the phase differences between microphones. Thus, the audio-zoom processed signal is obtained by multiplying an audio gain derived from a video-zoom level by the masked signal. After all, a real-time audio-zoom system is implemented on an ARM-CORETEX-A8 having a clock speed of 600 MHz after different levels of optimization are performed such as algorithmic level, C-code, and memory optimizations. To evaluate the complexity of the proposed real-time audio-zoom system, test data whose length is 21.3 seconds long is sampled at 48 kHz. As a result, it is shown from the experiments that the processing time for the proposed audio-zoom system occupies 14.6% or less of the ARM clock cycles. It is also shown from the experimental results performed in a semi-anechoic chamber that the signal with the front direction can be amplified by approximately 10 dB compared to the other directions.

78 FR 76791 - Availability of Version 4.0 of the Connect America Fund Phase II Cost Model; Adopting Current...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-19

... request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities (Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an email to [email protected] or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau... whether a census block group is identified as having hard rock was modified for the non- contiguous areas...

Let Them Have Their Cell Phone (And Let Them Read to It Too): Technology, Writing Instruction and Textual Obsolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shahar, Jed

2012-01-01

Cell phone ubiquity enables students to record and share audio file versions of their essays for proofreading purposes. Adopting this practice in community college developmental writing classes leads to an investigation of both writing as a technology and the influence of modern technology on composition and composition pedagogy.

Podcasting and the Long Tail

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bull, Glen

2005-01-01

Podcasting allows distribution of audio files through an RSS feed. This permits users to subscribe to a series of podcasts that are automatically sent to their computer or MP3 player. The capability to receive podcasts is built into freely distributed software such as iPodder as well as the most recent version of iTunes, a free download. In this…

Validation of a digital audio recording method for the objective assessment of cough in the horse.

PubMed

Duz, M; Whittaker, A G; Love, S; Parkin, T D H; Hughes, K J

2010-10-01

To validate the use of digital audio recording and analysis for quantification of coughing in horses. Part A: Nine simultaneous digital audio and video recordings were collected individually from seven stabled horses over a 1 h period using a digital audio recorder attached to the halter. Audio files were analysed using audio analysis software. Video and audio recordings were analysed for cough count and timing by two blinded operators on two occasions using a randomised study design for determination of intra-operator and inter-operator agreement. Part B: Seventy-eight hours of audio recordings obtained from nine horses were analysed once by two blinded operators to assess inter-operator repeatability on a larger sample. Part A: There was complete agreement between audio and video analyses and inter- and intra-operator analyses. Part B: There was >97% agreement between operators on number and timing of 727 coughs recorded over 78 h. The results of this study suggest that the cough monitor methodology used has excellent sensitivity and specificity for the objective assessment of cough in horses and intra- and inter-operator variability of recorded coughs is minimal. Crown Copyright 2010. Published by Elsevier India Pvt Ltd. All rights reserved.

Could Audio-Described Films Benefit from Audio Introductions? An Audience Response Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romero-Fresco, Pablo; Fryer, Louise

2013-01-01

Introduction: Time constraints limit the quantity and type of information conveyed in audio description (AD) for films, in particular the cinematic aspects. Inspired by introductory notes for theatre AD, this study developed audio introductions (AIs) for "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Man on Wire." Each AI comprised 10 minutes of…

Realization of guitar audio effects using methods of digital signal processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buś, Szymon; Jedrzejewski, Konrad

2015-09-01

The paper is devoted to studies on possibilities of realization of guitar audio effects by means of methods of digital signal processing. As a result of research, some selected audio effects corresponding to the specifics of guitar sound were realized as the real-time system called Digital Guitar Multi-effect. Before implementation in the system, the selected effects were investigated using the dedicated application with a graphical user interface created in Matlab environment. In the second stage, the real-time system based on a microcontroller and an audio codec was designed and realized. The system is designed to perform audio effects on the output signal of an electric guitar.

Reducing audio stimulus presentation latencies across studies, laboratories, and hardware and operating system configurations.

PubMed

Babjack, Destiny L; Cernicky, Brandon; Sobotka, Andrew J; Basler, Lee; Struthers, Devon; Kisic, Richard; Barone, Kimberly; Zuccolotto, Anthony P

2015-09-01

Using differing computer platforms and audio output devices to deliver audio stimuli often introduces (1) substantial variability across labs and (2) variable time between the intended and actual sound delivery (the sound onset latency). Fast, accurate audio onset latencies are particularly important when audio stimuli need to be delivered precisely as part of studies that depend on accurate timing (e.g., electroencephalographic, event-related potential, or multimodal studies), or in multisite studies in which standardization and strict control over the computer platforms used is not feasible. This research describes the variability introduced by using differing configurations and introduces a novel approach to minimizing audio sound latency and variability. A stimulus presentation and latency assessment approach is presented using E-Prime and Chronos (a new multifunction, USB-based data presentation and collection device). The present approach reliably delivers audio stimuli with low latencies that vary by ≤1 ms, independent of hardware and Windows operating system (OS)/driver combinations. The Chronos audio subsystem adopts a buffering, aborting, querying, and remixing approach to the delivery of audio, to achieve a consistent 1-ms sound onset latency for single-sound delivery, and precise delivery of multiple sounds that achieves standard deviations of 1/10th of a millisecond without the use of advanced scripting. Chronos's sound onset latencies are small, reliable, and consistent across systems. Testing of standard audio delivery devices and configurations highlights the need for careful attention to consistency between labs, experiments, and multiple study sites in their hardware choices, OS selections, and adoption of audio delivery systems designed to sidestep the audio latency variability issue.

Modeling sports highlights using a time-series clustering framework and model interpretation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radhakrishnan, Regunathan; Otsuka, Isao; Xiong, Ziyou; Divakaran, Ajay

2005-01-01

In our past work on sports highlights extraction, we have shown the utility of detecting audience reaction using an audio classification framework. The audio classes in the framework were chosen based on intuition. In this paper, we present a systematic way of identifying the key audio classes for sports highlights extraction using a time series clustering framework. We treat the low-level audio features as a time series and model the highlight segments as "unusual" events in a background of an "usual" process. The set of audio classes to characterize the sports domain is then identified by analyzing the consistent patterns in each of the clusters output from the time series clustering framework. The distribution of features from the training data so obtained for each of the key audio classes, is parameterized by a Minimum Description Length Gaussian Mixture Model (MDL-GMM). We also interpret the meaning of each of the mixture components of the MDL-GMM for the key audio class (the "highlight" class) that is correlated with highlight moments. Our results show that the "highlight" class is a mixture of audience cheering and commentator's excited speech. Furthermore, we show that the precision-recall performance for highlights extraction based on this "highlight" class is better than that of our previous approach which uses only audience cheering as the key highlight class.

Tensorial dynamic time warping with articulation index representation for efficient audio-template learning.

PubMed

Le, Long N; Jones, Douglas L

2018-03-01

Audio classification techniques often depend on the availability of a large labeled training dataset for successful performance. However, in many application domains of audio classification (e.g., wildlife monitoring), obtaining labeled data is still a costly and laborious process. Motivated by this observation, a technique is proposed to efficiently learn a clean template from a few labeled, but likely corrupted (by noise and interferences), data samples. This learning can be done efficiently via tensorial dynamic time warping on the articulation index-based time-frequency representations of audio data. The learned template can then be used in audio classification following the standard template-based approach. Experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms both (1) the recurrent neural network approach and (2) the state-of-the-art in the template-based approach on a wildlife detection application with few training samples.

Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) | Energy Analysis | NREL

Science.gov Websites

System Model The Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model helps the U.S. Department of model. Visualize Future Capacity Expansion of Renewable Energy Watch this video of the ReEDS model audio. Model Documentation ReEDS Model Documentation: Version 2016 ReEDS Map with Numbered Regions

Assessing Vocal Development in Infants and Toddlers Who Are Hard of Hearing: A Parent-Report Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ambrose, Sophie E.; Thomas, Anne; Moeller, Mary Pat

2016-01-01

The main purpose of the current investigation was to determine whether the Vocal Development Landmarks Interview-Experimental Version (VDLI-E) was sensitive to variation in the vocal development of infants and toddlers who are hard of hearing. The VDLI-E is an interactive parent interview that uses audio samples of authentic infant vocalizations…

Comparing Learning Gains: Audio Versus Text-based Instructor Communication in a Blended Online Learning Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimizu, Dominique

Though blended course audio feedback has been associated with several measures of course satisfaction at the postsecondary and graduate levels compared to text feedback, it may take longer to prepare and positive results are largely unverified in K-12 literature. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the time investment and learning impact of audio communications with 228 secondary students in a blended online learning biology unit at a central Florida public high school. A short, individualized audio message regarding the student's progress was given to each student in the audio group; similar text-based messages were given to each student in the text-based group on the same schedule; a control got no feedback. A pretest and posttest were employed to measure learning gains in the three groups. To compare the learning gains in two types of feedback with each other and to no feedback, a controlled, randomized, experimental design was implemented. In addition, the creation and posting of audio and text feedback communications were timed in order to assess whether audio feedback took longer to produce than text only feedback. While audio feedback communications did take longer to create and post, there was no difference between learning gains as measured by posttest scores when student received audio, text-based, or no feedback. Future studies using a similar randomized, controlled experimental design are recommended to verify these results and test whether the trend holds in a broader range of subjects, over different time frames, and using a variety of assessment types to measure student learning.

Hearing You Loud and Clear: Student Perspectives of Audio Feedback in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gould, Jill; Day, Pat

2013-01-01

The use of audio feedback for students in a full-time community nursing degree course is appraised. The aim of this mixed methods study was to examine student views on audio feedback for written assignments. Questionnaires and a focus group were used to capture student opinion of this pilot project. The majority of students valued audio feedback…

Spatialized audio improves call sign recognition during multi-aircraft control.

PubMed

Kim, Sungbin; Miller, Michael E; Rusnock, Christina F; Elshaw, John J

2018-07-01

We investigated the impact of a spatialized audio display on response time, workload, and accuracy while monitoring auditory information for relevance. The human ability to differentiate sound direction implies that spatial audio may be used to encode information. Therefore, it is hypothesized that spatial audio cues can be applied to aid differentiation of critical versus noncritical verbal auditory information. We used a human performance model and a laboratory study involving 24 participants to examine the effect of applying a notional, automated parser to present audio in a particular ear depending on information relevance. Operator workload and performance were assessed while subjects listened for and responded to relevant audio cues associated with critical information among additional noncritical information. Encoding relevance through spatial location in a spatial audio display system--as opposed to monophonic, binaural presentation--significantly reduced response time and workload, particularly for noncritical information. Future auditory displays employing spatial cues to indicate relevance have the potential to reduce workload and improve operator performance in similar task domains. Furthermore, these displays have the potential to reduce the dependence of workload and performance on the number of audio cues. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Astronomical component estimation (ACE v.1) by time-variant sinusoidal modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinnesael, Matthias; Zivanovic, Miroslav; De Vleeschouwer, David; Claeys, Philippe; Schoukens, Johan

2016-09-01

Accurately deciphering periodic variations in paleoclimate proxy signals is essential for cyclostratigraphy. Classical spectral analysis often relies on methods based on (fast) Fourier transformation. This technique has no unique solution separating variations in amplitude and frequency. This characteristic can make it difficult to correctly interpret a proxy's power spectrum or to accurately evaluate simultaneous changes in amplitude and frequency in evolutionary analyses. This drawback is circumvented by using a polynomial approach to estimate instantaneous amplitude and frequency in orbital components. This approach was proven useful to characterize audio signals (music and speech), which are non-stationary in nature. Paleoclimate proxy signals and audio signals share similar dynamics; the only difference is the frequency relationship between the different components. A harmonic-frequency relationship exists in audio signals, whereas this relation is non-harmonic in paleoclimate signals. However, this difference is irrelevant for the problem of separating simultaneous changes in amplitude and frequency. Using an approach with overlapping analysis frames, the model (Astronomical Component Estimation, version 1: ACE v.1) captures time variations of an orbital component by modulating a stationary sinusoid centered at its mean frequency, with a single polynomial. Hence, the parameters that determine the model are the mean frequency of the orbital component and the polynomial coefficients. The first parameter depends on geologic interpretations, whereas the latter are estimated by means of linear least-squares. As output, the model provides the orbital component waveform, either in the depth or time domain. Uncertainty analyses of the model estimates are performed using Monte Carlo simulations. Furthermore, it allows for a unique decomposition of the signal into its instantaneous amplitude and frequency. Frequency modulation patterns reconstruct changes in accumulation rate, whereas amplitude modulation identifies eccentricity-modulated precession. The functioning of the time-variant sinusoidal model is illustrated and validated using a synthetic insolation signal. The new modeling approach is tested on two case studies: (1) a Pliocene-Pleistocene benthic δ18O record from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 846 and (2) a Danian magnetic susceptibility record from the Contessa Highway section, Gubbio, Italy.

A Virtual Audio Guidance and Alert System for Commercial Aircraft Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R.; Wenzel, Elizabeth M.; Shrum, Richard; Miller, Joel; Null, Cynthia H. (Technical Monitor)

1996-01-01

Our work in virtual reality systems at NASA Ames Research Center includes the area of aurally-guided visual search, using specially-designed audio cues and spatial audio processing (also known as virtual or "3-D audio") techniques (Begault, 1994). Previous studies at Ames had revealed that use of 3-D audio for Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) advisories significantly reduced head-down time, compared to a head-down map display (0.5 sec advantage) or no display at all (2.2 sec advantage) (Begault, 1993, 1995; Begault & Pittman, 1994; see Wenzel, 1994, for an audio demo). Since the crew must keep their head up and looking out the window as much as possible when taxiing under low-visibility conditions, and the potential for "blunder" is increased under such conditions, it was sensible to evaluate the audio spatial cueing for a prototype audio ground collision avoidance warning (GCAW) system, and a 3-D audio guidance system. Results were favorable for GCAW, but not for the audio guidance system.

The priming function of in-car audio instruction.

PubMed

Keyes, Helen; Whitmore, Antony; Naneva, Stanislava; McDermott, Daragh

2018-05-01

Studies to date have focused on the priming power of visual road signs, but not the priming potential of audio road scene instruction. Here, the relative priming power of visual, audio, and multisensory road scene instructions was assessed. In a lab-based study, participants responded to target road scene turns following visual, audio, or multisensory road turn primes which were congruent or incongruent to the primes in direction, or control primes. All types of instruction (visual, audio, and multisensory) were successful in priming responses to a road scene. Responses to multisensory-primed targets (both audio and visual) were faster than responses to either audio or visual primes alone. Incongruent audio primes did not affect performance negatively in the manner of incongruent visual or multisensory primes. Results suggest that audio instructions have the potential to prime drivers to respond quickly and safely to their road environment. Peak performance will be observed if audio and visual road instruction primes can be timed to co-occur.

Effect of Audio Coaching on Correlation of Abdominal Displacement With Lung Tumor Motion

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

Nakamura, Mitsuhiro; Narita, Yuichiro; Matsuo, Yukinori

2009-10-01

Purpose: To assess the effect of audio coaching on the time-dependent behavior of the correlation between abdominal motion and lung tumor motion and the corresponding lung tumor position mismatches. Methods and Materials: Six patients who had a lung tumor with a motion range >8 mm were enrolled in the present study. Breathing-synchronized fluoroscopy was performed initially without audio coaching, followed by fluoroscopy with recorded audio coaching for multiple days. Two different measurements, anteroposterior abdominal displacement using the real-time positioning management system and superoinferior (SI) lung tumor motion by X-ray fluoroscopy, were performed simultaneously. Their sequential images were recorded using onemore » display system. The lung tumor position was automatically detected with a template matching technique. The relationship between the abdominal and lung tumor motion was analyzed with and without audio coaching. Results: The mean SI tumor displacement was 10.4 mm without audio coaching and increased to 23.0 mm with audio coaching (p < .01). The correlation coefficients ranged from 0.89 to 0.97 with free breathing. Applying audio coaching, the correlation coefficients improved significantly (range, 0.93-0.99; p < .01), and the SI lung tumor position mismatches became larger in 75% of all sessions. Conclusion: Audio coaching served to increase the degree of correlation and make it more reproducible. In addition, the phase shifts between tumor motion and abdominal displacement were improved; however, all patients breathed more deeply, and the SI lung tumor position mismatches became slightly larger with audio coaching than without audio coaching.« less

A multi-layer steganographic method based on audio time domain segmented and network steganography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xue, Pengfei; Liu, Hanlin; Hu, Jingsong; Hu, Ronggui

2018-05-01

Both audio steganography and network steganography are belong to modern steganography. Audio steganography has a large capacity. Network steganography is difficult to detect or track. In this paper, a multi-layer steganographic method based on the collaboration of them (MLS-ATDSS&NS) is proposed. MLS-ATDSS&NS is realized in two covert layers (audio steganography layer and network steganography layer) by two steps. A new audio time domain segmented steganography (ATDSS) method is proposed in step 1, and the collaboration method of ATDSS and NS is proposed in step 2. The experimental results showed that the advantage of MLS-ATDSS&NS over others is better trade-off between capacity, anti-detectability and robustness, that means higher steganographic capacity, better anti-detectability and stronger robustness.

Applications of ENF criterion in forensic audio, video, computer and telecommunication analysis.

PubMed

Grigoras, Catalin

2007-04-11

This article reports on the electric network frequency criterion as a means of assessing the integrity of digital audio/video evidence and forensic IT and telecommunication analysis. A brief description is given to different ENF types and phenomena that determine ENF variations. In most situations, to reach a non-authenticity opinion, the visual inspection of spectrograms and comparison with an ENF database are enough. A more detailed investigation, in the time domain, requires short time windows measurements and analyses. The stability of the ENF over geographical distances has been established by comparison of synchronized recordings made at different locations on the same network. Real cases are presented, in which the ENF criterion was used to investigate audio and video files created with secret surveillance systems, a digitized audio/video recording and a TV broadcasted reportage. By applying the ENF Criterion in forensic audio/video analysis, one can determine whether and where a digital recording has been edited, establish whether it was made at the time claimed, and identify the time and date of the registering operation.

The Impact of Television, Print, and Audio on Children's Recall of the News: A Study of Three Alternative Explanations for the Dual-Coding Hypothesis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walma Van Der Molen, Juliette H.; Van Der Voort, Tom H. A.

2000-01-01

Examines three alternative explanations that attribute children's superior recall of television news to (1) underutilization of the print medium; (2) a recall advantage of listening compared with reading; and (3) imperfect reading ability. Finds that the television presentation was remembered better than any of the other versions, consistent with…

Reference Model for Project Support Environments Version 1.0

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-02-28

relationship with the framework’s Process Support services and with the Lifecycle Process Engineering services. Examples: "* ORCA (Object-based...Design services. Examples: "* ORCA (Object-based Requirements Capture and Analysis). "* RETRAC (REquirements TRACeability). 4.3 Life-Cycle Process...34traditional" computer tools. Operations: Examples of audio and video processing operations include: "* Create, modify, and delete sound and video data

47 CFR 73.561 - Operating schedule; time sharing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... in triplicate by each licensee with the Commission, Attention: Audio Division, Media Bureau, prior to... the Commission in Washington, DC, Attention: Audio Division, Media Bureau. (d) In the event that... provided that notification is sent to the Commission in Washington, DC, Attention: Audio Division, Media...

Laboratory and in-flight experiments to evaluate 3-D audio display technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ericson, Mark; Mckinley, Richard; Kibbe, Marion; Francis, Daniel

1994-01-01

Laboratory and in-flight experiments were conducted to evaluate 3-D audio display technology for cockpit applications. A 3-D audio display generator was developed which digitally encodes naturally occurring direction information onto any audio signal and presents the binaural sound over headphones. The acoustic image is stabilized for head movement by use of an electromagnetic head-tracking device. In the laboratory, a 3-D audio display generator was used to spatially separate competing speech messages to improve the intelligibility of each message. Up to a 25 percent improvement in intelligibility was measured for spatially separated speech at high ambient noise levels (115 dB SPL). During the in-flight experiments, pilots reported that spatial separation of speech communications provided a noticeable improvement in intelligibility. The use of 3-D audio for target acquisition was also investigated. In the laboratory, 3-D audio enabled the acquisition of visual targets in about two seconds average response time at 17 degrees accuracy. During the in-flight experiments, pilots correctly identified ground targets 50, 75, and 100 percent of the time at separation angles of 12, 20, and 35 degrees, respectively. In general, pilot performance in the field with the 3-D audio display generator was as expected, based on data from laboratory experiments.

Animation, audio, and spatial ability: Optimizing multimedia for scientific explanations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koroghlanian, Carol May

This study investigated the effects of audio, animation and spatial ability in a computer based instructional program for biology. The program presented instructional material via text or audio with lean text and included eight instructional sequences presented either via static illustrations or animations. High school students enrolled in a biology course were blocked by spatial ability and randomly assigned to one of four treatments (Text-Static Illustration Audio-Static Illustration, Text-Animation, Audio-Animation). The study examined the effects of instructional mode (Text vs. Audio), illustration mode (Static Illustration vs. Animation) and spatial ability (Low vs. High) on practice and posttest achievement, attitude and time. Results for practice achievement indicated that high spatial ability participants achieved more than low spatial ability participants. Similar results for posttest achievement and spatial ability were not found. Participants in the Static Illustration treatments achieved the same as participants in the Animation treatments on both the practice and posttest. Likewise, participants in the Text treatments achieved the same as participants in the Audio treatments on both the practice and posttest. In terms of attitude, participants responded favorably to the computer based instructional program. They found the program interesting, felt the static illustrations or animations made the explanations easier to understand and concentrated on learning the material. Furthermore, participants in the Animation treatments felt the information was easier to understand than participants in the Static Illustration treatments. However, no difference for any attitude item was found for participants in the Text as compared to those in the Audio treatments. Significant differences were found by Spatial Ability for three attitude items concerning concentration and interest. In all three items, the low spatial ability participants responded more positively than high spatial ability participants. In addition, low spatial ability participants reported greater mental effort than high spatial ability participants. Findings for time-in-program and time-in-instruction indicated that participants in the Animation treatments took significantly more time than participants in the Static Illustration treatments. No time differences of any type were found for participants in the Text versus Audio treatments. Implications for the design of multimedia instruction and topics for future research are included in the discussion.

Eye movements while viewing narrated, captioned, and silent videos

PubMed Central

Ross, Nicholas M.; Kowler, Eileen

2013-01-01

Videos are often accompanied by narration delivered either by an audio stream or by captions, yet little is known about saccadic patterns while viewing narrated video displays. Eye movements were recorded while viewing video clips with (a) audio narration, (b) captions, (c) no narration, or (d) concurrent captions and audio. A surprisingly large proportion of time (>40%) was spent reading captions even in the presence of a redundant audio stream. Redundant audio did not affect the saccadic reading patterns but did lead to skipping of some portions of the captions and to delays of saccades made into the caption region. In the absence of captions, fixations were drawn to regions with a high density of information, such as the central region of the display, and to regions with high levels of temporal change (actions and events), regardless of the presence of narration. The strong attraction to captions, with or without redundant audio, raises the question of what determines how time is apportioned between captions and video regions so as to minimize information loss. The strategies of apportioning time may be based on several factors, including the inherent attraction of the line of sight to any available text, the moment by moment impressions of the relative importance of the information in the caption and the video, and the drive to integrate visual text accompanied by audio into a single narrative stream. PMID:23457357

Time to first compression using Medical Priority Dispatch System compression-first dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation protocols.

PubMed

Van Vleet, Lee M; Hubble, Michael W

2012-01-01

Without bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), cardiac arrest survival decreases 7%-10% for every minute of delay until defibrillation. Dispatcher-assisted CPR (D-CPR) has been shown to increase the rates of bystander CPR and cardiac arrest survival. Other reports suggest that the most critical component of bystander CPR is chest compressions with minimal interruption. Beginning with version 11.2 of the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) protocols, instructions for mouth-to-mouth ventilation (MTMV) and pulse check were removed and a compression-first pathway was introduced to facilitate rapid delivery of compressions. Additionally, unconscious choking and third-trimester pregnancy decision-making criteria were added in versions 11.3 and 12.0, respectively. However, the effects of these changes on time to first compression (TTFC) have not been evaluated. We sought to quantify the TTFC of MPDS versions 11.2, 11.3, and 12.0 for all calls identified as cardiac arrest on call intake that did not require MTMV instruction. Audio recordings of all D-CPR events for October 2005 through May 2010 were analyzed for TTFC. Differences in TTFC across versions were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test. A total of 778 cases received D-CPR. Of these, 259 were excluded because they met criteria for MTMV (pediatric patients, allergic reaction, etc.), were missing data, or were not initially identified as cardiac arrest. Of the remaining 519 calls, the mean TTFC was 240 seconds, with no significant variation across the MPDS versions (p = 0.08). Following the removal of instructions for pulse check and MTMV, as well as other minor changes in the MPDS protocols, we found the overall TTFC to be 240 seconds with little variation across the three versions evaluated. This represents an improvement in TTFC compared with reports of an earlier version of MPDS that included pulse checks and MTMV instructions (315 seconds). However, the MPDS TTFC does not compare favorably with reports of older, non-MPDS protocols that included pulse checks and MTMV. Efforts should continue to focus on improving this key, and modifiable, determinant of cardiac arrest survival.

Audio computer-assisted self interview compared to traditional interview in an HIV-related behavioral survey in Vietnam.

PubMed

Le, Linh Cu; Vu, Lan T H

2012-10-01

Globally, population surveys on HIV/AIDS and other sensitive topics have been using audio computer-assisted self interview for many years. This interview technique, however, is still new to Vietnam and little is known about its application and impact in general population surveys. One plausible hypothesis is that residents of Vietnam interviewed using this technique may provide a higher response rate and be more willing to reveal their true behaviors than if interviewed with traditional methods. This study aims to compare audio computer-assisted self interview with traditional face-to-face personal interview and self-administered interview with regard to rates of refusal and affirmative responses to questions on sensitive topics related to HIV/AIDS. In June 2010, a randomized study was conducted in three cities (Ha Noi, Da Nan and Can Tho), using a sample of 4049 residents aged 15 to 49 years. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of three interviewing methods: audio computer-assisted self interview, personal face-to-face interview, and self-administered paper interview. Instead of providing answers directly to interviewer questions as with traditional methods, audio computer-assisted self-interview respondents read the questions displayed on a laptop screen, while listening to the questions through audio headphones, then entered responses using a laptop keyboard. A MySQL database was used for data management and SPSS statistical package version 18 used for data analysis with bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques. Rates of high risk behaviors and mean values of continuous variables were compared for the three data collection methods. Audio computer-assisted self interview showed advantages over comparison techniques, achieving lower refusal rates and reporting higher prevalence of some sensitive and risk behaviors (perhaps indication of more truthful answers). Premarital sex was reported by 20.4% in the audio computer-assisted self-interview survey group, versus 11.4% in the face-to-face group and 11.1% in the self-administered paper questionnaire group. The pattern was consistent for both male and female respondents and in both urban and rural settings. Men in the audio computer-assisted self-interview group also reported higher levels of high-risk sexual behavior--such as sex with sex workers and a higher average number of sexual partners--than did women in the same group. Importantly, item refusal rates on sensitive topics tended to be lower with audio computer-assisted self interview than with the other two methods. Combined with existing data from other countries and previous studies in Vietnam, these findings suggest that researchers should consider using audio computer-assisted self interview for future studies of sensitive and stigmatized topics, especially for men.

An Internet-Based Real-Time Audiovisual Link for Dual MEG Recordings

PubMed Central

Zhdanov, Andrey; Nurminen, Jussi; Baess, Pamela; Hirvenkari, Lotta; Jousmäki, Veikko; Mäkelä, Jyrki P.; Mandel, Anne; Meronen, Lassi; Hari, Riitta; Parkkonen, Lauri

2015-01-01

Hyperscanning Most neuroimaging studies of human social cognition have focused on brain activity of single subjects. More recently, “two-person neuroimaging” has been introduced, with simultaneous recordings of brain signals from two subjects involved in social interaction. These simultaneous “hyperscanning” recordings have already been carried out with a spectrum of neuroimaging modalities, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Dual MEG Setup We have recently developed a setup for simultaneous magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings of two subjects that communicate in real time over an audio link between two geographically separated MEG laboratories. Here we present an extended version of the setup, where we have added a video connection and replaced the telephone-landline-based link with an Internet connection. Our setup enabled transmission of video and audio streams between the sites with a one-way communication latency of about 130 ms. Our software that allows reproducing the setup is publicly available. Validation We demonstrate that the audiovisual Internet-based link can mediate real-time interaction between two subjects who try to mirror each others’ hand movements that they can see via the video link. All the nine pairs were able to synchronize their behavior. In addition to the video, we captured the subjects’ movements with accelerometers attached to their index fingers; we determined from these signals that the average synchronization accuracy was 215 ms. In one subject pair we demonstrate inter-subject coherence patterns of the MEG signals that peak over the sensorimotor areas contralateral to the hand used in the task. PMID:26098628

ASTP video tape recorder ground support equipment (audio/CTE splitter/interleaver). Operations manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

A descriptive handbook for the audio/CTE splitter/interleaver (RCA part No. 8673734-502) was presented. This unit is designed to perform two major functions: extract audio and time data from an interleaved video/audio signal (splitter section), and provide a test interleaved video/audio/CTE signal for the system (interleaver section). It is a rack mounting unit 7 inches high, 19 inches wide, 20 inches deep, mounted on slides for retracting from the rack, and weighs approximately 40 pounds. The following information is provided: installation, operation, principles of operation, maintenance, schematics and parts lists.

Semantic Context Detection Using Audio Event Fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Wei-Ta; Cheng, Wen-Huang; Wu, Ja-Ling

2006-12-01

Semantic-level content analysis is a crucial issue in achieving efficient content retrieval and management. We propose a hierarchical approach that models audio events over a time series in order to accomplish semantic context detection. Two levels of modeling, audio event and semantic context modeling, are devised to bridge the gap between physical audio features and semantic concepts. In this work, hidden Markov models (HMMs) are used to model four representative audio events, that is, gunshot, explosion, engine, and car braking, in action movies. At the semantic context level, generative (ergodic hidden Markov model) and discriminative (support vector machine (SVM)) approaches are investigated to fuse the characteristics and correlations among audio events, which provide cues for detecting gunplay and car-chasing scenes. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches and provide a preliminary framework for information mining by using audio characteristics.

Metrological digital audio reconstruction

DOEpatents

Fadeyev,; Vitaliy, Haber [Berkeley, CA; Carl, [Berkeley, CA

2004-02-19

Audio information stored in the undulations of grooves in a medium such as a phonograph record may be reconstructed, with little or no contact, by measuring the groove shape using precision metrology methods coupled with digital image processing and numerical analysis. The effects of damage, wear, and contamination may be compensated, in many cases, through image processing and analysis methods. The speed and data handling capacity of available computing hardware make this approach practical. Two examples used a general purpose optical metrology system to study a 50 year old 78 r.p.m. phonograph record and a commercial confocal scanning probe to study a 1920's celluloid Edison cylinder. Comparisons are presented with stylus playback of the samples and with a digitally re-mastered version of an original magnetic recording. There is also a more extensive implementation of this approach, with dedicated hardware and software.

Design and analysis of ultrasonic monaural audio guiding device for the visually impaired.

PubMed

Kim, Keonwook; Kim, Hyunjai; Yun, Gihun; Kim, Myungsoo

2009-01-01

The novel Audio Guiding Device (AGD) based on the ultrasonic, which is named as SonicID, has been developed in order to localize point of interest for the visually impaired. The SonicID requires the infrastructure of the transmitters for broadcasting the location information over the ultrasonic carrier. The user with ultrasonic headset receives the information with variable amplitude upon the location and direction of the user due to the ultrasonic characteristic and modulation method. This paper proposes the monaural headset form factor of the SonicID which improves the daily life of the beneficiary compare to the previous version which uses the both ears. Experimental results from SonicID, Bluetooth, and audible sound show that the SonicID demonstrates comparable localization performance to the audible sound with silence to others.

Real-time implementation of second generation of audio multilevel information coding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ali, Murtaza; Tewfik, Ahmed H.; Viswanathan, V.

1994-03-01

This paper describes real-time implementation of a novel wavelet- based audio compression method. This method is based on the discrete wavelet (DWT) representation of signals. A bit allocation procedure is used to allocate bits to the transform coefficients in an adaptive fashion. The bit allocation procedure has been designed to take advantage of the masking effect in human hearing. The procedure minimizes the number of bits required to represent each frame of audio signals at a fixed distortion level. The real-time implementation provides almost transparent compression of monophonic CD quality audio signals (samples at 44.1 KHz and quantized using 16 bits/sample) at bit rates of 64-78 Kbits/sec. Our implementation uses two ASPI Elf boards, each of which is built around a TI TMS230C31 DSP chip. The time required for encoding of a mono CD signal is about 92 percent of real time and that for decoding about 61 percent.

Striking Thirteen: Librarians, Publishers, and Book Vendors Better Have Their Eyes Wide Open for the Changes to Come with the New ISBN-13

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breaux, Ann-Marie; Dawson, Laura

2006-01-01

The most elemental identifier of a book is the international standard book number (ISBN). It allows publishers, booksellers, and libraries to label works in a consistent way and to distinguish not only among different titles but also among different versions of the same title, such as newer editions, various bindings, audio products, and…

The modality and redundancy effects in multimedia learning in children with dyslexia.

PubMed

Knoop-van Campen, Carolien A N; Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

2018-05-01

The present study aimed to examine the modality and redundancy effects in multimedia learning in children with dyslexia in order to find out whether their learning benefits from written and/or spoken text with pictures. We compared study time and knowledge gain in 26 11-year-old children with dyslexia and 38 typically reading peers in a within-subjects design. All children were presented with a series of user-paced multimedia lessons in 3 conditions: pictorial information presented with (a) written text, (b) audio, or (c) combined text and audio. We also examined whether children's learning outcomes were related to their working memory. With respect to study time, we found modality and reversed redundancy effects. Children with dyslexia spent more time learning in the text condition, compared with the audio condition and the combined text-and-audio condition. Regarding knowledge gain, no modality or redundancy effects were evidenced. Although the groups differed on working memory, it did not influence the modality or redundancy effect on study time or knowledge gain. In multimedia learning, it thus is more efficient to provide children with dyslexia with audio or with auditory support. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reduction in time-to-sleep through EEG based brain state detection and audio stimulation.

PubMed

Zhuo Zhang; Cuntai Guan; Ti Eu Chan; Juanhong Yu; Aung Aung Phyo Wai; Chuanchu Wang; Haihong Zhang

2015-08-01

We developed an EEG- and audio-based sleep sensing and enhancing system, called iSleep (interactive Sleep enhancement apparatus). The system adopts a closed-loop approach which optimizes the audio recording selection based on user's sleep status detected through our online EEG computing algorithm. The iSleep prototype comprises two major parts: 1) a sleeping mask integrated with a single channel EEG electrode and amplifier, a pair of stereo earphones and a microcontroller with wireless circuit for control and data streaming; 2) a mobile app to receive EEG signals for online sleep monitoring and audio playback control. In this study we attempt to validate our hypothesis that appropriate audio stimulation in relation to brain state can induce faster onset of sleep and improve the quality of a nap. We conduct experiments on 28 healthy subjects, each undergoing two nap sessions - one with a quiet background and one with our audio-stimulation. We compare the time-to-sleep in both sessions between two groups of subjects, e.g., fast and slow sleep onset groups. The p-value obtained from Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test is 1.22e-04 for slow onset group, which demonstrates that iSleep can significantly reduce the time-to-sleep for people with difficulty in falling sleep.

Computer aided systems human engineering: A hypermedia tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boff, Kenneth R.; Monk, Donald L.; Cody, William J.

1992-01-01

The Computer Aided Systems Human Engineering (CASHE) system, Version 1.0, is a multimedia ergonomics database on CD-ROM for the Apple Macintosh II computer, being developed for use by human system designers, educators, and researchers. It will initially be available on CD-ROM and will allow users to access ergonomics data and models stored electronically as text, graphics, and audio. The CASHE CD-ROM, Version 1.0 will contain the Boff and Lincoln (1988) Engineering Data Compendium, MIL-STD-1472D and a unique, interactive simulation capability, the Perception and Performance Prototyper. Its features also include a specialized data retrieval, scaling, and analysis capability and the state of the art in information retrieval, browsing, and navigation.

Noise pollution effect in flour factory on workers' hearing in Lamerd City.

PubMed

Mohammadizadeh, M; Ahmadi, S H; Sekhavati, E; Ahani-Jegar, K

2015-01-01

Introduction: Noise pollution is one of the most important problems in industry that has an effect on the auditory system and other physiological parameters, as well as persons in noise exposure situations. While noise-induced hearing loss is preventable, once acquired, hearing loss is permanent and irreversible. Methodology: In the current study, noise in various sections of Flour Company in Lamerd estimated via the audio recorder, which revealed that the operators' expression remained larger than the state criterion; hence, the perception experiment (audio recorder) was performed on the operators and its outcomes were examined via utilizing SPSS 16 of version. Findings: Overall, Pearson relationship r = 0.453 discovered among job reports and the performance decline between all operators by significant stage p≤0.05. Moreover, T-test applied to examine noise impact on operators included in boisterous rooms (mean more than 85 dB) also average=26. 71 and regular deviation=11.72 got (p≤0.05) that was greater than 25db (as the standard hearing threshold). Conclusion: The outcomes of audio measuring and T-test revealed that the noise corruption has an impact on the hearing of bodies operating in noisy rooms.

Real Time Implementation of an LPC Algorithm. Speech Signal Processing Research at CHI

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-05-01

SIGNAL PROCESSING HARDWARE 2-1 2.1 INTRODUCTION 2-1 2.2 TWO- CHANNEL AUDIO SIGNAL SYSTEM 2-2 2.3 MULTI- CHANNEL AUDIO SIGNAL SYSTEM 2-5 2.3.1... Channel Audio Signal System 2-30 I ii kv^i^ünt«.jfc*. ji .„* ,:-v*. ’.ii. *.. ...... — ■ -,,.,-c-» —ipponp ■^ TOHaBWgBpwiBWgPlpaiPWgW v.«.wN...Messages .... 1-55 1-13. Lost or Out of Order Message 1-56 2-1. Block Diagram of Two- Channel Audio Signal System . . 2-3 2-2. Block Diagram of Audio

Sounds Good: Using Digital Audio for Evaluation Feedback

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rotheram, Bob

2009-01-01

Feedback on student work is problematic for faculty and students in British higher education. Evaluation feedback takes faculty much time to produce and students are often dissatisfied with its quantity, timing, and clarity. The Sounds Good project has been experimenting with the use of digital audio for feedback, aiming to save faculty time and…

Investigating Expectations and Experiences of Audio and Written Assignment Feedback in First-Year Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fawcett, Hannah; Oldfield, Jeremy

2016-01-01

Previous research suggests that audio feedback may be an important mechanism for facilitating effective and timely assignment feedback. The present study examined expectations and experiences of audio and written feedback provided through "turnitin for iPad®" from students within the same cohort and assignment. The results showed that…

Audio-visual presentation of information for informed consent for participation in clinical trials.

PubMed

Synnot, Anneliese; Ryan, Rebecca; Prictor, Megan; Fetherstonhaugh, Deirdre; Parker, Barbara

2014-05-09

Informed consent is a critical component of clinical research. Different methods of presenting information to potential participants of clinical trials may improve the informed consent process. Audio-visual interventions (presented, for example, on the Internet or on DVD) are one such method. We updated a 2008 review of the effects of these interventions for informed consent for trial participation. To assess the effects of audio-visual information interventions regarding informed consent compared with standard information or placebo audio-visual interventions regarding informed consent for potential clinical trial participants, in terms of their understanding, satisfaction, willingness to participate, and anxiety or other psychological distress. We searched: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), The Cochrane Library, issue 6, 2012; MEDLINE (OvidSP) (1946 to 13 June 2012); EMBASE (OvidSP) (1947 to 12 June 2012); PsycINFO (OvidSP) (1806 to June week 1 2012); CINAHL (EbscoHOST) (1981 to 27 June 2012); Current Contents (OvidSP) (1993 Week 27 to 2012 Week 26); and ERIC (Proquest) (searched 27 June 2012). We also searched reference lists of included studies and relevant review articles, and contacted study authors and experts. There were no language restrictions. We included randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials comparing audio-visual information alone, or in conjunction with standard forms of information provision (such as written or verbal information), with standard forms of information provision or placebo audio-visual information, in the informed consent process for clinical trials. Trials involved individuals or their guardians asked to consider participating in a real or hypothetical clinical study. (In the earlier version of this review we only included studies evaluating informed consent interventions for real studies). Two authors independently assessed studies for inclusion and extracted data. We synthesised the findings using meta-analysis, where possible, and narrative synthesis of results. We assessed the risk of bias of individual studies and considered the impact of the quality of the overall evidence on the strength of the results. We included 16 studies involving data from 1884 participants. Nine studies included participants considering real clinical trials, and eight included participants considering hypothetical clinical trials, with one including both. All studies were conducted in high-income countries.There is still much uncertainty about the effect of audio-visual informed consent interventions on a range of patient outcomes. However, when considered across comparisons, we found low to very low quality evidence that such interventions may slightly improve knowledge or understanding of the parent trial, but may make little or no difference to rate of participation or willingness to participate. Audio-visual presentation of informed consent may improve participant satisfaction with the consent information provided. However its effect on satisfaction with other aspects of the process is not clear. There is insufficient evidence to draw conclusions about anxiety arising from audio-visual informed consent. We found conflicting, very low quality evidence about whether audio-visual interventions took more or less time to administer. No study measured researcher satisfaction with the informed consent process, nor ease of use.The evidence from real clinical trials was rated as low quality for most outcomes, and for hypothetical studies, very low. We note, however, that this was in large part due to poor study reporting, the hypothetical nature of some studies and low participant numbers, rather than inconsistent results between studies or confirmed poor trial quality. We do not believe that any studies were funded by organisations with a vested interest in the results. The value of audio-visual interventions as a tool for helping to enhance the informed consent process for people considering participating in clinical trials remains largely unclear, although trends are emerging with regard to improvements in knowledge and satisfaction. Many relevant outcomes have not been evaluated in randomised trials. Triallists should continue to explore innovative methods of providing information to potential trial participants during the informed consent process, mindful of the range of outcomes that the intervention should be designed to achieve, and balancing the resource implications of intervention development and delivery against the purported benefits of any intervention.More trials, adhering to CONSORT standards, and conducted in settings and populations underserved in this review, i.e. low- and middle-income countries and people with low literacy, would strengthen the results of this review and broaden its applicability. Assessing process measures, such as time taken to administer the intervention and researcher satisfaction, would inform the implementation of audio-visual consent materials.

High performance MPEG-audio decoder IC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thorn, M.; Benbassat, G.; Cyr, K.; Li, S.; Gill, M.; Kam, D.; Walker, K.; Look, P.; Eldridge, C.; Ng, P.

1993-01-01

The emerging digital audio and video compression technology brings both an opportunity and a new challenge to IC design. The pervasive application of compression technology to consumer electronics will require high volume, low cost IC's and fast time to market of the prototypes and production units. At the same time, the algorithms used in the compression technology result in complex VLSI IC's. The conflicting challenges of algorithm complexity, low cost, and fast time to market have an impact on device architecture and design methodology. The work presented in this paper is about the design of a dedicated, high precision, Motion Picture Expert Group (MPEG) audio decoder.

Using a new, free spectrograph program to critically investigate acoustics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ball, Edward; Ruiz, Michael J.

2016-11-01

We have developed an online spectrograph program with a bank of over 30 audio clips to visualise a variety of sounds. Our audio library includes everyday sounds such as speech, singing, musical instruments, birds, a baby, cat, dog, sirens, a jet, thunder, and screaming. We provide a link to a video of the sound sources superimposed with their respective spectrograms in real time. Readers can use our spectrograph program to view our library, open their own desktop audio files, and use the program in real time with a computer microphone.

A centralized audio presentation manager

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

Papp, A.L. III; Blattner, M.M.

1994-05-16

The centralized audio presentation manager addresses the problems which occur when multiple programs running simultaneously attempt to use the audio output of a computer system. Time dependence of sound means that certain auditory messages must be scheduled simultaneously, which can lead to perceptual problems due to psychoacoustic phenomena. Furthermore, the combination of speech and nonspeech audio is examined; each presents its own problems of perceptibility in an acoustic environment composed of multiple auditory streams. The centralized audio presentation manager receives abstract parameterized message requests from the currently running programs, and attempts to create and present a sonic representation in themore » most perceptible manner through the use of a theoretically and empirically designed rule set.« less

Reasons to Rethink the Use of Audio and Video Lectures in Online Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stetz, Thomas A.; Bauman, Antonina A.

2013-01-01

Recent technological developments allow any instructor to create audio and video lectures for the use in online classes. However, it is questionable if it is worth the time and effort that faculty put into preparing those lectures. This paper presents thirteen factors that should be considered before preparing and using audio and video lectures in…

Acoustic Calibration of the Exterior Effects Room at the NASA Langley Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Faller, Kenneth J., II; Rizzi, Stephen A.; Klos, Jacob; Chapin, William L.; Surucu, Fahri; Aumann, Aric R.

2010-01-01

The Exterior Effects Room (EER) at the NASA Langley Research Center is a 39-seat auditorium built for psychoacoustic studies of aircraft community noise. The original reproduction system employed monaural playback and hence lacked sound localization capability. In an effort to more closely recreate field test conditions, a significant upgrade was undertaken to allow simulation of a three-dimensional audio and visual environment. The 3D audio system consists of 27 mid and high frequency satellite speakers and 4 subwoofers, driven by a real-time audio server running an implementation of Vector Base Amplitude Panning. The audio server is part of a larger simulation system, which controls the audio and visual presentation of recorded and synthesized aircraft flyovers. The focus of this work is on the calibration of the 3D audio system, including gains used in the amplitude panning algorithm, speaker equalization, and absolute gain control. Because the speakers are installed in an irregularly shaped room, the speaker equalization includes time delay and gain compensation due to different mounting distances from the focal point, filtering for color compensation due to different installations (half space, corner, baffled/unbaffled), and cross-over filtering.

Automatic Detection and Classification of Audio Events for Road Surveillance Applications.

PubMed

Almaadeed, Noor; Asim, Muhammad; Al-Maadeed, Somaya; Bouridane, Ahmed; Beghdadi, Azeddine

2018-06-06

This work investigates the problem of detecting hazardous events on roads by designing an audio surveillance system that automatically detects perilous situations such as car crashes and tire skidding. In recent years, research has shown several visual surveillance systems that have been proposed for road monitoring to detect accidents with an aim to improve safety procedures in emergency cases. However, the visual information alone cannot detect certain events such as car crashes and tire skidding, especially under adverse and visually cluttered weather conditions such as snowfall, rain, and fog. Consequently, the incorporation of microphones and audio event detectors based on audio processing can significantly enhance the detection accuracy of such surveillance systems. This paper proposes to combine time-domain, frequency-domain, and joint time-frequency features extracted from a class of quadratic time-frequency distributions (QTFDs) to detect events on roads through audio analysis and processing. Experiments were carried out using a publicly available dataset. The experimental results conform the effectiveness of the proposed approach for detecting hazardous events on roads as demonstrated by 7% improvement of accuracy rate when compared against methods that use individual temporal and spectral features.

Radioactive Decay: Audio Data Collection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Struthers, Allan

2009-01-01

Many phenomena generate interesting audible time series. This data can be collected and processed using audio software. The free software package "Audacity" is used to demonstrate the process by recording, processing, and extracting click times from an inexpensive radiation detector. The high quality of the data is demonstrated with a simple…

47 CFR 15.115 - TV interface devices, including cable system terminal devices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... times the square root of (R) for the video signal and 155 times the square root of (R) for the audio... and 77.5 times the square root of (R) for the audio signal. (2) At any RF output terminal, the maximum... video cassette recorders continue to be subject to the provisions for general TV interface devices. (c...

47 CFR 15.115 - TV interface devices, including cable system terminal devices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... times the square root of (R) for the video signal and 155 times the square root of (R) for the audio... and 77.5 times the square root of (R) for the audio signal. (2) At any RF output terminal, the maximum... video cassette recorders continue to be subject to the provisions for general TV interface devices. (c...

47 CFR 15.115 - TV interface devices, including cable system terminal devices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... times the square root of (R) for the video signal and 155 times the square root of (R) for the audio... and 77.5 times the square root of (R) for the audio signal. (2) At any RF output terminal, the maximum... video cassette recorders continue to be subject to the provisions for general TV interface devices. (c...

Changes of the Prefrontal EEG (Electroencephalogram) Activities According to the Repetition of Audio-Visual Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Yong-Jin; Chang, Nam-Kee

2001-01-01

Investigates the changes of neuronal response according to a four time repetition of audio-visual learning. Obtains EEG data from the prefrontal (Fp1, Fp2) lobe from 20 subjects at the 8th grade level. Concludes that the habituation of neuronal response shows up in repetitive audio-visual learning and brain hemisphericity can be changed by…

Internet-Based System for Voice Communication With the ISS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chamberlain, James; Myers, Gerry; Clem, David; Speir, Terri

2005-01-01

The Internet Voice Distribution System (IVoDS) is a voice-communication system that comprises mainly computer hardware and software. The IVoDS was developed to supplement and eventually replace the Enhanced Voice Distribution System (EVoDS), which, heretofore, has constituted the terrestrial subsystem of a system for voice communications among crewmembers of the International Space Station (ISS), workers at the Payloads Operations Center at Marshall Space Flight Center, principal investigators at diverse locations who are responsible for specific payloads, and others. The IVoDS utilizes a communication infrastructure of NASA and NASArelated intranets in addition to, as its name suggests, the Internet. Whereas the EVoDS utilizes traditional circuitswitched telephony, the IVoDS is a packet-data system that utilizes a voice over Internet protocol (VOIP). Relative to the EVoDS, the IVoDS offers advantages of greater flexibility and lower cost for expansion and reconfiguration. The IVoDS is an extended version of a commercial Internet-based voice conferencing system that enables each user to participate in only one conference at a time. In the IVoDS, a user can receive audio from as many as eight conferences simultaneously while sending audio to one of them. The IVoDS also incorporates administrative controls, beyond those of the commercial system, that provide greater security and control of the capabilities and authorizations for talking and listening afforded to each user.

Sparse gammatone signal model optimized for English speech does not match the human auditory filters.

PubMed

Strahl, Stefan; Mertins, Alfred

2008-07-18

Evidence that neurosensory systems use sparse signal representations as well as improved performance of signal processing algorithms using sparse signal models raised interest in sparse signal coding in the last years. For natural audio signals like speech and environmental sounds, gammatone atoms have been derived as expansion functions that generate a nearly optimal sparse signal model (Smith, E., Lewicki, M., 2006. Efficient auditory coding. Nature 439, 978-982). Furthermore, gammatone functions are established models for the human auditory filters. Thus far, a practical application of a sparse gammatone signal model has been prevented by the fact that deriving the sparsest representation is, in general, computationally intractable. In this paper, we applied an accelerated version of the matching pursuit algorithm for gammatone dictionaries allowing real-time and large data set applications. We show that a sparse signal model in general has advantages in audio coding and that a sparse gammatone signal model encodes speech more efficiently in terms of sparseness than a sparse modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) signal model. We also show that the optimal gammatone parameters derived for English speech do not match the human auditory filters, suggesting for signal processing applications to derive the parameters individually for each applied signal class instead of using psychometrically derived parameters. For brain research, it means that care should be taken with directly transferring findings of optimality for technical to biological systems.

Design of an audio advertisement dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Yutao; Liu, Jihong; Zhang, Qi; Geng, Yuting

2015-12-01

Since more and more advertisements swarm into radios, it is necessary to establish an audio advertising dataset which could be used to analyze and classify the advertisement. A method of how to establish a complete audio advertising dataset is presented in this paper. The dataset is divided into four different kinds of advertisements. Each advertisement's sample is given in *.wav file format, and annotated with a txt file which contains its file name, sampling frequency, channel number, broadcasting time and its class. The classifying rationality of the advertisements in this dataset is proved by clustering the different advertisements based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The experimental results show that this audio advertisement dataset offers a reliable set of samples for correlative audio advertisement experimental studies.

Entertainment and Pacification System For Car Seat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elrod, Susan Vinz (Inventor); Dabney, Richard W. (Inventor)

2006-01-01

An entertainment and pacification system for use with a child car seat has speakers mounted in the child car seat with a plurality of audio sources and an anti-noise audio system coupled to the child car seat. A controllable switching system provides for, at any given time, the selective activation of i) one of the audio sources such that the audio signal generated thereby is coupled to one or more of the speakers, and ii) the anti-noise audio system such that an ambient-noise-canceling audio signal generated thereby is coupled to one or more of the speakers. The controllable switching system can receive commands generated at one of first controls located at the child car seat and second controls located remotely with respect to the child car seat with commands generated by the second controls overriding commands generated by the first controls.

Advanced Spacesuit Informatics Software Design for Power, Avionics and Software Version 2.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wright, Theodore W.

2016-01-01

A description of the software design for the 2016 edition of the Informatics computer assembly of the NASAs Advanced Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AEMU), also called the Advanced Spacesuit. The Informatics system is an optional part of the spacesuit assembly. It adds a graphical interface for displaying suit status, timelines, procedures, and warning information. It also provides an interface to the suit mounted camera for recording still images, video, and audio field notes.

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...

Using time-series intervention analysis to model cow heart rate affected by programmed audio and environmental/physiological

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This research is the first use of the Box-Jenkins time-series models to describe changes in heart rate (HR) of free-ranging crossbred cows (Bos taurus) receiving both programmed audio cues from directional virtual fencing (DVFTM) devices and non-programmed environmental/physiological cues. The DVFT...

High-speed network for delivery of education-on-demand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cordero, Carlos; Harris, Dale; Hsieh, Jeff

1996-03-01

A project to investigate the feasibility of delivering on-demand distance education to the desktop, known as the Asynchronous Distance Education ProjecT (ADEPT), is presently being carried out. A set of Stanford engineering classes is digitized on PC, Macintosh, and UNIX platforms, and is made available on servers. Students on campus and in industry may then access class material on these servers via local and metropolitan area networks. Students can download class video and audio, encoded in QuickTimeTM and Show-Me TVTM formats, via file-transfer protocol or the World Wide Web. Alternatively, they may stream a vector-quantized version of the class directly from a server for real-time playback. Students may also download PostscriptTM and Adobe AcrobatTM versions of class notes. Off-campus students may connect to ADEPT servers via the internet, the Silicon Valley Test Track (SVTT), or the Bay-Area Gigabit Network (BAGNet). The SVTT and BAGNet are high-speed metropolitan-area networks, spanning the Bay Area, which provide IP access over asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). Student interaction is encouraged through news groups, electronic mailing lists, and an ADEPT home page. Issues related to having multiple platforms and interoperability are examined in this paper. The ramifications of providing a reliable service are discussed. System performance and the parameters that affect it are then described. Finally, future work on expanding ATM access, real-time delivery of classes, and enhanced student interaction is described.

The impact of asynchronous online course design for professional development on science-teacher self-efficacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Long, Caryn L. Smith

This dissertation examines how various designs of asynchronous online courses for teacher professional development may impact science-teacher self-efficacy. Mayer's studies, providing the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, targeted designs of asynchronous online learning and the point where contributions of written, auditory, and visual information on these sites could cause cognitive overload (Mayer, 2005). With increasing usage of online resources for educators to gain teaching credits, understanding how to construct these professional development offerings is critical. Teacher self-efficacy can affect how well information from these courses relays to students in their classroom. This research explored the connection between online asynchronous professional development design and teacher self-efficacy through analysis of a physics-based course in three distinct course-design offerings, while collecting content-acquisition data and self-efficacy effects before and after participation. Results from this research showed teacher self-efficacy had improved in all online treatments which included a text-only, text and audio and text, audio and animation version of the same physics content. Content knowledge was most effected by the text-only and text and audio treatments with significan growth occurring in the remember, apply, and analyze levels of bloom's taxonomy. Due to the small number of participants, it cannot be said that these results are conclusive.

General trust impedes perception of self-reported primary psychopathy in thin slices of social interaction.

PubMed

Manson, Joseph H; Gervais, Matthew M; Bryant, Gregory A

2018-01-01

Little is known about people's ability to detect subclinical psychopathy from others' quotidian social behavior, or about the correlates of variation in this ability. This study sought to address these questions using a thin slice personality judgment paradigm. We presented 108 undergraduate judges (70.4% female) with 1.5 minute video thin slices of zero-acquaintance triadic conversations among other undergraduates (targets: n = 105, 57.1% female). Judges completed self-report measures of general trust, caution, and empathy. Target individuals had completed the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (LSRP) scale. Judges viewed the videos in one of three conditions: complete audio, silent, or audio from which semantic content had been removed using low-pass filtering. Using a novel other-rating version of the LSRP, judges' ratings of targets' primary psychopathy levels were significantly positively associated with targets' self-reports, but only in the complete audio condition. Judge general trust and target LSRP interacted, such that judges higher in general trust made less accurate judgments with respect to targets higher in primary and total psychopathy. Results are consistent with a scenario in which psychopathic traits are maintained in human populations by negative frequency dependent selection operating through the costs of detecting psychopathy in others.

Multisensory Motion Perception in 3–4 Month-Old Infants

PubMed Central

Nava, Elena; Grassi, Massimo; Brenna, Viola; Croci, Emanuela; Turati, Chiara

2017-01-01

Human infants begin very early in life to take advantage of multisensory information by extracting the invariant amodal information that is conveyed redundantly by multiple senses. Here we addressed the question as to whether infants can bind multisensory moving stimuli, and whether this occurs even if the motion produced by the stimuli is only illusory. Three- to 4-month-old infants were presented with two bimodal pairings: visuo-tactile and audio-visual. Visuo-tactile pairings consisted of apparently vertically moving bars (the Barber Pole illusion) moving in either the same or opposite direction with a concurrent tactile stimulus consisting of strokes given on the infant’s back. Audio-visual pairings consisted of the Barber Pole illusion in its visual and auditory version, the latter giving the impression of a continuous rising or ascending pitch. We found that infants were able to discriminate congruently (same direction) vs. incongruently moving (opposite direction) pairs irrespective of modality (Experiment 1). Importantly, we also found that congruently moving visuo-tactile and audio-visual stimuli were preferred over incongruently moving bimodal stimuli (Experiment 2). Our findings suggest that very young infants are able to extract motion as amodal component and use it to match stimuli that only apparently move in the same direction. PMID:29187829

The Multimedia Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale 2: Its Psychometric Properties, Equivalence with the Paper-and-Pencil Version, and Respondent Preferences.

PubMed

Flahive, Mon-hsin Wang; Chuang, Ying-Chih; Li, Chien-Mo

2015-01-01

A multimedia version of Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale 2 (Piers-Harris 2) was created with audio and cartoon animation to facilitate the measurement of self-concept among younger children. This study aimed to assess the psychometric qualities of the computer version of Piers-Harris 2 scores, examine its score equivalence with the paper-and-pencil version, and survey the respondent preference of the two versions. Two hundred and forty eight Taiwanese students from the first to fourth grade were recruited. In regard to the psychometric properties, high internal consistency (α = .91) was found for the total score of multimedia Piers-Harris 2. High interscale correlations (.77 to .83) of the multimedia Piers-Harris 2 scores and the results of confirmatory factor analysis suggested the multimedia Piers-Harris 2 contained good structural characteristics. The scores of the multimedia Piers-Harris 2 also had significant correlations with the scores of the Elementary School Children's Self Concept Scale. The equality of convergence and criterion-related validities of Piers-Harris 2 scores for the multimedia and paper-and-pencil versions and the results of ICCs between the scores of the multimedia and paper-and-pencil Piers-Harris 2 suggested their high level of equivalence. Participants showed more positive attitudes towards the multimedia version.

The Multimedia Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale 2: Its Psychometric Properties, Equivalence with the Paper-and-Pencil Version, and Respondent Preferences

PubMed Central

Flahive, Mon-hsin Wang; Chuang, Ying-Chih; Li, Chien-Mo

2015-01-01

A multimedia version of Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale 2 (Piers-Harris 2) was created with audio and cartoon animation to facilitate the measurement of self-concept among younger children. This study aimed to assess the psychometric qualities of the computer version of Piers-Harris 2 scores, examine its score equivalence with the paper-and-pencil version, and survey the respondent preference of the two versions. Two hundred and forty eight Taiwanese students from the first to fourth grade were recruited. In regard to the psychometric properties, high internal consistency (α = .91) was found for the total score of multimedia Piers-Harris 2. High interscale correlations (.77 to .83) of the multimedia Piers-Harris 2 scores and the results of confirmatory factor analysis suggested the multimedia Piers-Harris 2 contained good structural characteristics. The scores of the multimedia Piers-Harris 2 also had significant correlations with the scores of the Elementary School Children’s Self Concept Scale. The equality of convergence and criterion-related validities of Piers-Harris 2 scores for the multimedia and paper-and-pencil versions and the results of ICCs between the scores of the multimedia and paper-and-pencil Piers-Harris 2 suggested their high level of equivalence. Participants showed more positive attitudes towards the multimedia version. PMID:26252499

Detection and characterization of lightning-based sources using continuous wavelet transform: application to audio-magnetotellurics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larnier, H.; Sailhac, P.; Chambodut, A.

2018-01-01

Atmospheric electromagnetic waves created by global lightning activity contain information about electrical processes of the inner and the outer Earth. Large signal-to-noise ratio events are particularly interesting because they convey information about electromagnetic properties along their path. We introduce a new methodology to automatically detect and characterize lightning-based waves using a time-frequency decomposition obtained through the application of continuous wavelet transform. We focus specifically on three types of sources, namely, atmospherics, slow tails and whistlers, that cover the frequency range 10 Hz to 10 kHz. Each wave has distinguishable characteristics in the time-frequency domain due to source shape and dispersion processes. Our methodology allows automatic detection of each type of event in the time-frequency decomposition thanks to their specific signature. Horizontal polarization attributes are also recovered in the time-frequency domain. This procedure is first applied to synthetic extremely low frequency time-series with different signal-to-noise ratios to test for robustness. We then apply it on real data: three stations of audio-magnetotelluric data acquired in Guadeloupe, oversea French territories. Most of analysed atmospherics and slow tails display linear polarization, whereas analysed whistlers are elliptically polarized. The diversity of lightning activity is finally analysed in an audio-magnetotelluric data processing framework, as used in subsurface prospecting, through estimation of the impedance response functions. We show that audio-magnetotelluric processing results depend mainly on the frequency content of electromagnetic waves observed in processed time-series, with an emphasis on the difference between morning and afternoon acquisition. Our new methodology based on the time-frequency signature of lightning-induced electromagnetic waves allows automatic detection and characterization of events in audio-magnetotelluric time-series, providing the means to assess quality of response functions obtained through processing.

Advanced Simulation in Undergraduate Pilot Training: Automatic Instructional System

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-10-01

an addressable reel-to--reel audio tape recorder, a random access audio memory drum , and an interactive software package which permits the user to...audio memory drum , and an interactive software package which permits the user to develop preptogtahmed exercises. Figure 2 illustrates overall...Data Recprding System consists of two elements; an overlay program which performs the real-time sampling of specified variables and stores data to disc

Formal Verification of a Power Controller Using the Real-Time Model Checker UPPAAL

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Havelund, Klaus; Larsen, Kim Guldstrand; Skou, Arne

1999-01-01

A real-time system for power-down control in audio/video components is modeled and verified using the real-time model checker UPPAAL. The system is supposed to reside in an audio/video component and control (read from and write to) links to neighbor audio/video components such as TV, VCR and remote-control. In particular, the system is responsible for the powering up and down of the component in between the arrival of data, and in order to do so in a safe way without loss of data, it is essential that no link interrupts are lost. Hence, a component system is a multitasking system with hard real-time requirements, and we present techniques for modeling time consumption in such a multitasked, prioritized system. The work has been carried out in a collaboration between Aalborg University and the audio/video company B&O. By modeling the system, 3 design errors were identified and corrected, and the following verification confirmed the validity of the design but also revealed the necessity for an upper limit of the interrupt frequency. The resulting design has been implemented and it is going to be incorporated as part of a new product line.

A real-time detector system for precise timing of audiovisual stimuli.

PubMed

Henelius, Andreas; Jagadeesan, Sharman; Huotilainen, Minna

2012-01-01

The successful recording of neurophysiologic signals, such as event-related potentials (ERPs) or event-related magnetic fields (ERFs), relies on precise information of stimulus presentation times. We have developed an accurate and flexible audiovisual sensor solution operating in real-time for on-line use in both auditory and visual ERP and ERF paradigms. The sensor functions independently of the used audio or video stimulus presentation tools or signal acquisition system. The sensor solution consists of two independent sensors; one for sound and one for light. The microcontroller-based audio sensor incorporates a novel approach to the detection of natural sounds such as multipart audio stimuli, using an adjustable dead time. This aids in producing exact markers for complex auditory stimuli and reduces the number of false detections. The analog photosensor circuit detects changes in light intensity on the screen and produces a marker for changes exceeding a threshold. The microcontroller software for the audio sensor is free and open source, allowing other researchers to customise the sensor for use in specific auditory ERP/ERF paradigms. The hardware schematics and software for the audiovisual sensor are freely available from the webpage of the authors' lab.

Selective Attention Modulates the Direction of Audio-Visual Temporal Recalibration

PubMed Central

Ikumi, Nara; Soto-Faraco, Salvador

2014-01-01

Temporal recalibration of cross-modal synchrony has been proposed as a mechanism to compensate for timing differences between sensory modalities. However, far from the rich complexity of everyday life sensory environments, most studies to date have examined recalibration on isolated cross-modal pairings. Here, we hypothesize that selective attention might provide an effective filter to help resolve which stimuli are selected when multiple events compete for recalibration. We addressed this question by testing audio-visual recalibration following an adaptation phase where two opposing audio-visual asynchronies were present. The direction of voluntary visual attention, and therefore to one of the two possible asynchronies (flash leading or flash lagging), was manipulated using colour as a selection criterion. We found a shift in the point of subjective audio-visual simultaneity as a function of whether the observer had focused attention to audio-then-flash or to flash-then-audio groupings during the adaptation phase. A baseline adaptation condition revealed that this effect of endogenous attention was only effective toward the lagging flash. This hints at the role of exogenous capture and/or additional endogenous effects producing an asymmetry toward the leading flash. We conclude that selective attention helps promote selected audio-visual pairings to be combined and subsequently adjusted in time but, stimulus organization exerts a strong impact on recalibration. We tentatively hypothesize that the resolution of recalibration in complex scenarios involves the orchestration of top-down selection mechanisms and stimulus-driven processes. PMID:25004132

Selective attention modulates the direction of audio-visual temporal recalibration.

PubMed

Ikumi, Nara; Soto-Faraco, Salvador

2014-01-01

Temporal recalibration of cross-modal synchrony has been proposed as a mechanism to compensate for timing differences between sensory modalities. However, far from the rich complexity of everyday life sensory environments, most studies to date have examined recalibration on isolated cross-modal pairings. Here, we hypothesize that selective attention might provide an effective filter to help resolve which stimuli are selected when multiple events compete for recalibration. We addressed this question by testing audio-visual recalibration following an adaptation phase where two opposing audio-visual asynchronies were present. The direction of voluntary visual attention, and therefore to one of the two possible asynchronies (flash leading or flash lagging), was manipulated using colour as a selection criterion. We found a shift in the point of subjective audio-visual simultaneity as a function of whether the observer had focused attention to audio-then-flash or to flash-then-audio groupings during the adaptation phase. A baseline adaptation condition revealed that this effect of endogenous attention was only effective toward the lagging flash. This hints at the role of exogenous capture and/or additional endogenous effects producing an asymmetry toward the leading flash. We conclude that selective attention helps promote selected audio-visual pairings to be combined and subsequently adjusted in time but, stimulus organization exerts a strong impact on recalibration. We tentatively hypothesize that the resolution of recalibration in complex scenarios involves the orchestration of top-down selection mechanisms and stimulus-driven processes.

Predicting the Overall Spatial Quality of Automotive Audio Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koya, Daisuke

The spatial quality of automotive audio systems is often compromised due to their unideal listening environments. Automotive audio systems need to be developed quickly due to industry demands. A suitable perceptual model could evaluate the spatial quality of automotive audio systems with similar reliability to formal listening tests but take less time. Such a model is developed in this research project by adapting an existing model of spatial quality for automotive audio use. The requirements for the adaptation were investigated in a literature review. A perceptual model called QESTRAL was reviewed, which predicts the overall spatial quality of domestic multichannel audio systems. It was determined that automotive audio systems are likely to be impaired in terms of the spatial attributes that were not considered in developing the QESTRAL model, but metrics are available that might predict these attributes. To establish whether the QESTRAL model in its current form can accurately predict the overall spatial quality of automotive audio systems, MUSHRA listening tests using headphone auralisation with head tracking were conducted to collect results to be compared against predictions by the model. Based on guideline criteria, the model in its current form could not accurately predict the overall spatial quality of automotive audio systems. To improve prediction performance, the QESTRAL model was recalibrated and modified using existing metrics of the model, those that were proposed from the literature review, and newly developed metrics. The most important metrics for predicting the overall spatial quality of automotive audio systems included those that were interaural cross-correlation (IACC) based, relate to localisation of the frontal audio scene, and account for the perceived scene width in front of the listener. Modifying the model for automotive audio systems did not invalidate its use for domestic audio systems. The resulting model predicts the overall spatial quality of 2- and 5-channel automotive audio systems with a cross-validation performance of R. 2 = 0.85 and root-mean-squareerror (RMSE) = 11.03%.

Simulator study of the effect of visual-motion time delays on pilot tracking performance with an audio side task

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Riley, D. R.; Miller, G. K., Jr.

1978-01-01

The effect of time delay was determined in the visual and motion cues in a flight simulator on pilot performance in tracking a target aircraft that was oscillating sinusoidally in altitude only. An audio side task was used to assure the subject was fully occupied at all times. The results indicate that, within the test grid employed, about the same acceptable time delay (250 msec) was obtained for a single aircraft (fighter type) by each of two subjects for both fixed-base and motion-base conditions. Acceptable time delay is defined as the largest amount of delay that can be inserted simultaneously into the visual and motion cues before performance degradation occurs. A statistical analysis of the data was made to establish this value of time delay. Audio side task provided quantitative data that documented the subject's work level.

Diagnostic accuracy of sleep bruxism scoring in absence of audio-video recording: a pilot study.

PubMed

Carra, Maria Clotilde; Huynh, Nelly; Lavigne, Gilles J

2015-03-01

Based on the most recent polysomnographic (PSG) research diagnostic criteria, sleep bruxism is diagnosed when >2 rhythmic masticatory muscle activity (RMMA)/h of sleep are scored on the masseter and/or temporalis muscles. These criteria have not yet been validated for portable PSG systems. This pilot study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of scoring sleep bruxism in absence of audio-video recordings. Ten subjects (mean age 24.7 ± 2.2) with a clinical diagnosis of sleep bruxism spent one night in the sleep laboratory. PSG were performed with a portable system (type 2) while audio-video was recorded. Sleep studies were scored by the same examiner three times: (1) without, (2) with, and (3) without audio-video in order to test the intra-scoring and intra-examiner reliability for RMMA scoring. The RMMA event-by-event concordance rate between scoring without audio-video and with audio-video was 68.3 %. Overall, the RMMA index was overestimated by 23.8 % without audio-video. However, the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) between scorings with and without audio-video was good (ICC = 0.91; p < 0.001); the intra-examiner reliability was high (ICC = 0.97; p < 0.001). The clinical diagnosis of sleep bruxism was confirmed in 8/10 subjects based on scoring without audio-video and in 6/10 subjects with audio-video. Although the absence of audio-video recording, the diagnostic accuracy of assessing RMMA with portable PSG systems appeared to remain good, supporting their use for both research and clinical purposes. However, the risk of moderate overestimation in absence of audio-video must be taken into account.

Impact of audio-visual storytelling in simulation learning experiences of undergraduate nursing students.

PubMed

Johnston, Sandra; Parker, Christina N; Fox, Amanda

2017-09-01

Use of high fidelity simulation has become increasingly popular in nursing education to the extent that it is now an integral component of most nursing programs. Anecdotal evidence suggests that students have difficulty engaging with simulation manikins due to their unrealistic appearance. Introduction of the manikin as a 'real patient' with the use of an audio-visual narrative may engage students in the simulated learning experience and impact on their learning. A paucity of literature currently exists on the use of audio-visual narratives to enhance simulated learning experiences. This study aimed to determine if viewing an audio-visual narrative during a simulation pre-brief altered undergraduate nursing student perceptions of the learning experience. A quasi-experimental post-test design was utilised. A convenience sample of final year baccalaureate nursing students at a large metropolitan university. Participants completed a modified version of the Student Satisfaction with Simulation Experiences survey. This 12-item questionnaire contained questions relating to the ability to transfer skills learned in simulation to the real clinical world, the realism of the simulation and the overall value of the learning experience. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise demographic information. Two tailed, independent group t-tests were used to determine statistical differences within the categories. Findings indicated that students reported high levels of value, realism and transferability in relation to the viewing of an audio-visual narrative. Statistically significant results (t=2.38, p<0.02) were evident in the subscale of transferability of learning from simulation to clinical practice. The subgroups of age and gender although not significant indicated some interesting results. High satisfaction with simulation was indicated by all students in relation to value and realism. There was a significant finding in relation to transferability on knowledge and this is vital to quality educational outcomes. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Retrospective Analysis of Clinical Performance of an Estonian Speech Recognition System for Radiology: Effects of Different Acoustic and Language Models.

PubMed

Paats, A; Alumäe, T; Meister, E; Fridolin, I

2018-04-30

The aim of this study was to analyze retrospectively the influence of different acoustic and language models in order to determine the most important effects to the clinical performance of an Estonian language-based non-commercial radiology-oriented automatic speech recognition (ASR) system. An ASR system was developed for Estonian language in radiology domain by utilizing open-source software components (Kaldi toolkit, Thrax). The ASR system was trained with the real radiology text reports and dictations collected during development phases. The final version of the ASR system was tested by 11 radiologists who dictated 219 reports in total, in spontaneous manner in a real clinical environment. The audio files collected in the final phase were used to measure the performance of different versions of the ASR system retrospectively. ASR system versions were evaluated by word error rate (WER) for each speaker and modality and by WER difference for the first and the last version of the ASR system. Total average WER for the final version throughout all material was improved from 18.4% of the first version (v1) to 5.8% of the last (v8) version which corresponds to relative improvement of 68.5%. WER improvement was strongly related to modality and radiologist. In summary, the performance of the final ASR system version was close to optimal, delivering similar results to all modalities and being independent on user, the complexity of the radiology reports, user experience, and speech characteristics.

Using time-series intervention analysis to model cow heart rate affected by programmed audio and environmental/physiological cues

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This research is the first use of the Box-Jenkins time-series models to describe changes in heart rate (HR) of free-ranging crossbred cows (Bos taurus) receiving both programmed audio cues from directional virtual fencing (DVFTM) devices and non-programmed environmental/physiological cues. The DVFT...

Nonlinear dynamic macromodeling techniques for audio systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogrodzki, Jan; Bieńkowski, Piotr

2015-09-01

This paper develops a modelling method and a models identification technique for the nonlinear dynamic audio systems. Identification is performed by means of a behavioral approach based on a polynomial approximation. This approach makes use of Discrete Fourier Transform and Harmonic Balance Method. A model of an audio system is first created and identified and then it is simulated in real time using an algorithm of low computational complexity. The algorithm consists in real time emulation of the system response rather than in simulation of the system itself. The proposed software is written in Python language using object oriented programming techniques. The code is optimized for a multithreads environment.

Three dimensional audio versus head down TCAS displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R.; Pittman, Marc T.

1994-01-01

The advantage of a head up auditory display was evaluated in an experiment designed to measure and compare the acquisition time for capturing visual targets under two conditions: Standard head down traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) display, and three-dimensional (3-D) audio TCAS presentation. Ten commercial airline crews were tested under full mission simulation conditions at the NASA Ames Crew-Vehicle Systems Research Facility Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator. Scenario software generated targets corresponding to aircraft which activated a 3-D aural advisory or a TCAS advisory. Results showed a significant difference in target acquisition time between the two conditions, favoring the 3-D audio TCAS condition by 500 ms.

Miles Hand Grenade

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

Harrington, John J.; Buttz, James H.; Maish, Alex B.

2005-11-15

A simulated grenade for MILES-type simulations generates a unique RF signal and a unique audio signal. A detector utilizes the time between receipt of the RF signal and the slower-traveling audio signal to determine the distance between the detector and the simulated grenade.

StreaMorph: A Case for Synthesizing Energy-Efficient Adaptive Programs Using High-Level Abstractions

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-12

technique when switching from using eight cores to one core. 1. Introduction Real - time streaming of media data is growing in popularity. This includes...both capture and processing of real - time video and audio, and delivery of video and audio from servers; recent usage number shows over 800 million...source of data, when that source is a real - time source, and it is generally not necessary to get ahead of the sink. Even with real - time sources and sinks

A prospective, randomised, controlled study examining binaural beat audio and pre-operative anxiety in patients undergoing general anaesthesia for day case surgery.

PubMed

Padmanabhan, R; Hildreth, A J; Laws, D

2005-09-01

Pre-operative anxiety is common and often significant. Ambulatory surgery challenges our pre-operative goal of an anxiety-free patient by requiring people to be 'street ready' within a brief period of time after surgery. Recently, it has been demonstrated that music can be used successfully to relieve patient anxiety before operations, and that audio embedded with tones that create binaural beats within the brain of the listener decreases subjective levels of anxiety in patients with chronic anxiety states. We measured anxiety with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaire and compared binaural beat audio (Binaural Group) with an identical soundtrack but without these added tones (Audio Group) and with a third group who received no specific intervention (No Intervention Group). Mean [95% confidence intervals] decreases in anxiety scores were 26.3%[19-33%] in the Binaural Group (p = 0.001 vs. Audio Group, p < 0.0001 vs. No Intervention Group), 11.1%[6-16%] in the Audio Group (p = 0.15 vs. No Intervention Group) and 3.8%[0-7%] in the No Intervention Group. Binaural beat audio has the potential to decrease acute pre-operative anxiety significantly.

37 CFR 360.21 - Time of filing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Section 360.21 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBMISSION OF ROYALTY CLAIMS FILING OF CLAIMS TO ROYALTY FEES COLLECTED UNDER COMPULSORY LICENSE Digital Audio... of each succeeding year, every interested copyright party claiming to be entitled to digital audio...

37 CFR 360.21 - Time of filing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Section 360.21 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBMISSION OF ROYALTY CLAIMS FILING OF CLAIMS TO ROYALTY FEES COLLECTED UNDER COMPULSORY LICENSE Digital Audio... of each succeeding year, every interested copyright party claiming to be entitled to digital audio...

37 CFR 380.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 380.2 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RATES AND TERMS... noninteractive digital audio transmissions as part of a new subscription service, less the actual running time of... Webcaster is a Licensee, other than a Noncommercial Webcaster, that makes eligible digital audio...

37 CFR 380.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 380.2 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RATES AND TERMS... noninteractive digital audio transmissions as part of a new subscription service, less the actual running time of... Webcaster is a Licensee, other than a Noncommercial Webcaster, that makes eligible digital audio...

37 CFR 360.21 - Time of filing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Section 360.21 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBMISSION OF ROYALTY CLAIMS FILING OF CLAIMS TO ROYALTY FEES COLLECTED UNDER COMPULSORY LICENSE Digital Audio... of each succeeding year, every interested copyright party claiming to be entitled to digital audio...

37 CFR 360.21 - Time of filing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Section 360.21 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBMISSION OF ROYALTY CLAIMS FILING OF CLAIMS TO ROYALTY FEES COLLECTED UNDER COMPULSORY LICENSE Digital Audio... of each succeeding year, every interested copyright party claiming to be entitled to digital audio...

37 CFR 360.21 - Time of filing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Section 360.21 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBMISSION OF ROYALTY CLAIMS FILING OF CLAIMS TO ROYALTY FEES COLLECTED UNDER COMPULSORY LICENSE Digital Audio... of each succeeding year, every interested copyright party claiming to be entitled to digital audio...

37 CFR 380.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 380.2 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RATES AND TERMS... noninteractive digital audio transmissions as part of a new subscription service, less the actual running time of... Webcaster is a Licensee, other than a Noncommercial Webcaster, that makes eligible digital audio...

37 CFR 380.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 380.2 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RATES AND TERMS... noninteractive digital audio transmissions as part of a new subscription service, less the actual running time of... Webcaster is a Licensee, other than a Noncommercial Webcaster, that makes eligible digital audio...

Understanding the Effect of Audio Communication Delay on Distributed Team Interaction

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

means for members to socialize and learn about each other, engenders development cooperative relationships, and lays a foundation for future interaction...length will result in increases in task completion time and mental workload. 3. Audiovisual technology will moderate the effect of communication...than audio alone. 4. Audiovisual technology will moderate the effect of communication delays such that task completion time and mental workload will

VIDAC; A New Technology for Increasing the Effectiveness of Television Distribution Networks: Report on a Feasibility Study of a Central Library "Integrated Media" Satellite Delivery System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diambra, Henry M.; And Others

VIDAC (Video Audio Compressed), a new technology based upon non-real-time transmission of audiovisual information via conventional television systems, has been invented by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. This system permits time compression, during storage and transmission of the audio component of a still visual-narrative audio…

Does listening to music with an audio ski helmet impair reaction time to peripheral stimuli?

PubMed

Ruedl, G; Pocecco, E; Wolf, M; Schöpf, S; Burtscher, M; Kopp, M

2012-12-01

With the recent worldwide increase in ski helmet use, new market trends are developing, including audio helmets for listening to music while skiing or snowboarding. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether listening to music with an audio ski helmet impairs reaction time to peripheral stimuli. A within-subjects design study using the Compensatory-Tracking-Test was performed on 65 subjects (36 males and 29 females) who had a mean age of 23.3 ± 3.9 years. Using repeated measures analysis of variance, we found significant differences in reaction times between the 4 test conditions (p=0.039). The lowest mean reaction time (± SE) was measured for helmet use while listening to music (507.9 ± 13.2 ms), which was not different from helmet use alone (514.6 ± 12.5 ms) (p=0.528). However, compared to helmet use while listening to music, reaction time was significantly longer for helmet and ski goggles used together (535.8 ± 14.2 ms, p=0.005), with a similar trend for helmet and ski goggles used together while listening to music (526.9 ± 13.8 ms) (p=0.094). In conclusion, listening to music with an audio ski helmet did not increase mean reaction time to peripheral stimuli in a laboratory setting. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Establishing a gold standard for manual cough counting: video versus digital audio recordings

PubMed Central

Smith, Jaclyn A; Earis, John E; Woodcock, Ashley A

2006-01-01

Background Manual cough counting is time-consuming and laborious; however it is the standard to which automated cough monitoring devices must be compared. We have compared manual cough counting from video recordings with manual cough counting from digital audio recordings. Methods We studied 8 patients with chronic cough, overnight in laboratory conditions (diagnoses were 5 asthma, 1 rhinitis, 1 gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and 1 idiopathic cough). Coughs were recorded simultaneously using a video camera with infrared lighting and digital sound recording. The numbers of coughs in each 8 hour recording were counted manually, by a trained observer, in real time from the video recordings and using audio-editing software from the digital sound recordings. Results The median cough frequency was 17.8 (IQR 5.9–28.7) cough sounds per hour in the video recordings and 17.7 (6.0–29.4) coughs per hour in the digital sound recordings. There was excellent agreement between the video and digital audio cough rates; mean difference of -0.3 coughs per hour (SD ± 0.6), 95% limits of agreement -1.5 to +0.9 coughs per hour. Video recordings had poorer sound quality even in controlled conditions and can only be analysed in real time (8 hours per recording). Digital sound recordings required 2–4 hours of analysis per recording. Conclusion Manual counting of cough sounds from digital audio recordings has excellent agreement with simultaneous video recordings in laboratory conditions. We suggest that ambulatory digital audio recording is therefore ideal for validating future cough monitoring devices, as this as this can be performed in the patients own environment. PMID:16887019

Audio fingerprint extraction for content identification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiu, Yu; Yeh, Chia-Hung; Kuo, C. C. J.

2003-11-01

In this work, we present an audio content identification system that identifies some unknown audio material by comparing its fingerprint with those extracted off-line and saved in the music database. We will describe in detail the procedure to extract audio fingerprints and demonstrate that they are robust to noise and content-preserving manipulations. The main feature in the proposed system is the zero-crossing rate extracted with the octave-band filter bank. The zero-crossing rate can be used to describe the dominant frequency in each subband with a very low computational cost. The size of audio fingerprint is small and can be efficiently stored along with the compressed files in the database. It is also robust to many modifications such as tempo change and time-alignment distortion. Besides, the octave-band filter bank is used to enhance the robustness to distortion, especially those localized on some frequency regions.

Audio-Visual Integration in a Redundant Target Paradigm: A Comparison between Rhesus Macaque and Man

PubMed Central

Bremen, Peter; Massoudi, Rooholla; Van Wanrooij, Marc M.; Van Opstal, A. J.

2017-01-01

The mechanisms underlying multi-sensory interactions are still poorly understood despite considerable progress made since the first neurophysiological recordings of multi-sensory neurons. While the majority of single-cell neurophysiology has been performed in anesthetized or passive-awake laboratory animals, the vast majority of behavioral data stems from studies with human subjects. Interpretation of neurophysiological data implicitly assumes that laboratory animals exhibit perceptual phenomena comparable or identical to those observed in human subjects. To explicitly test this underlying assumption, we here characterized how two rhesus macaques and four humans detect changes in intensity of auditory, visual, and audio-visual stimuli. These intensity changes consisted of a gradual envelope modulation for the sound, and a luminance step for the LED. Subjects had to detect any perceived intensity change as fast as possible. By comparing the monkeys' results with those obtained from the human subjects we found that (1) unimodal reaction times differed across modality, acoustic modulation frequency, and species, (2) the largest facilitation of reaction times with the audio-visual stimuli was observed when stimulus onset asynchronies were such that the unimodal reactions would occur at the same time (response, rather than physical synchrony), and (3) the largest audio-visual reaction-time facilitation was observed when unimodal auditory stimuli were difficult to detect, i.e., at slow unimodal reaction times. We conclude that despite marked unimodal heterogeneity, similar multisensory rules applied to both species. Single-cell neurophysiology in the rhesus macaque may therefore yield valuable insights into the mechanisms governing audio-visual integration that may be informative of the processes taking place in the human brain. PMID:29238295

Audio-Visual Integration in a Redundant Target Paradigm: A Comparison between Rhesus Macaque and Man.

PubMed

Bremen, Peter; Massoudi, Rooholla; Van Wanrooij, Marc M; Van Opstal, A J

2017-01-01

The mechanisms underlying multi-sensory interactions are still poorly understood despite considerable progress made since the first neurophysiological recordings of multi-sensory neurons. While the majority of single-cell neurophysiology has been performed in anesthetized or passive-awake laboratory animals, the vast majority of behavioral data stems from studies with human subjects. Interpretation of neurophysiological data implicitly assumes that laboratory animals exhibit perceptual phenomena comparable or identical to those observed in human subjects. To explicitly test this underlying assumption, we here characterized how two rhesus macaques and four humans detect changes in intensity of auditory, visual, and audio-visual stimuli. These intensity changes consisted of a gradual envelope modulation for the sound, and a luminance step for the LED. Subjects had to detect any perceived intensity change as fast as possible. By comparing the monkeys' results with those obtained from the human subjects we found that (1) unimodal reaction times differed across modality, acoustic modulation frequency, and species, (2) the largest facilitation of reaction times with the audio-visual stimuli was observed when stimulus onset asynchronies were such that the unimodal reactions would occur at the same time (response, rather than physical synchrony), and (3) the largest audio-visual reaction-time facilitation was observed when unimodal auditory stimuli were difficult to detect, i.e., at slow unimodal reaction times. We conclude that despite marked unimodal heterogeneity, similar multisensory rules applied to both species. Single-cell neurophysiology in the rhesus macaque may therefore yield valuable insights into the mechanisms governing audio-visual integration that may be informative of the processes taking place in the human brain.

Providing Students with Formative Audio Feedback

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brearley, Francis Q.; Cullen, W. Rod

2012-01-01

The provision of timely and constructive feedback is increasingly challenging for busy academics. Ensuring effective student engagement with feedback is equally difficult. Increasingly, studies have explored provision of audio recorded feedback to enhance effectiveness and engagement with feedback. Few, if any, of these focus on purely formative…

Impact of oral health education by audio aids, braille and tactile models on the oral health status of visually impaired children of Bhopal City.

PubMed

Gautam, Anjali; Bhambal, Ajay; Moghe, Swapnil

2018-01-01

Children with special needs face unique challenges in day-to-day practice. They are dependent on their close ones for everything. To improve oral hygiene in such visually impaired children, undue training and education are required. Braille is an important language for reading and writing for the visually impaired. It helps them understand and visualize the world via touch. Audio aids are being used to impart health education to the visually impaired. Tactile models help them perceive things which they cannot visualize and hence are an important learning tool. This study aimed to assess the improvement in oral hygiene by audio aids and Braille and tactile models in visually impaired children aged 6-16 years of Bhopal city. This was a prospective study. Sixty visually impaired children aged 6-16 years were selected and randomly divided into three groups (20 children each). Group A: audio aids + Braille, Group B: audio aids + tactile models, and Group C: audio aids + Braille + tactile models. Instructions were given for maintaining good oral hygiene and brushing techniques were explained to all children. After 3 months' time, the oral hygiene status was recorded and compared using plaque and gingival index. ANNOVA test was used. The present study showed a decrease in the mean plaque and gingival scores at all time intervals in individual group as compared to that of the baseline that was statistically significant. The study depicts that the combination of audio aids, Braille and tactile models is an effective way to provide oral health education and improve oral health status of visually impaired children.

Audio-guided audiovisual data segmentation, indexing, and retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tong; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

1998-12-01

While current approaches for video segmentation and indexing are mostly focused on visual information, audio signals may actually play a primary role in video content parsing. In this paper, we present an approach for automatic segmentation, indexing, and retrieval of audiovisual data, based on audio content analysis. The accompanying audio signal of audiovisual data is first segmented and classified into basic types, i.e., speech, music, environmental sound, and silence. This coarse-level segmentation and indexing step is based upon morphological and statistical analysis of several short-term features of the audio signals. Then, environmental sounds are classified into finer classes, such as applause, explosions, bird sounds, etc. This fine-level classification and indexing step is based upon time- frequency analysis of audio signals and the use of the hidden Markov model as the classifier. On top of this archiving scheme, an audiovisual data retrieval system is proposed. Experimental results show that the proposed approach has an accuracy rate higher than 90 percent for the coarse-level classification, and higher than 85 percent for the fine-level classification. Examples of audiovisual data segmentation and retrieval are also provided.

Concurrent audio-visual feedback for supporting drivers at intersections: A study using two linked driving simulators.

PubMed

Houtenbos, M; de Winter, J C F; Hale, A R; Wieringa, P A; Hagenzieker, M P

2017-04-01

A large portion of road traffic crashes occur at intersections for the reason that drivers lack necessary visual information. This research examined the effects of an audio-visual display that provides real-time sonification and visualization of the speed and direction of another car approaching the crossroads on an intersecting road. The location of red blinking lights (left vs. right on the speedometer) and the lateral input direction of beeps (left vs. right ear in headphones) corresponded to the direction from where the other car approached, and the blink and beep rates were a function of the approaching car's speed. Two driving simulators were linked so that the participant and the experimenter drove in the same virtual world. Participants (N = 25) completed four sessions (two with the audio-visual display on, two with the audio-visual display off), each session consisting of 22 intersections at which the experimenter approached from the left or right and either maintained speed or slowed down. Compared to driving with the display off, the audio-visual display resulted in enhanced traffic efficiency (i.e., greater mean speed, less coasting) while not compromising safety (i.e., the time gap between the two vehicles was equivalent). A post-experiment questionnaire showed that the beeps were regarded as more useful than the lights. It is argued that the audio-visual display is a promising means of supporting drivers until fully automated driving is technically feasible. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Variance fluctuations in nonstationary time series: a comparative study of music genres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jennings, Heather D.; Ivanov, Plamen Ch.; De Martins, Allan M.; da Silva, P. C.; Viswanathan, G. M.

2004-05-01

An important problem in physics concerns the analysis of audio time series generated by transduced acoustic phenomena. Here, we develop a new method to quantify the scaling properties of the local variance of nonstationary time series. We apply this technique to analyze audio signals obtained from selected genres of music. We find quantitative differences in the correlation properties of high art music, popular music, and dance music. We discuss the relevance of these objective findings in relation to the subjective experience of music.

Evaluation of listener-based anuran surveys with automated audio recording devices

USGS Publications Warehouse

Shearin, A. F.; Calhoun, A.J.K.; Loftin, C.S.

2012-01-01

Volunteer-based audio surveys are used to document long-term trends in anuran community composition and abundance. Current sampling protocols, however, are not region- or species-specific and may not detect relatively rare or audibly cryptic species. We used automated audio recording devices to record calling anurans during 2006–2009 at wetlands in Maine, USA. We identified species calling, chorus intensity, time of day, and environmental variables when each species was calling and developed logistic and generalized mixed models to determine the time interval and environmental variables that optimize detection of each species during peak calling periods. We detected eight of nine anurans documented in Maine. Individual recordings selected from the sampling period (0.5 h past sunset to 0100 h) described in the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) detected fewer species than were detected in recordings from 30 min past sunset until sunrise. Time of maximum detection of presence and full chorusing for three species (green frogs, mink frogs, pickerel frogs) occurred after the NAAMP sampling end time (0100 h). The NAAMP protocol’s sampling period may result in omissions and misclassifications of chorus sizes for certain species. These potential errors should be considered when interpreting trends generated from standardized anuran audio surveys.

Bandwidth Constraints to Using Video and Other Rich Media in Behavior Change Websites

PubMed Central

Jazdzewski, Stephen A; McKay, H Garth; Hudson, Clinton R

2005-01-01

Background Web-based behavior change interventions often include rich media (eg, video, audio, and large graphics). The rationale for using rich media includes the need to reach users who are not inclined or able to use text-based website content, encouragement of program engagement, and following the precedent set by news and sports websites. Objectives We describe the development of a bandwidth usage index, which seeks to provide a practical method to gauge the extent to which websites can successfully be used within different Internet access scenarios (eg, dial-up and broadband). Methods We conducted three studies to measure bandwidth consumption. In Study 1, we measured the bandwidth usage index for three video-rich websites (for smoking cessation, for caregivers, and for improving eldercare by family members). We then estimated the number of concurrent users that could be accommodated by each website under various Internet access scenarios. In Study 2, we sought to validate our estimated threshold number of concurrent users by testing the video-rich smoking cessation website with different numbers of concurrent users. In Study 3, we calculated the bandwidth usage index and threshold number of concurrent users for three versions of the smoking cessation website: the video-rich version (tested in Study 1), an audio-rich version, and a Web-enabled CD-ROM version in which all media-rich content was placed on a CD-ROM on the client computer. Results In Study 1, we found that the bandwidth usage index of the video-rich websites ranged from 144 Kbps to 93 Kbps. These results indicated that dial-up modem users would not achieve a “good user experience” with any of the three rich media websites. Results for Study 2 confirmed that usability was compromised when the estimated threshold number of concurrent users was exceeded. Results for Study 3 indicated that changing a website from video- to audio-rich content reduced the bandwidth requirement by almost 50%, but it remained too large to allow satisfactory use in dial-up modem scenarios. The Web-enabled CD-ROM reduced bandwidth requirements such that even a dial-up modem user could have a good user experience with the rich media content. Conclusions We conclude that the bandwidth usage index represents a practical tool that can help developers and researchers to measure the bandwidth requirements of their websites as well as to evaluate the feasibility of certain website designs in terms of specific use cases. These findings are discussed in terms of reaching different groups of users as well accommodating the intended number of concurrent users. We also discuss the promising option of using Web-enabled CD-ROMs to deliver rich media content to users with dial-up Internet access. We introduce a number of researchable themes for improving our ability to develop Web-based behavior change interventions that can better deliver what they promise. PMID:16236701

Bandwidth constraints to using video and other rich media in behavior change websites.

PubMed

Danaher, Brian G; Jazdzewski, Stephen A; McKay, H Garth; Hudson, Clinton R

2005-09-16

Web-based behavior change interventions often include rich media (eg, video, audio, and large graphics). The rationale for using rich media includes the need to reach users who are not inclined or able to use text-based website content, encouragement of program engagement, and following the precedent set by news and sports websites. We describe the development of a bandwidth usage index, which seeks to provide a practical method to gauge the extent to which websites can successfully be used within different Internet access scenarios (eg, dial-up and broadband). We conducted three studies to measure bandwidth consumption. In Study 1, we measured the bandwidth usage index for three video-rich websites (for smoking cessation, for caregivers, and for improving eldercare by family members). We then estimated the number of concurrent users that could be accommodated by each website under various Internet access scenarios. In Study 2, we sought to validate our estimated threshold number of concurrent users by testing the video-rich smoking cessation website with different numbers of concurrent users. In Study 3, we calculated the bandwidth usage index and threshold number of concurrent users for three versions of the smoking cessation website: the video-rich version (tested in Study 1), an audio-rich version, and a Web-enabled CD-ROM version in which all media-rich content was placed on a CD-ROM on the client computer. In Study 1, we found that the bandwidth usage index of the video-rich websites ranged from 144 Kbps to 93 Kbps. These results indicated that dial-up modem users would not achieve a "good user experience" with any of the three rich media websites. Results for Study 2 confirmed that usability was compromised when the estimated threshold number of concurrent users was exceeded. Results for Study 3 indicated that changing a website from video- to audio-rich content reduced the bandwidth requirement by almost 50%, but it remained too large to allow satisfactory use in dial-up modem scenarios. The Web-enabled CD-ROM reduced bandwidth requirements such that even a dial-up modem user could have a good user experience with the rich media content. We conclude that the bandwidth usage index represents a practical tool that can help developers and researchers to measure the bandwidth requirements of their websites as well as to evaluate the feasibility of certain website designs in terms of specific use cases. These findings are discussed in terms of reaching different groups of users as well accommodating the intended number of concurrent users. We also discuss the promising option of using Web-enabled CD-ROMs to deliver rich media content to users with dial-up Internet access. We introduce a number of researchable themes for improving our ability to develop Web-based behavior change interventions that can better deliver what they promise.

Using an Acoustic System to Estimate the Timing and Magnitude of Ebullition Release from Wetland Ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varner, R. K.; Palace, M. W.; Lennartz, J. M.; Crill, P. M.; Wik, M.; Amante, J.; Dorich, C.; Harden, J. W.; Ewing, S. A.; Turetsky, M. R.

2011-12-01

Knowledge of the magnitude and frequency of methane release through ebullition (bubbling) in water saturated ecosystems such as bogs, fens and lakes is important to both the atmospheric and ecosystems science community. The controls on episodic bubble releases must be identified in order to understand the response of these ecosystems to future climate forcing. We have developed and field tested an inexpensive array of sampling/monitoring instruments to identify the frequency and magnitude of bubbling events which allows us to correlate bubble data with potential drivers such as changes in hydrostatic pressure, wind and temperature. A prototype ebullition sensor has been developed and field tested at Sallie's Fen in New Hampshire, USA. The instrument consists of a nested, inverted funnel design with a hydrophone for detecting bubbles rising through the peat, that hit the microphone. The design also offers a way to sample the gases collected from the funnels to determine the concentration of CH4. Laboratory calibration of the instrument resulted in an equation that relates frequency of bubbles hitting the microphone with bubble volume. After calibration in the laboratory, the prototype was deployed in Sallie's Fen in late August 2010. An additional four instruments were deployed the following month. Audio data was recorded continuously using a digital audio recorder attached to two ebullition sensors. Audio was recorded as an mp3 compressed audio file at a sample rate of 160 kbits/sec. Using this format and stereo input, allowing for two sensors to be recorded with each device, we were able to record continuously for 20 days. Audio was converted to uncompressed audio files for speed in computation. Audio data was processed using MATLAB, searching in 0.5 second incremental sections for specific fundamental frequencies that are related to our calibrated audio events. Time, fundamental frequency, and estimated bubble size were output to a text file for analysis in statistical software. In addition, each event was cut out of the longer audio file and placed in a directory with number of ebullition event, sensor number, and time, allowing for manual interpretation of the ebullition event. After successful laboratory and local field testing, our instruments were deployed in summer 2011 at a temperate fen (Sallie's Fen, NH, USA), a subarctic mire and lake (Stordalen, Abisko, Sweden) and two locations in subarctic Alaska (APEX Research Site, Fairbanks, AK and Innoko National Wildlife Refuge). Ebullition occurred at regular intervals. Our results indicate that this is a useful method for monitoring CH4 ebullitive flux at high temporal frequencies.

3D Audio System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

Ames Research Center research into virtual reality led to the development of the Convolvotron, a high speed digital audio processing system that delivers three-dimensional sound over headphones. It consists of a two-card set designed for use with a personal computer. The Convolvotron's primary application is presentation of 3D audio signals over headphones. Four independent sound sources are filtered with large time-varying filters that compensate for motion. The perceived location of the sound remains constant. Possible applications are in air traffic control towers or airplane cockpits, hearing and perception research and virtual reality development.

The Use of Audio in Computer-Based Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koroghlanian, Carol M.; Sullivan, Howard J.

This study investigated the effects of audio and text density on the achievement, time-in-program, and attitudes of 134 undergraduates. Data concerning the subjects' preexisting computer skills and experience, as well as demographic information, were also collected. The instruction in visual design principles was delivered by computer and included…

Cross-modal integration of polyphonic characters in Chinese audio-visual sentences: a MVPA study based on functional connectivity.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhengyi; Zhang, Gaoyan; Zhang, Yuanyuan; Liu, Hong; Xu, Junhai; Liu, Baolin

2017-12-01

This study aimed to investigate the functional connectivity in the brain during the cross-modal integration of polyphonic characters in Chinese audio-visual sentences. The visual sentences were all semantically reasonable and the audible pronunciations of the polyphonic characters in corresponding sentences contexts varied in four conditions. To measure the functional connectivity, correlation, coherence and phase synchronization index (PSI) were used, and then multivariate pattern analysis was performed to detect the consensus functional connectivity patterns. These analyses were confined in the time windows of three event-related potential components of P200, N400 and late positive shift (LPS) to investigate the dynamic changes of the connectivity patterns at different cognitive stages. We found that when differentiating the polyphonic characters with abnormal pronunciations from that with the appreciate ones in audio-visual sentences, significant classification results were obtained based on the coherence in the time window of the P200 component, the correlation in the time window of the N400 component and the coherence and PSI in the time window the LPS component. Moreover, the spatial distributions in these time windows were also different, with the recruitment of frontal sites in the time window of the P200 component, the frontal-central-parietal regions in the time window of the N400 component and the central-parietal sites in the time window of the LPS component. These findings demonstrate that the functional interaction mechanisms are different at different stages of audio-visual integration of polyphonic characters.

Robust Audio Watermarking by Using Low-Frequency Histogram

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiang, Shijun

In continuation to earlier work where the problem of time-scale modification (TSM) has been studied [1] by modifying the shape of audio time domain histogram, here we consider the additional ingredient of resisting additive noise-like operations, such as Gaussian noise, lossy compression and low-pass filtering. In other words, we study the problem of the watermark against both TSM and additive noises. To this end, in this paper we extract the histogram from a Gaussian-filtered low-frequency component for audio watermarking. The watermark is inserted by shaping the histogram in a way that the use of two consecutive bins as a group is exploited for hiding a bit by reassigning their population. The watermarked signals are perceptibly similar to the original one. Comparing with the previous time-domain watermarking scheme [1], the proposed watermarking method is more robust against additive noise, MP3 compression, low-pass filtering, etc.

Unsupervised real-time speaker identification for daily movies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ying; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

2002-07-01

The problem of identifying speakers for movie content analysis is addressed in this paper. While most previous work on speaker identification was carried out in a supervised mode using pure audio data, more robust results can be obtained in real-time by integrating knowledge from multiple media sources in an unsupervised mode. In this work, both audio and visual cues will be employed and subsequently combined in a probabilistic framework to identify speakers. Particularly, audio information is used to identify speakers with a maximum likelihood (ML)-based approach while visual information is adopted to distinguish speakers by detecting and recognizing their talking faces based on face detection/recognition and mouth tracking techniques. Moreover, to accommodate for speakers' acoustic variations along time, we update their models on the fly by adapting to their newly contributed speech data. Encouraging results have been achieved through extensive experiments, which shows a promising future of the proposed audiovisual-based unsupervised speaker identification system.

A Novel Method for Real-Time Audio Recording With Intraoperative Video.

PubMed

Sugamoto, Yuji; Hamamoto, Yasuyoshi; Kimura, Masayuki; Fukunaga, Toru; Tasaki, Kentaro; Asai, Yo; Takeshita, Nobuyoshi; Maruyama, Tetsuro; Hosokawa, Takashi; Tamachi, Tomohide; Aoyama, Hiromichi; Matsubara, Hisahiro

2015-01-01

Although laparoscopic surgery has become widespread, effective and efficient education in laparoscopic surgery is difficult. Instructive laparoscopy videos with appropriate annotations are ideal for initial training in laparoscopic surgery; however, the method we use at our institution for creating laparoscopy videos with audio is not generalized, and there have been no detailed explanations of any such method. Our objectives were to demonstrate the feasibility of low-cost simple methods for recording surgical videos with audio and to perform a preliminary safety evaluation when obtaining these recordings during operations. We devised a method for the synchronous recording of surgical video with real-time audio in which we connected an amplifier and a wireless microphone to an existing endoscopy system and its equipped video-recording device. We tested this system in 209 cases of laparoscopic surgery in operating rooms between August 2010 and July 2011 and prospectively investigated the results of the audiovisual recording method and examined intraoperative problems. Numazu City Hospital in Numazu city, Japan. Surgeons, instrument nurses, and medical engineers. In all cases, the synchronous input of audio and video was possible. The recording system did not cause any inconvenience to the surgeon, assistants, instrument nurse, sterilized equipment, or electrical medical equipment. Statistically significant differences were not observed between the audiovisual group and control group regarding the operating time, which had been divided into 2 slots-performed by the instructors or by trainees (p > 0.05). This recording method is feasible and considerably safe while posing minimal difficulty in terms of technology, time, and expense. We recommend this method for both surgical trainees who wish to acquire surgical skills effectively and medical instructors who wish to teach surgical skills effectively. Copyright © 2015 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Full Mesh Audio Conferencing Using the Point-to-Multipoint On-Board Switching Capability of ACTS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rivett, Mary L.; Sethna, Zubin H.

1996-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe an implementation of audio conferencing using the ACTS T1-VSAT network. In particular, this implementation evaluates the use of the on-board switching capability of the satellite as a viable alternative for providing the multipoint connectivity normally provided by terrestrial audio bridge equipment The system that was implemented provides full mesh, full-duplex audio conferencing, with end-to-end voice paths between all participants requiring only a single hop (i.e. 250 msec. delay). Moreover, it addresses the lack of spontaneity in current systems by allowing a user to easily start a conference from any standard telephone handset connected to an ACTS earth station, and quickly add new members to the conference at any time using the 'hook flash' capability. No prior scheduling of resources is required and there is no central point of control, thereby providing the user with the spontaneity desired in audio conference control.

Inter-individual differences in audio-motor learning of piano melodies and white matter fiber tract architecture.

PubMed

Engel, Annerose; Hijmans, Brenda S; Cerliani, Leonardo; Bangert, Marc; Nanetti, Luca; Keller, Peter E; Keysers, Christian

2014-05-01

Humans vary substantially in their ability to learn new motor skills. Here, we examined inter-individual differences in learning to play the piano, with the goal of identifying relations to structural properties of white matter fiber tracts relevant to audio-motor learning. Non-musicians (n = 18) learned to perform three short melodies on a piano keyboard in a pure audio-motor training condition (vision of their own fingers was occluded). Initial learning times ranged from 17 to 120 min (mean ± SD: 62 ± 29 min). Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was used to derive the fractional anisotropy (FA), an index of white matter microstructural arrangement. A correlation analysis revealed that higher FA values were associated with faster learning of piano melodies. These effects were observed in the bilateral corticospinal tracts, bundles of axons relevant for the execution of voluntary movements, and the right superior longitudinal fasciculus, a tract important for audio-motor transformations. These results suggest that the speed with which novel complex audio-motor skills can be acquired may be determined by variability in structural properties of white matter fiber tracts connecting brain areas functionally relevant for audio-motor learning. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Musical examination to bridge audio data and sheet music

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Xunyu; Cross, Timothy J.; Xiao, Liangliang; Hei, Xiali

2015-03-01

The digitalization of audio is commonly implemented for the purpose of convenient storage and transmission of music and songs in today's digital age. Analyzing digital audio for an insightful look at a specific musical characteristic, however, can be quite challenging for various types of applications. Many existing musical analysis techniques can examine a particular piece of audio data. For example, the frequency of digital sound can be easily read and identified at a specific section in an audio file. Based on this information, we could determine the musical note being played at that instant, but what if you want to see a list of all the notes played in a song? While most existing methods help to provide information about a single piece of the audio data at a time, few of them can analyze the available audio file on a larger scale. The research conducted in this work considers how to further utilize the examination of audio data by storing more information from the original audio file. In practice, we develop a novel musical analysis system Musicians Aid to process musical representation and examination of audio data. Musicians Aid solves the previous problem by storing and analyzing the audio information as it reads it rather than tossing it aside. The system can provide professional musicians with an insightful look at the music they created and advance their understanding of their work. Amateur musicians could also benefit from using it solely for the purpose of obtaining feedback about a song they were attempting to play. By comparing our system's interpretation of traditional sheet music with their own playing, a musician could ensure what they played was correct. More specifically, the system could show them exactly where they went wrong and how to adjust their mistakes. In addition, the application could be extended over the Internet to allow users to play music with one another and then review the audio data they produced. This would be particularly useful for teaching music lessons on the web. The developed system is evaluated with songs played with guitar, keyboard, violin, and other popular musical instruments (primarily electronic or stringed instruments). The Musicians Aid system is successful at both representing and analyzing audio data and it is also powerful in assisting individuals interested in learning and understanding music.

Computational Achievement of Group IV Trainees with a Self-Study Format: Effects of Introducing Audio, Withdrawing Assistance, and Increasing Training Time

DTIC Science & Technology

1974-09-01

introduction of modifications involving flashcards and audio have also been unsuccessful. It is felt that further progress will require a...course: Books I and 11. San Diego: Navy Personnel Research and Development Center, September 1973. Main, R. E. The effectiveness of flashcards

Towards an Effective Use of Audio Conferencing in Distance Language Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hampel, Regine; Hauck, Mirjam

2004-01-01

In order to respond to learners' need for more flexible speaking opportunities and to overcome the geographical challenge of students spread over the United Kingdom and continental Western Europe, the Open University recently introduced Internet-based, real-time audio conferencing, thus making a groundbreaking move in the distance learning and…

Perceptual Audio Hashing Functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Özer, Hamza; Sankur, Bülent; Memon, Nasir; Anarım, Emin

2005-12-01

Perceptual hash functions provide a tool for fast and reliable identification of content. We present new audio hash functions based on summarization of the time-frequency spectral characteristics of an audio document. The proposed hash functions are based on the periodicity series of the fundamental frequency and on singular-value description of the cepstral frequencies. They are found, on one hand, to perform very satisfactorily in identification and verification tests, and on the other hand, to be very resilient to a large variety of attacks. Moreover, we address the issue of security of hashes and propose a keying technique, and thereby a key-dependent hash function.

Influence of audio triggered emotional attention on video perception

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torres, Freddy; Kalva, Hari

2014-02-01

Perceptual video coding methods attempt to improve compression efficiency by discarding visual information not perceived by end users. Most of the current approaches for perceptual video coding only use visual features ignoring the auditory component. Many psychophysical studies have demonstrated that auditory stimuli affects our visual perception. In this paper we present our study of audio triggered emotional attention and it's applicability to perceptual video coding. Experiments with movie clips show that the reaction time to detect video compression artifacts was longer when video was presented with the audio information. The results reported are statistically significant with p=0.024.

The effect of audio tours on learning and social interaction: An evaluation at Carlsbad Caverns National Park

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novey, Levi T.; Hall, Troy E.

2007-03-01

Auditory forms of nonpersonal communication have rarely been evaluated in informal settings like parks and museums. This study evaluated the effect of an interpretive audio tour on visitor knowledge and social behavior at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. A cross-sectional pretest/posttest quasi-experimental design compared the responses of audio tour users (n = 123) and nonusers (n = 131) on several knowledge questions. Observations (n = 700) conducted at seven sites within the caverns documented sign reading, time spent listening to the audio, within group conversation, and other social behaviors for a different sample of visitors. Pretested tour users and nonusers did not differ in visitor characteristics, knowledge, or attitude variables, suggesting the two populations were similar. On a 12-item knowledge quiz, tour users' scores increased from 5.7 to 10.3, and nonusers' scores increased from 6.2 to 8.4. Most visitors were able to identify some of the park's major messages when presented with a multiple-choice question, but more audio users than nonusers identified resource preservation as a primary message in an open-ended question. Based on observations, audio tour users and nonusers did not differ substantially in their interactions with other members of their group or in their reading of interpretive signs in the cave. Audio tour users had positive reactions to the tour, and these reactions, coupled with the positive learning outcomes and negligible effects on social interaction, suggest that audio tours can be an effective communication medium in informal educational settings.

[Consistent Declarative Memory with Depressive Symptomatology].

PubMed

Botelho de Oliveira, Silvia; Flórez, Ruth Natalia Suárez; Caballero, Diego Andrés Vásquez

2012-12-01

Some studies have suggested that potentiated remembrance of negative events on people with depressive disorders seems to be an important factor in the etiology, course and maintenance of depression. Evaluate the emotional memory in people with and without depressive symptomatology by means of an audio-visual test. 73 university students were evaluated, male and female, between 18 and 40 years old, distributed in two groups: with depressive symptomatology (32) and without depressive symptomatology (40), using the Scale from the Center of Epidemiologic Studies for Depression (CES-D, English Abbreviation) and a cutting point of 20. There were not meaningful differences between free and voluntary recalls, with and without depressive symptomatology, in spite of the fact that both groups had granted a higher emotional value to the audio-visual test and that they had associated it with emotional sadness. People with depressive symptomatology did not exhibit the effect of mnemonic potentiation generally associated to the content of the emotional version of the test; therefore, the hypothesis of emotional consistency was not validated. Copyright © 2012 Asociación Colombiana de Psiquiatría. Publicado por Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

Audio-visual synchrony and feature-selective attention co-amplify early visual processing.

PubMed

Keitel, Christian; Müller, Matthias M

2016-05-01

Our brain relies on neural mechanisms of selective attention and converging sensory processing to efficiently cope with rich and unceasing multisensory inputs. One prominent assumption holds that audio-visual synchrony can act as a strong attractor for spatial attention. Here, we tested for a similar effect of audio-visual synchrony on feature-selective attention. We presented two superimposed Gabor patches that differed in colour and orientation. On each trial, participants were cued to selectively attend to one of the two patches. Over time, spatial frequencies of both patches varied sinusoidally at distinct rates (3.14 and 3.63 Hz), giving rise to pulse-like percepts. A simultaneously presented pure tone carried a frequency modulation at the pulse rate of one of the two visual stimuli to introduce audio-visual synchrony. Pulsed stimulation elicited distinct time-locked oscillatory electrophysiological brain responses. These steady-state responses were quantified in the spectral domain to examine individual stimulus processing under conditions of synchronous versus asynchronous tone presentation and when respective stimuli were attended versus unattended. We found that both, attending to the colour of a stimulus and its synchrony with the tone, enhanced its processing. Moreover, both gain effects combined linearly for attended in-sync stimuli. Our results suggest that audio-visual synchrony can attract attention to specific stimulus features when stimuli overlap in space.

Grouping and Segregation of Sensory Events by Actions in Temporal Audio-Visual Recalibration.

PubMed

Ikumi, Nara; Soto-Faraco, Salvador

2016-01-01

Perception in multi-sensory environments involves both grouping and segregation of events across sensory modalities. Temporal coincidence between events is considered a strong cue to resolve multisensory perception. However, differences in physical transmission and neural processing times amongst modalities complicate this picture. This is illustrated by cross-modal recalibration, whereby adaptation to audio-visual asynchrony produces shifts in perceived simultaneity. Here, we examined whether voluntary actions might serve as a temporal anchor to cross-modal recalibration in time. Participants were tested on an audio-visual simultaneity judgment task after an adaptation phase where they had to synchronize voluntary actions with audio-visual pairs presented at a fixed asynchrony (vision leading or vision lagging). Our analysis focused on the magnitude of cross-modal recalibration to the adapted audio-visual asynchrony as a function of the nature of the actions during adaptation, putatively fostering cross-modal grouping or, segregation. We found larger temporal adjustments when actions promoted grouping than segregation of sensory events. However, a control experiment suggested that additional factors, such as attention to planning/execution of actions, could have an impact on recalibration effects. Contrary to the view that cross-modal temporal organization is mainly driven by external factors related to the stimulus or environment, our findings add supporting evidence for the idea that perceptual adjustments strongly depend on the observer's inner states induced by motor and cognitive demands.

Comparing a number line and audio prompts in supporting price comparison by students with intellectual disability.

PubMed

Bouck, Emily C; Satsangi, Rajiv; Bartlett, Whitney

2016-01-01

Price comparison is an important and complex skill, but it lacks sufficient research attention in terms of educating secondary students with intellectual disability and/or autism spectrum disorder. This alternating treatment design study compared the use of a paper-based number line and audio prompts delivered via an audio recorder to support three secondary students with intellectual disability to independently and accuracy compare the price of three separate grocery items. The study consisted of 22 sessions, spread across baseline, intervention, best treatment, and two different generalization phases. Data were collected on the percent of task analysis steps completed independently, the type of prompts needed, students' accuracy selecting the lowest priced item, and task completion time. With both intervention conditions, students were able to independently complete the task analysis steps as well as accurately select the lowest priced item and decrease their task completion time. For two of the students, the audio recorder condition resulted in the greatest independence and for one the number line. For only one student was the condition with the greatest independence also the condition for the highest rate of accuracy. The results suggest both tools can support students with price comparison. Yet, audio recorders offer students and teachers an age-appropriate and setting-appropriate option. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Grouping and Segregation of Sensory Events by Actions in Temporal Audio-Visual Recalibration

PubMed Central

Ikumi, Nara; Soto-Faraco, Salvador

2017-01-01

Perception in multi-sensory environments involves both grouping and segregation of events across sensory modalities. Temporal coincidence between events is considered a strong cue to resolve multisensory perception. However, differences in physical transmission and neural processing times amongst modalities complicate this picture. This is illustrated by cross-modal recalibration, whereby adaptation to audio-visual asynchrony produces shifts in perceived simultaneity. Here, we examined whether voluntary actions might serve as a temporal anchor to cross-modal recalibration in time. Participants were tested on an audio-visual simultaneity judgment task after an adaptation phase where they had to synchronize voluntary actions with audio-visual pairs presented at a fixed asynchrony (vision leading or vision lagging). Our analysis focused on the magnitude of cross-modal recalibration to the adapted audio-visual asynchrony as a function of the nature of the actions during adaptation, putatively fostering cross-modal grouping or, segregation. We found larger temporal adjustments when actions promoted grouping than segregation of sensory events. However, a control experiment suggested that additional factors, such as attention to planning/execution of actions, could have an impact on recalibration effects. Contrary to the view that cross-modal temporal organization is mainly driven by external factors related to the stimulus or environment, our findings add supporting evidence for the idea that perceptual adjustments strongly depend on the observer's inner states induced by motor and cognitive demands. PMID:28154529

Earthquake Fingerprints: Representing Earthquake Waveforms for Similarity-Based Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergen, K.; Beroza, G. C.

2016-12-01

New earthquake detection methods, such as Fingerprint and Similarity Thresholding (FAST), use fast approximate similarity search to identify similar waveforms in long-duration data without templates (Yoon et al. 2015). These methods have two key components: fingerprint extraction and an efficient search algorithm. Fingerprint extraction converts waveforms into fingerprints, compact signatures that represent short-duration waveforms for identification and search. Earthquakes are detected using an efficient indexing and search scheme, such as locality-sensitive hashing, that identifies similar waveforms in a fingerprint database. The quality of the search results, and thus the earthquake detection results, is strongly dependent on the fingerprinting scheme. Fingerprint extraction should map similar earthquake waveforms to similar waveform fingerprints to ensure a high detection rate, even under additive noise and small distortions. Additionally, fingerprints corresponding to noise intervals should have mutually dissimilar fingerprints to minimize false detections. In this work, we compare the performance of multiple fingerprint extraction approaches for the earthquake waveform similarity search problem. We apply existing audio fingerprinting (used in content-based audio identification systems) and time series indexing techniques and present modified versions that are specifically adapted for seismic data. We also explore data-driven fingerprinting approaches that can take advantage of labeled or unlabeled waveform data. For each fingerprinting approach we measure its ability to identify similar waveforms in a low signal-to-noise setting, and quantify the trade-off between true and false detection rates in the presence of persistent noise sources. We compare the performance using known event waveforms from eight independent stations in the Northern California Seismic Network.

Babbling in children with neurodevelopmental disability and validity of a simplified way of measuring canonical babbling ratio.

PubMed

Nyman, Anna; Lohmander, Anette

2018-01-01

Babbling is an important precursor to speech, but has not yet been thoroughly investigated in children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Canonical babbling ratio (CBR) is a commonly used but time-consuming measure for quantifying babbling. The aim of this study was twofold: to validate a simplified version of the CBR (CBR UTTER ), and to use this measure to determine if early precursors to speech and language development could be detected in children with different neurodevelopmental disabilities. Two different data sets were used. In Part I, CBR UTTER was compared to two other CBR measures using previously obtained phonetic transcriptions of 3571 utterances from 38 audio recordings of 12-18 month old children with and without cleft palate. In CBR UTTER , number of canonical utterances was divided by total number of utterances. In CBR syl , number of canonical syllables was divided by total number of syllables. In CBR utt , number of canonical syllables was divided by total number of utterances. High agreement was seen between CBR UTTER and CBR syl , suggesting CBR UTTER as an alternative. In Part II, babbling in children with neurodevelopmental disability was examined. Eighteen children aged 12-22 months with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or developmental delay were audio-video recorded during interaction with a parent. Recordings were analysed by observation of babbling, consonant production, calculation of CBR UTTER , and compared to data from controls. The study group showed significantly lower occurrence of all variables, except for of plosives. The long-term relevance of the findings for the speech and language development of the children needs to be investigated.

Modified DCTNet for audio signals classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xian, Yin; Pu, Yunchen; Gan, Zhe; Lu, Liang; Thompson, Andrew

2016-10-01

In this paper, we investigate DCTNet for audio signal classification. Its output feature is related to Cohen's class of time-frequency distributions. We introduce the use of adaptive DCTNet (A-DCTNet) for audio signals feature extraction. The A-DCTNet applies the idea of constant-Q transform, with its center frequencies of filterbanks geometrically spaced. The A-DCTNet is adaptive to different acoustic scales, and it can better capture low frequency acoustic information that is sensitive to human audio perception than features such as Mel-frequency spectral coefficients (MFSC). We use features extracted by the A-DCTNet as input for classifiers. Experimental results show that the A-DCTNet and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) achieve state-of-the-art performance in bird song classification rate, and improve artist identification accuracy in music data. They demonstrate A-DCTNet's applicability to signal processing problems.

Flying by Ear: Blind Flight with a Music-Based Artificial Horizon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simpson, Brian D.; Brungart, Douglas S.; Dallman, Ronald C.; Yasky, Richard J., Jr.; Romigh, Griffin

2008-01-01

Two experiments were conducted in actual flight operations to evaluate an audio artificial horizon display that imposed aircraft attitude information on pilot-selected music. The first experiment examined a pilot's ability to identify, with vision obscured, a change in aircraft roll or pitch, with and without the audio artificial horizon display. The results suggest that the audio horizon display improves the accuracy of attitude identification overall, but differentially affects response time across conditions. In the second experiment, subject pilots performed recoveries from displaced aircraft attitudes using either standard visual instruments, or, with vision obscured, the audio artificial horizon display. The results suggest that subjects were able to maneuver the aircraft to within its safety envelope. Overall, pilots were able to benefit from the display, suggesting that such a display could help to improve overall safety in general aviation.

Light Weight MP3 Watermarking Method for Mobile Terminals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takagi, Koichi; Sakazawa, Shigeyuki; Takishima, Yasuhiro

This paper proposes a novel MP3 watermarking method which is applicable to a mobile terminal with limited computational resources. Considering that in most cases the embedded information is copyright information or metadata, which should be extracted before playing back audio contents, the watermark detection process should be executed at high speed. However, when conventional methods are used with a mobile terminal, it takes a considerable amount of time to detect a digital watermark. This paper focuses on scalefactor manipulation to enable high speed watermark embedding/detection for MP3 audio and also proposes the manipulation method which minimizes audio quality degradation adaptively. Evaluation tests showed that the proposed method is capable of embedding 3 bits/frame information without degrading audio quality and detecting it at very high speed. Finally, this paper describes application examples for authentication with a digital signature.

Digital signal processing techniques for pitch shifting and time scaling of audio signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buś, Szymon; Jedrzejewski, Konrad

2016-09-01

In this paper, we present the techniques used for modifying the spectral content (pitch shifting) and for changing the time duration (time scaling) of an audio signal. A short introduction gives a necessary background for understanding the discussed issues and contains explanations of the terms used in the paper. In subsequent sections we present three different techniques appropriate both for pitch shifting and for time scaling. These techniques use three different time-frequency representations of a signal, namely short-time Fourier transform (STFT), continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and constant-Q transform (CQT). The results of simulation studies devoted to comparison of the properties of these methods are presented and discussed in the paper.

Linking Audio and Visual Information while Navigating in a Virtual Reality Kiosk Display

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullivan, Briana; Ware, Colin; Plumlee, Matthew

2006-01-01

3D interactive virtual reality museum exhibits should be easy to use, entertaining, and informative. If the interface is intuitive, it will allow the user more time to learn the educational content of the exhibit. This research deals with interface issues concerning activating audio descriptions of images in such exhibits while the user is…

Dual Audio Television; an Experiment in Saturday Morning Broadcast and a Summary Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borton, Terry; And Others

The Philadelphia City Schools engaged in a four-year program to develop and test dual audio television, a way to help children learn more from the massive amounts of time they spend watching commercial television. The format consisted of an instructional radio broadcast which accompanied popular television shows and attempted to clarify and…

The Audio-Visual Equipment Directory; Twenty-Second Edition, 1976-1977.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herickes, Sally, Ed.

Over 2,000 currently available items are listed in the 1976-1977 Audio-Visual Equipment Directory with specifications on price, model, weight, capacity, accessories, and technical details. Charts for screen size, lists of film and tape running times, an index to industry trade names, and a directory of equipment manufacturers are also provided.…

Neuromorphic audio-visual sensor fusion on a sound-localizing robot.

PubMed

Chan, Vincent Yue-Sek; Jin, Craig T; van Schaik, André

2012-01-01

This paper presents the first robotic system featuring audio-visual (AV) sensor fusion with neuromorphic sensors. We combine a pair of silicon cochleae and a silicon retina on a robotic platform to allow the robot to learn sound localization through self motion and visual feedback, using an adaptive ITD-based sound localization algorithm. After training, the robot can localize sound sources (white or pink noise) in a reverberant environment with an RMS error of 4-5° in azimuth. We also investigate the AV source binding problem and an experiment is conducted to test the effectiveness of matching an audio event with a corresponding visual event based on their onset time. Despite the simplicity of this method and a large number of false visual events in the background, a correct match can be made 75% of the time during the experiment.

Influences of selective adaptation on perception of audiovisual speech

PubMed Central

Dias, James W.; Cook, Theresa C.; Rosenblum, Lawrence D.

2016-01-01

Research suggests that selective adaptation in speech is a low-level process dependent on sensory-specific information shared between the adaptor and test-stimuli. However, previous research has only examined how adaptors shift perception of unimodal test stimuli, either auditory or visual. In the current series of experiments, we investigated whether adaptation to cross-sensory phonetic information can influence perception of integrated audio-visual phonetic information. We examined how selective adaptation to audio and visual adaptors shift perception of speech along an audiovisual test continuum. This test-continuum consisted of nine audio-/ba/-visual-/va/ stimuli, ranging in visual clarity of the mouth. When the mouth was clearly visible, perceivers “heard” the audio-visual stimulus as an integrated “va” percept 93.7% of the time (e.g., McGurk & MacDonald, 1976). As visibility of the mouth became less clear across the nine-item continuum, the audio-visual “va” percept weakened, resulting in a continuum ranging in audio-visual percepts from /va/ to /ba/. Perception of the test-stimuli was tested before and after adaptation. Changes in audiovisual speech perception were observed following adaptation to visual-/va/ and audiovisual-/va/, but not following adaptation to auditory-/va/, auditory-/ba/, or visual-/ba/. Adaptation modulates perception of integrated audio-visual speech by modulating the processing of sensory-specific information. The results suggest that auditory and visual speech information are not completely integrated at the level of selective adaptation. PMID:27041781

Low-order auditory Zernike moment: a novel approach for robust music identification in the compressed domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Wei; Xiao, Chuan; Liu, Yaduo

2013-12-01

Audio identification via fingerprint has been an active research field for years. However, most previously reported methods work on the raw audio format in spite of the fact that nowadays compressed format audio, especially MP3 music, has grown into the dominant way to store music on personal computers and/or transmit it over the Internet. It will be interesting if a compressed unknown audio fragment could be directly recognized from the database without decompressing it into the wave format at first. So far, very few algorithms run directly on the compressed domain for music information retrieval, and most of them take advantage of the modified discrete cosine transform coefficients or derived cepstrum and energy type of features. As a first attempt, we propose in this paper utilizing compressed domain auditory Zernike moment adapted from image processing techniques as the key feature to devise a novel robust audio identification algorithm. Such fingerprint exhibits strong robustness, due to its statistically stable nature, against various audio signal distortions such as recompression, noise contamination, echo adding, equalization, band-pass filtering, pitch shifting, and slight time scale modification. Experimental results show that in a music database which is composed of 21,185 MP3 songs, a 10-s long music segment is able to identify its original near-duplicate recording, with average top-5 hit rate up to 90% or above even under severe audio signal distortions.

Detection of emetic activity in the cat by monitoring venous pressure and audio signals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nagahara, A.; Fox, Robert A.; Daunton, Nancy G.; Elfar, S.

1991-01-01

To investigate the use of audio signals as a simple, noninvasive measure of emetic activity, the relationship between the somatic events and sounds associated with retching and vomiting was studied. Thoracic venous pressure obtained from an implanted external jugular catheter was shown to provide a precise measure of the somatic events associated with retching and vomiting. Changes in thoracic venous pressure monitored through an indwelling external jugular catheter with audio signals, obtained from a microphone located above the animal in a test chamber, were compared. In addition, two independent observers visually monitored emetic episodes. Retching and vomiting were induced by injection of xylazine (0.66mg/kg s.c.), or by motion. A unique audio signal at a frequency of approximately 250 Hz is produced at the time of the negative thoracic venous pressure change associated with retching. Sounds with higher frequencies (around 2500 Hz) occur in conjunction with the positive pressure changes associated with vomiting. These specific signals could be discriminated reliably by individuals reviewing the audio recordings of the sessions. Retching and those emetic episodes associated with positive venous pressure changes were detected accurately by audio monitoring, with 90 percent of retches and 100 percent of emetic episodes correctly identified. Retching was detected more accurately (p is less than .05) by audio monitoring than by direct visual observation. However, with visual observation a few incidents in which stomach contents were expelled in the absence of positive pressure changes or detectable sounds were identified. These data suggest that in emetic situations, the expulsion of stomach contents may be accomplished by more than one neuromuscular system and that audio signals can be used to detect emetic episodes associated with thoracic venous pressure changes.

Digital Audio Radio Broadcast Systems Laboratory Testing Nearly Complete

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

Radio history continues to be made at the NASA Lewis Research Center with the completion of phase one of the digital audio radio (DAR) testing conducted by the Consumer Electronics Group of the Electronic Industries Association. This satellite, satellite/terrestrial, and terrestrial digital technology will open up new audio broadcasting opportunities both domestically and worldwide. It will significantly improve the current quality of amplitude-modulated/frequency-modulated (AM/FM) radio with a new digitally modulated radio signal and will introduce true compact-disc-quality (CD-quality) sound for the first time. Lewis is hosting the laboratory testing of seven proposed digital audio radio systems and modes. Two of the proposed systems operate in two modes each, making a total of nine systems being tested. The nine systems are divided into the following types of transmission: in-band on-channel (IBOC), in-band adjacent-channel (IBAC), and new bands. The laboratory testing was conducted by the Consumer Electronics Group of the Electronic Industries Association. Subjective assessments of the audio recordings for each of the nine systems was conducted by the Communications Research Center in Ottawa, Canada, under contract to the Electronic Industries Association. The Communications Research Center has the only CCIR-qualified (Consultative Committee for International Radio) audio testing facility in North America. The main goals of the U.S. testing process are to (1) provide technical data to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) so that it can establish a standard for digital audio receivers and transmitters and (2) provide the receiver and transmitter industries with the proper standards upon which to build their equipment. In addition, the data will be forwarded to the International Telecommunications Union to help in the establishment of international standards for digital audio receivers and transmitters, thus allowing U.S. manufacturers to compete in the world market.

Long-term memory biases auditory spatial attention.

PubMed

Zimmermann, Jacqueline F; Moscovitch, Morris; Alain, Claude

2017-10-01

Long-term memory (LTM) has been shown to bias attention to a previously learned visual target location. Here, we examined whether memory-predicted spatial location can facilitate the detection of a faint pure tone target embedded in real world audio clips (e.g., soundtrack of a restaurant). During an initial familiarization task, participants heard audio clips, some of which included a lateralized target (p = 50%). On each trial participants indicated whether the target was presented from the left, right, or was absent. Following a 1 hr retention interval, participants were presented with the same audio clips, which now all included a target. In Experiment 1, participants showed memory-based gains in response time and d'. Experiment 2 showed that temporal expectations modulate attention, with greater memory-guided attention effects on performance when temporal context was reinstated from learning (i.e., when timing of the target within audio clips was not changed from initially learned timing). Experiment 3 showed that while conscious recall of target locations was modulated by exposure to target-context associations during learning (i.e., better recall with higher number of learning blocks), the influence of LTM associations on spatial attention was not reduced (i.e., number of learning blocks did not affect memory-guided attention). Both Experiments 2 and 3 showed gains in performance related to target-context associations, even for associations that were not explicitly remembered. Together, these findings indicate that memory for audio clips is acquired quickly and is surprisingly robust; both implicit and explicit LTM for the location of a faint target tone modulated auditory spatial attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Speaker Localisation Using Time Difference of Arrival

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-04-01

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Adelaide. His area of expertise and interest is in Signal Processing including audio ...support of Theatre intelligence capabilities. His recent research interests include: information visualisation , text and data mining, and speech and...by: steering microphone arrays to improve the quality of audio pickup for recording, communication and transcription; enhancing the separation – and

"Are You Listening Please?" The Advantages of Electronic Audio Feedback Compared to Written Feedback

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lunt, Tom; Curran, John

2010-01-01

Feedback on students' work is, probably, one of the most important aspects of learning, yet students' report, according to the National Union of Students (NUS) Survey of 2008, unhappiness with the feedback process. Students were unhappy with the quality, detail and timing of feedback. This paper examines the benefits of using audio, as opposed to…

The DISAM Journal of International Security Assistance Management. Volume 24, Number 2, Winter 2001-2002

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-01-01

speeds that are sufficient to download and play the audio/video content in near real-time. Most users at home are connected via analog modems , which are...significantly slower (28.8K, 56K ). Audio files can take several minutes to load, and the user may experience pauses and buffering. While not ideal

Multidimensional QoE of Multiview Video and Selectable Audio IP Transmission

PubMed Central

Nunome, Toshiro; Ishida, Takuya

2015-01-01

We evaluate QoE of multiview video and selectable audio (MVV-SA), in which users can switch not only video but also audio according to a viewpoint change request, transmitted over IP networks by a subjective experiment. The evaluation is performed by the semantic differential (SD) method with 13 adjective pairs. In the subjective experiment, we ask assessors to evaluate 40 stimuli which consist of two kinds of UDP load traffic, two kinds of fixed additional delay, five kinds of playout buffering time, and selectable or unselectable audio (i.e., MVV-SA or the previous MVV-A). As a result, MVV-SA gives higher presence to the user than MVV-A and then enhances QoE. In addition, we employ factor analysis for subjective assessment results to clarify the component factors of QoE. We then find that three major factors affect QoE in MVV-SA. PMID:26106640

Hierarchical structure for audio-video based semantic classification of sports video sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolekar, M. H.; Sengupta, S.

2005-07-01

A hierarchical structure for sports event classification based on audio and video content analysis is proposed in this paper. Compared to the event classifications in other games, those of cricket are very challenging and yet unexplored. We have successfully solved cricket video classification problem using a six level hierarchical structure. The first level performs event detection based on audio energy and Zero Crossing Rate (ZCR) of short-time audio signal. In the subsequent levels, we classify the events based on video features using a Hidden Markov Model implemented through Dynamic Programming (HMM-DP) using color or motion as a likelihood function. For some of the game-specific decisions, a rule-based classification is also performed. Our proposed hierarchical structure can easily be applied to any other sports. Our results are very promising and we have moved a step forward towards addressing semantic classification problems in general.

Exclusively visual analysis of classroom group interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tucker, Laura; Scherr, Rachel E.; Zickler, Todd; Mazur, Eric

2016-12-01

Large-scale audiovisual data that measure group learning are time consuming to collect and analyze. As an initial step towards scaling qualitative classroom observation, we qualitatively coded classroom video using an established coding scheme with and without its audio cues. We find that interrater reliability is as high when using visual data only—without audio—as when using both visual and audio data to code. Also, interrater reliability is high when comparing use of visual and audio data to visual-only data. We see a small bias to code interactions as group discussion when visual and audio data are used compared with video-only data. This work establishes that meaningful educational observation can be made through visual information alone. Further, it suggests that after initial work to create a coding scheme and validate it in each environment, computer-automated visual coding could drastically increase the breadth of qualitative studies and allow for meaningful educational analysis on a far greater scale.

Real-Time Transmission and Storage of Video, Audio, and Health Data in Emergency and Home Care Situations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbieri, Ivano; Lambruschini, Paolo; Raggio, Marco; Stagnaro, Riccardo

2007-12-01

The increase in the availability of bandwidth for wireless links, network integration, and the computational power on fixed and mobile platforms at affordable costs allows nowadays for the handling of audio and video data, their quality making them suitable for medical application. These information streams can support both continuous monitoring and emergency situations. According to this scenario, the authors have developed and implemented the mobile communication system which is described in this paper. The system is based on ITU-T H.323 multimedia terminal recommendation, suitable for real-time data/video/audio and telemedical applications. The audio and video codecs, respectively, H.264 and G723.1, were implemented and optimized in order to obtain high performance on the system target processors. Offline media streaming storage and retrieval functionalities were supported by integrating a relational database in the hospital central system. The system is based on low-cost consumer technologies such as general packet radio service (GPRS) and wireless local area network (WLAN or WiFi) for lowband data/video transmission. Implementation and testing were carried out for medical emergency and telemedicine application. In this paper, the emergency case study is described.

Effect of audio in-vehicle red light-running warning message on driving behavior based on a driving simulator experiment.

PubMed

Yan, Xuedong; Liu, Yang; Xu, Yongcun

2015-01-01

Drivers' incorrect decisions of crossing signalized intersections at the onset of the yellow change may lead to red light running (RLR), and RLR crashes result in substantial numbers of severe injuries and property damage. In recent years, some Intelligent Transport System (ITS) concepts have focused on reducing RLR by alerting drivers that they are about to violate the signal. The objective of this study is to conduct an experimental investigation on the effectiveness of the red light violation warning system using a voice message. In this study, the prototype concept of the RLR audio warning system was modeled and tested in a high-fidelity driving simulator. According to the concept, when a vehicle is approaching an intersection at the onset of yellow and the time to the intersection is longer than the yellow interval, the in-vehicle warning system can activate the following audio message "The red light is impending. Please decelerate!" The intent of the warning design is to encourage drivers who cannot clear an intersection during the yellow change interval to stop at the intersection. The experimental results showed that the warning message could decrease red light running violations by 84.3 percent. Based on the logistic regression analyses, drivers without a warning were about 86 times more likely to make go decisions at the onset of yellow and about 15 times more likely to run red lights than those with a warning. Additionally, it was found that the audio warning message could significantly reduce RLR severity because the RLR drivers' red-entry times without a warning were longer than those with a warning. This driving simulator study showed a promising effect of the audio in-vehicle warning message on reducing RLR violations and crashes. It is worthwhile to further develop the proposed technology in field applications.

Cognitive spare capacity: evaluation data and its association with comprehension of dynamic conversations

PubMed Central

Keidser, Gitte; Best, Virginia; Freeston, Katrina; Boyce, Alexandra

2015-01-01

It is well-established that communication involves the working memory system, which becomes increasingly engaged in understanding speech as the input signal degrades. The more resources allocated to recovering a degraded input signal, the fewer resources, referred to as cognitive spare capacity (CSC), remain for higher-level processing of speech. Using simulated natural listening environments, the aims of this paper were to (1) evaluate an English version of a recently introduced auditory test to measure CSC that targets the updating process of the executive function, (2) investigate if the test predicts speech comprehension better than the reading span test (RST) commonly used to measure working memory capacity, and (3) determine if the test is sensitive to increasing the number of attended locations during listening. In Experiment I, the CSC test was presented using a male and a female talker, in quiet and in spatially separated babble- and cafeteria-noises, in an audio-only and in an audio-visual mode. Data collected on 21 listeners with normal and impaired hearing confirmed that the English version of the CSC test is sensitive to population group, noise condition, and clarity of speech, but not presentation modality. In Experiment II, performance by 27 normal-hearing listeners on a novel speech comprehension test presented in noise was significantly associated with working memory capacity, but not with CSC. Moreover, this group showed no significant difference in CSC as the number of talker locations in the test increased. There was no consistent association between the CSC test and the RST. It is recommended that future studies investigate the psychometric properties of the CSC test, and examine its sensitivity to the complexity of the listening environment in participants with both normal and impaired hearing. PMID:25999904

A device for recording automatic audio tape recording1

PubMed Central

Bernal, Martha E.; Gibson, Dennis M.; Williams, Donald E.; Pesses, Danny I.

1971-01-01

Adaptation of a commercially available timer for use as a means of operating an audio tape recorder several times during the day is described. Data on a mother's rates of commanding her children were collected via both physically present observer and recorder methods in order to compare the usefulness of the recordings with direct observation. There was a high positive relationship between observer-recorder command rates, with the observer rates being consistently higher, when data were collected via both methods simultaneously as well as at different points in time. ImagesFig. 1 PMID:16795287

A device for recording automatic audio tape recording.

PubMed

Bernal, M E; Gibson, D M; Williams, D E; Pesses, D I

1971-01-01

Adaptation of a commercially available timer for use as a means of operating an audio tape recorder several times during the day is described. Data on a mother's rates of commanding her children were collected via both physically present observer and recorder methods in order to compare the usefulness of the recordings with direct observation. There was a high positive relationship between observer-recorder command rates, with the observer rates being consistently higher, when data were collected via both methods simultaneously as well as at different points in time.

Media/Device Configurations for Platoon Leader Tactical Training

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-02-01

munication and visual communication sig- na ls, VInputs to the The device should simulate the real- Platoon Leader time receipt of all tactical voice...communication, audio and visual battle- field cues, and visual communication signals. 14- Table 4 (Continued) Functional Capability Categories and...battlefield cues, and visual communication signals. 0.8 Receipt of limited tactical voice communication, plus audio and visual battlefield cues, and visual

Talker variability in audio-visual speech perception

PubMed Central

Heald, Shannon L. M.; Nusbaum, Howard C.

2014-01-01

A change in talker is a change in the context for the phonetic interpretation of acoustic patterns of speech. Different talkers have different mappings between acoustic patterns and phonetic categories and listeners need to adapt to these differences. Despite this complexity, listeners are adept at comprehending speech in multiple-talker contexts, albeit at a slight but measurable performance cost (e.g., slower recognition). So far, this talker variability cost has been demonstrated only in audio-only speech. Other research in single-talker contexts have shown, however, that when listeners are able to see a talker’s face, speech recognition is improved under adverse listening (e.g., noise or distortion) conditions that can increase uncertainty in the mapping between acoustic patterns and phonetic categories. Does seeing a talker’s face reduce the cost of word recognition in multiple-talker contexts? We used a speeded word-monitoring task in which listeners make quick judgments about target word recognition in single- and multiple-talker contexts. Results show faster recognition performance in single-talker conditions compared to multiple-talker conditions for both audio-only and audio-visual speech. However, recognition time in a multiple-talker context was slower in the audio-visual condition compared to audio-only condition. These results suggest that seeing a talker’s face during speech perception may slow recognition by increasing the importance of talker identification, signaling to the listener a change in talker has occurred. PMID:25076919

Talker variability in audio-visual speech perception.

PubMed

Heald, Shannon L M; Nusbaum, Howard C

2014-01-01

A change in talker is a change in the context for the phonetic interpretation of acoustic patterns of speech. Different talkers have different mappings between acoustic patterns and phonetic categories and listeners need to adapt to these differences. Despite this complexity, listeners are adept at comprehending speech in multiple-talker contexts, albeit at a slight but measurable performance cost (e.g., slower recognition). So far, this talker variability cost has been demonstrated only in audio-only speech. Other research in single-talker contexts have shown, however, that when listeners are able to see a talker's face, speech recognition is improved under adverse listening (e.g., noise or distortion) conditions that can increase uncertainty in the mapping between acoustic patterns and phonetic categories. Does seeing a talker's face reduce the cost of word recognition in multiple-talker contexts? We used a speeded word-monitoring task in which listeners make quick judgments about target word recognition in single- and multiple-talker contexts. Results show faster recognition performance in single-talker conditions compared to multiple-talker conditions for both audio-only and audio-visual speech. However, recognition time in a multiple-talker context was slower in the audio-visual condition compared to audio-only condition. These results suggest that seeing a talker's face during speech perception may slow recognition by increasing the importance of talker identification, signaling to the listener a change in talker has occurred.

Clinical evaluation of the WOMAC 3.0 OA Index in numeric rating scale format using a computerized touch screen version.

PubMed

Theiler, R; Spielberger, J; Bischoff, H A; Bellamy, N; Huber, J; Kroesen, S

2002-06-01

The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Osteoarthritis Index is a previously described self-administered questionnaire covering three domains: pain, stiffness and function. It has been validated in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip or knee in a paper-based format. To validate the WOMAC 3.0 using a numerical rating scale in a computerized touch screen format allowing immediate evaluation of the questionnaire. In the computed version cartoons, written and audio instruments were included in order facilitate application. Fifty patients, demographically balanced, with radiographically proven primary hip or knee OA completed the classical paper and the new computerized WOMAC version. Subjects were randomized either to paper format or computerized format first to balance possible order effects. The intra-class correlation coefficients for pain, stiffness and function values were 0.915, 0.745 and 0.940, respectively. The Spearman correlation coefficients for pain, stiffness and function were 0.88, 0.77 and 0.87, respectively. These data indicate that the computerized WOMAC OA index 3.0 is comparable to the paper WOMAC in all three dimensions. The computerized version would allow physicians to get an immediate result and if present a direct comparison with a previous exam. Copyright 2002 OsteoArthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multimedia consultation session recording and playback using Java-based browser in global PACS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinez, Ralph; Shah, Pinkesh J.; Yu, Yuan-Pin

1998-07-01

The current version of the Global PACS software system uses a Java-based implementation of the Remote Consultation and Diagnosis (RCD) system. The Java RCD includes a multimedia consultation session between physicians that includes text, static image, image annotation, and audio data. The JAVA RCD allows 2-4 physicians to collaborate on a patient case. It allows physicians to join the session via WWW Java-enabled browsers or stand alone RCD application. The RCD system includes a distributed database archive system for archiving and retrieving patient and session data. The RCD system can be used for store and forward scenarios, case reviews, and interactive RCD multimedia sessions. The RCD system operates over the Internet, telephone lines, or in a private Intranet. A multimedia consultation session can be recorded, and then played back at a later time for review, comments, and education. A session can be played back using Java-enabled WWW browsers on any operating system platform. The JAVA RCD system shows that a case diagnosis can be captured digitally and played back with the original real-time temporal relationships between data streams. In this paper, we describe design and implementation of the RCD session playback.

Incorporating Auditory Models in Speech/Audio Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krishnamoorthi, Harish

2011-12-01

Following the success in incorporating perceptual models in audio coding algorithms, their application in other speech/audio processing systems is expanding. In general, all perceptual speech/audio processing algorithms involve minimization of an objective function that directly/indirectly incorporates properties of human perception. This dissertation primarily investigates the problems associated with directly embedding an auditory model in the objective function formulation and proposes possible solutions to overcome high complexity issues for use in real-time speech/audio algorithms. Specific problems addressed in this dissertation include: 1) the development of approximate but computationally efficient auditory model implementations that are consistent with the principles of psychoacoustics, 2) the development of a mapping scheme that allows synthesizing a time/frequency domain representation from its equivalent auditory model output. The first problem is aimed at addressing the high computational complexity involved in solving perceptual objective functions that require repeated application of auditory model for evaluation of different candidate solutions. In this dissertation, a frequency pruning and a detector pruning algorithm is developed that efficiently implements the various auditory model stages. The performance of the pruned model is compared to that of the original auditory model for different types of test signals in the SQAM database. Experimental results indicate only a 4-7% relative error in loudness while attaining up to 80-90 % reduction in computational complexity. Similarly, a hybrid algorithm is developed specifically for use with sinusoidal signals and employs the proposed auditory pattern combining technique together with a look-up table to store representative auditory patterns. The second problem obtains an estimate of the auditory representation that minimizes a perceptual objective function and transforms the auditory pattern back to its equivalent time/frequency representation. This avoids the repeated application of auditory model stages to test different candidate time/frequency vectors in minimizing perceptual objective functions. In this dissertation, a constrained mapping scheme is developed by linearizing certain auditory model stages that ensures obtaining a time/frequency mapping corresponding to the estimated auditory representation. This paradigm was successfully incorporated in a perceptual speech enhancement algorithm and a sinusoidal component selection task.

Objective Assessment of Patient Inhaler User Technique Using an Audio-Based Classification Approach.

PubMed

Taylor, Terence E; Zigel, Yaniv; Egan, Clarice; Hughes, Fintan; Costello, Richard W; Reilly, Richard B

2018-02-01

Many patients make critical user technique errors when using pressurised metered dose inhalers (pMDIs) which reduce the clinical efficacy of respiratory medication. Such critical errors include poor actuation coordination (poor timing of medication release during inhalation) and inhaling too fast (peak inspiratory flow rate over 90 L/min). Here, we present a novel audio-based method that objectively assesses patient pMDI user technique. The Inhaler Compliance Assessment device was employed to record inhaler audio signals from 62 respiratory patients as they used a pMDI with an In-Check Flo-Tone device attached to the inhaler mouthpiece. Using a quadratic discriminant analysis approach, the audio-based method generated a total frame-by-frame accuracy of 88.2% in classifying sound events (actuation, inhalation and exhalation). The audio-based method estimated the peak inspiratory flow rate and volume of inhalations with an accuracy of 88.2% and 83.94% respectively. It was detected that 89% of patients made at least one critical user technique error even after tuition from an expert clinical reviewer. This method provides a more clinically accurate assessment of patient inhaler user technique than standard checklist methods.

CERN automatic audio-conference service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sierra Moral, Rodrigo

2010-04-01

Scientists from all over the world need to collaborate with CERN on a daily basis. They must be able to communicate effectively on their joint projects at any time; as a result telephone conferences have become indispensable and widely used. Managed by 6 operators, CERN already has more than 20000 hours and 5700 audio-conferences per year. However, the traditional telephone based audio-conference system needed to be modernized in three ways. Firstly, to provide the participants with more autonomy in the organization of their conferences; secondly, to eliminate the constraints of manual intervention by operators; and thirdly, to integrate the audio-conferences into a collaborative working framework. The large number, and hence cost, of the conferences prohibited externalization and so the CERN telecommunications team drew up a specification to implement a new system. It was decided to use a new commercial collaborative audio-conference solution based on the SIP protocol. The system was tested as the first European pilot and several improvements (such as billing, security, redundancy...) were implemented based on CERN's recommendations. The new automatic conference system has been operational since the second half of 2006. It is very popular for the users and has doubled the number of conferences in the past two years.

Therapeutic alliance in dietetic practice for weight loss: Insights from health coaching.

PubMed

Nagy, Annaliese; McMahon, Anne; Tapsell, Linda; Deane, Frank; Arenson, Danielle

2018-02-13

The psychological construct of 'therapeutic alliance' can be used to better understand the effectiveness of consultations, particularly goal setting for weight management. We analysed audio-recorded health coaching sessions during a weight loss trial to explore relationships between therapeutic alliance and various contextual factors. Audio recordings of 50 health coaching sessions were analysed. After assessing fidelity to the protocol, therapeutic alliance was measured using an adapted Working Alliance Inventory Observer-rated Short Version (WAI-O-S), and examined by (i) identifying relationships between contextual factors and WAI-O-S scores (Spearman's coefficients); (ii) testing the impact of preparatory exercises and body mass index on WAI-O-S scores (one-way analysis of variance and least-squared differences tests) and (iii) comparing differences in WAI-O-S scores based on relationship status, gender and follow-up session completion (independent samples t-tests). Fidelity was high (mean 88%). WAI-O-S total scores ranged from 55 to 70 (out of 84). Session duration was significantly correlated with WAI-O-S component of 'Bond' (r = 0.42, P = 0.002). Those who completed preparatory exercises had significantly higher total WAI-O-S scores, 'Goal' and 'Task' scores. Participants who completed the follow-up session scored significantly higher for 'Goal' compared to no follow-up. Spending more time in a session appears related to increased bonding, a key component of therapeutic alliance. Preparatory work may help build therapeutic alliance and agreement on goals appears to influence follow-up completion. These exploratory findings provide directions for research addressing the professional relationship in dietetic consultations for weight loss. © 2018 Dietitians Association of Australia.

A compact electroencephalogram recording device with integrated audio stimulation system.

PubMed

Paukkunen, Antti K O; Kurttio, Anttu A; Leminen, Miika M; Sepponen, Raimo E

2010-06-01

A compact (96 x 128 x 32 mm(3), 374 g), battery-powered, eight-channel electroencephalogram recording device with an integrated audio stimulation system and a wireless interface is presented. The recording device is capable of producing high-quality data, while the operating time is also reasonable for evoked potential studies. The effective measurement resolution is about 4 nV at 200 Hz sample rate, typical noise level is below 0.7 microV(rms) at 0.16-70 Hz, and the estimated operating time is 1.5 h. An embedded audio decoder circuit reads and plays wave sound files stored on a memory card. The activities are controlled by an 8 bit main control unit which allows accurate timing of the stimuli. The interstimulus interval jitter measured is less than 1 ms. Wireless communication is made through bluetooth and the data recorded are transmitted to an external personal computer (PC) interface in real time. The PC interface is implemented with LABVIEW and in addition to data acquisition it also allows online signal processing, data storage, and control of measurement activities such as contact impedance measurement, for example. The practical application of the device is demonstrated in mismatch negativity experiment with three test subjects.

A compact electroencephalogram recording device with integrated audio stimulation system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paukkunen, Antti K. O.; Kurttio, Anttu A.; Leminen, Miika M.; Sepponen, Raimo E.

2010-06-01

A compact (96×128×32 mm3, 374 g), battery-powered, eight-channel electroencephalogram recording device with an integrated audio stimulation system and a wireless interface is presented. The recording device is capable of producing high-quality data, while the operating time is also reasonable for evoked potential studies. The effective measurement resolution is about 4 nV at 200 Hz sample rate, typical noise level is below 0.7 μVrms at 0.16-70 Hz, and the estimated operating time is 1.5 h. An embedded audio decoder circuit reads and plays wave sound files stored on a memory card. The activities are controlled by an 8 bit main control unit which allows accurate timing of the stimuli. The interstimulus interval jitter measured is less than 1 ms. Wireless communication is made through bluetooth and the data recorded are transmitted to an external personal computer (PC) interface in real time. The PC interface is implemented with LABVIEW® and in addition to data acquisition it also allows online signal processing, data storage, and control of measurement activities such as contact impedance measurement, for example. The practical application of the device is demonstrated in mismatch negativity experiment with three test subjects.

Enhancing Battlemind: Preventing PTSD by Coping with Intrusive Thoughts

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

Characteristics of Participant-Soldiers Demographics Demographic Characteristics N = 1,524 Sex Male 90.6% Female 9.4...consultants • Workshops also included time for live practice, including audio and video taping of trainers’ delivery of modules • One-on-one in person...additional audio/ video taping • Culminated with a certification test in which trainer was rated on multiple domains and content areas by PI, PC, other

pyAudioAnalysis: An Open-Source Python Library for Audio Signal Analysis.

PubMed

Giannakopoulos, Theodoros

2015-01-01

Audio information plays a rather important role in the increasing digital content that is available today, resulting in a need for methodologies that automatically analyze such content: audio event recognition for home automations and surveillance systems, speech recognition, music information retrieval, multimodal analysis (e.g. audio-visual analysis of online videos for content-based recommendation), etc. This paper presents pyAudioAnalysis, an open-source Python library that provides a wide range of audio analysis procedures including: feature extraction, classification of audio signals, supervised and unsupervised segmentation and content visualization. pyAudioAnalysis is licensed under the Apache License and is available at GitHub (https://github.com/tyiannak/pyAudioAnalysis/). Here we present the theoretical background behind the wide range of the implemented methodologies, along with evaluation metrics for some of the methods. pyAudioAnalysis has been already used in several audio analysis research applications: smart-home functionalities through audio event detection, speech emotion recognition, depression classification based on audio-visual features, music segmentation, multimodal content-based movie recommendation and health applications (e.g. monitoring eating habits). The feedback provided from all these particular audio applications has led to practical enhancement of the library.

pyAudioAnalysis: An Open-Source Python Library for Audio Signal Analysis

PubMed Central

Giannakopoulos, Theodoros

2015-01-01

Audio information plays a rather important role in the increasing digital content that is available today, resulting in a need for methodologies that automatically analyze such content: audio event recognition for home automations and surveillance systems, speech recognition, music information retrieval, multimodal analysis (e.g. audio-visual analysis of online videos for content-based recommendation), etc. This paper presents pyAudioAnalysis, an open-source Python library that provides a wide range of audio analysis procedures including: feature extraction, classification of audio signals, supervised and unsupervised segmentation and content visualization. pyAudioAnalysis is licensed under the Apache License and is available at GitHub (https://github.com/tyiannak/pyAudioAnalysis/). Here we present the theoretical background behind the wide range of the implemented methodologies, along with evaluation metrics for some of the methods. pyAudioAnalysis has been already used in several audio analysis research applications: smart-home functionalities through audio event detection, speech emotion recognition, depression classification based on audio-visual features, music segmentation, multimodal content-based movie recommendation and health applications (e.g. monitoring eating habits). The feedback provided from all these particular audio applications has led to practical enhancement of the library. PMID:26656189

Quality of audio-assisted versus video-assisted dispatcher-instructed bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Lin, Yu-You; Chiang, Wen-Chu; Hsieh, Ming-Ju; Sun, Jen-Tang; Chang, Yi-Chung; Ma, Matthew Huei-Ming

2018-02-01

This study aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing the effect of video-assistance and audio-assistance on quality of dispatcher-instructed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DI-CPR) for bystanders. Five databases were searched, including PubMed, Cochrane library, Embase, Scopus and NIH clinical trial, to find randomized control trials published before June 2017. Qualitative analysis and meta-analysis were undertaken to examine the difference between the quality of video-instructed and audio-instructed dispatcher-instructed bystander CPR. The database search yielded 929 records, resulting in the inclusion of 9 relevant articles in this study. Of these, 6 were included in the meta-analysis. Initiation of chest compressions was slower in the video-instructed group than in the audio-instructed group (median delay 31.5 s; 95% CI: 10.94-52.09). The difference in the number of chest compressions per minute between the groups was 19.9 (95% CI: 10.50-29.38) with significantly faster compressions in the video-instructed group than in the audio-instructed group (104.8 vs. 80.6). The odds ratio (OR) for correct hand positioning was 0.8 (95% CI: 0.53-1.30) when comparing the audio-instructed and video-instructed groups. The differences in chest compression depth (mm) and time to first ventilation (seconds) between the video-instructed group and audio-instructed group were 1.6 mm (95% CI: -8.75, 5.55) and 7.5 s (95% CI: -56.84, 71.80), respectively. Video-instructed DI-CPR significantly improved the chest compression rate compared to the audio-instructed method, and a trend for correctness of hand position was also observed. However, this method caused a delay in the commencement of bystander-initiated CPR in the simulation setting. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatial domain entertainment audio decompression/compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Y. K.; Tam, Ka Him K.

2014-02-01

The ARM7 NEON processor with 128bit SIMD hardware accelerator requires a peak performance of 13.99 Mega Cycles per Second for MP3 stereo entertainment quality decoding. For similar compression bit rate, OGG and AAC is preferred over MP3. The Patent Cooperation Treaty Application dated 28/August/2012 describes an audio decompression scheme producing a sequence of interleaving "min to Max" and "Max to min" rising and falling segments. The number of interior audio samples bound by "min to Max" or "Max to min" can be {0|1|…|N} audio samples. The magnitudes of samples, including the bounding min and Max, are distributed as normalized constants within the 0 and 1 of the bounding magnitudes. The decompressed audio is then a "sequence of static segments" on a frame by frame basis. Some of these frames needed to be post processed to elevate high frequency. The post processing is compression efficiency neutral and the additional decoding complexity is only a small fraction of the overall decoding complexity without the need of extra hardware. Compression efficiency can be speculated as very high as source audio had been decimated and converted to a set of data with only "segment length and corresponding segment magnitude" attributes. The PCT describes how these two attributes are efficiently coded by the PCT innovative coding scheme. The PCT decoding efficiency is obviously very high and decoding latency is basically zero. Both hardware requirement and run time is at least an order of magnitude better than MP3 variants. The side benefit is ultra low power consumption on mobile device. The acid test on how such a simplistic waveform representation can indeed reproduce authentic decompressed quality is benchmarked versus OGG(aoTuv Beta 6.03) by three pair of stereo audio frames and one broadcast like voice audio frame with each frame consisting 2,028 samples at 44,100KHz sampling frequency.

Temporal Structure and Complexity Affect Audio-Visual Correspondence Detection

PubMed Central

Denison, Rachel N.; Driver, Jon; Ruff, Christian C.

2013-01-01

Synchrony between events in different senses has long been considered the critical temporal cue for multisensory integration. Here, using rapid streams of auditory and visual events, we demonstrate how humans can use temporal structure (rather than mere temporal coincidence) to detect multisensory relatedness. We find psychophysically that participants can detect matching auditory and visual streams via shared temporal structure for crossmodal lags of up to 200 ms. Performance on this task reproduced features of past findings based on explicit timing judgments but did not show any special advantage for perfectly synchronous streams. Importantly, the complexity of temporal patterns influences sensitivity to correspondence. Stochastic, irregular streams – with richer temporal pattern information – led to higher audio-visual matching sensitivity than predictable, rhythmic streams. Our results reveal that temporal structure and its complexity are key determinants for human detection of audio-visual correspondence. The distinctive emphasis of our new paradigms on temporal patterning could be useful for studying special populations with suspected abnormalities in audio-visual temporal perception and multisensory integration. PMID:23346067

Investigating the impact of audio instruction and audio-visual biofeedback for lung cancer radiation therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

George, Rohini

Lung cancer accounts for 13% of all cancers in the Unites States and is the leading cause of deaths among both men and women. The five-year survival for lung cancer patients is approximately 15%.(ACS facts & figures) Respiratory motion decreases accuracy of thoracic radiotherapy during imaging and delivery. To account for respiration, generally margins are added during radiation treatment planning, which may cause a substantial dose delivery to normal tissues and increase the normal tissue toxicity. To alleviate the above-mentioned effects of respiratory motion, several motion management techniques are available which can reduce the doses to normal tissues, thereby reducing treatment toxicity and allowing dose escalation to the tumor. This may increase the survival probability of patients who have lung cancer and are receiving radiation therapy. However the accuracy of these motion management techniques are inhibited by respiration irregularity. The rationale of this thesis was to study the improvement in regularity of respiratory motion by breathing coaching for lung cancer patients using audio instructions and audio-visual biofeedback. A total of 331 patient respiratory motion traces, each four minutes in length, were collected from 24 lung cancer patients enrolled in an IRB-approved breathing-training protocol. It was determined that audio-visual biofeedback significantly improved the regularity of respiratory motion compared to free breathing and audio instruction, thus improving the accuracy of respiratory gated radiotherapy. It was also observed that duty cycles below 30% showed insignificant reduction in residual motion while above 50% there was a sharp increase in residual motion. The reproducibility of exhale based gating was higher than that of inhale base gating. Modeling the respiratory cycles it was found that cosine and cosine 4 models had the best correlation with individual respiratory cycles. The overall respiratory motion probability distribution function could be approximated to a normal distribution function. A statistical analysis was also performed to investigate if a patient's physical, tumor or general characteristics played a role in identifying whether he/she responded positively to the coaching type---signified by a reduction in the variability of respiratory motion. The analysis demonstrated that, although there were some characteristics like disease type and dose per fraction that were significant with respect to time-independent analysis, there were no significant time trends observed for the inter-session or intra-session analysis. Based on patient feedback with the existing audio-visual biofeedback system used for the study and research performed on other feedback systems, an improved audio-visual biofeedback system was designed. It is hoped the widespread clinical implementation of audio-visual biofeedback for radiotherapy will improve the accuracy of lung cancer radiotherapy.

Audio-Visual Speaker Diarization Based on Spatiotemporal Bayesian Fusion.

PubMed

Gebru, Israel D; Ba, Sileye; Li, Xiaofei; Horaud, Radu

2018-05-01

Speaker diarization consists of assigning speech signals to people engaged in a dialogue. An audio-visual spatiotemporal diarization model is proposed. The model is well suited for challenging scenarios that consist of several participants engaged in multi-party interaction while they move around and turn their heads towards the other participants rather than facing the cameras and the microphones. Multiple-person visual tracking is combined with multiple speech-source localization in order to tackle the speech-to-person association problem. The latter is solved within a novel audio-visual fusion method on the following grounds: binaural spectral features are first extracted from a microphone pair, then a supervised audio-visual alignment technique maps these features onto an image, and finally a semi-supervised clustering method assigns binaural spectral features to visible persons. The main advantage of this method over previous work is that it processes in a principled way speech signals uttered simultaneously by multiple persons. The diarization itself is cast into a latent-variable temporal graphical model that infers speaker identities and speech turns, based on the output of an audio-visual association process, executed at each time slice, and on the dynamics of the diarization variable itself. The proposed formulation yields an efficient exact inference procedure. A novel dataset, that contains audio-visual training data as well as a number of scenarios involving several participants engaged in formal and informal dialogue, is introduced. The proposed method is thoroughly tested and benchmarked with respect to several state-of-the art diarization algorithms.

Reliability and validity of an audio signal modified shuttle walk test.

PubMed

Singla, Rupak; Rai, Richa; Faye, Abhishek Anil; Jain, Anil Kumar; Chowdhury, Ranadip; Bandyopadhyay, Debdutta

2017-01-01

The audio signal in the conventionally accepted protocol of shuttle walk test (SWT) is not well-understood by the patients and modification of the audio signal may improve the performance of the test. The aim of this study is to study the validity and reliability of an audio signal modified SWT, called the Singla-Richa modified SWT (SWTSR), in healthy normal adults. In SWTSR, the audio signal was modified with the addition of reverse counting to it. A total of 54 healthy normal adults underwent conventional SWT (CSWT) at one instance and two times SWTSRon the same day. The validity was assessed by comparing outcomes of the SWTSRto outcomes of CSWT using the Pearson correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman plot. Test-retest reliability of SWTSRwas assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The acceptability of the modified test in comparison to the conventional test was assessed using Likert scale. The distance walked (mean ± standard deviation) in the CSWT and SWTSRtest was 853.33 ± 217.33 m and 857.22 ± 219.56 m, respectively (Pearson correlation coefficient - 0.98; P < 0.001) indicating SWTSRto be a valid test. The SWTSRwas found to be a reliable test with ICC of 0.98 (95% confidence interval: 0.97-0.99). The acceptability of SWTSRwas significantly higher than CSWT. The SWTSRwith modified audio signal with reverse counting is a reliable as well as a valid test when compared with CSWT in healthy normal adults. It better understood by subjects compared to CSWT.

A randomized controlled trial of an audio-based treatment program for child anxiety disorders.

PubMed

Infantino, Alyssa; Donovan, Caroline L; March, Sonja

2016-04-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of an audio-based cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) program for child anxiety disorders. Twenty-four children aged 5-11 years were randomly allocated into either the audio-based CBT program condition (Audio, n = 12) or a waitlist control (WL; n = 12) group. Outcome measures included a clinical diagnostic interview, clinician-rated global assessment of functioning, and parent and child self-report ratings of anxiety and internalisation. Assessments were conducted prior to treatment, 12 weeks following treatment, and at 3-month follow-up. Results indicated that at post-assessment, 58.3% of children receiving treatment compared to 16.7% of waitlist children were free of their primary diagnosis, with this figure rising to 66.67% at the 3-month follow-up time point. Additionally, at post-assessment, 25.0% of children in the treatment condition compared to .0% of the waitlist condition were free of all anxiety diagnoses, with this figure rising to 41.67% for the treatment group at 3-month follow-up. Overall, the findings suggest that the audio program tested in this study has the potential to be an efficacious treatment alternative for anxious children. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Noise-Canceling Helmet Audio System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seibert, Marc A.; Culotta, Anthony J.

2007-01-01

A prototype helmet audio system has been developed to improve voice communication for the wearer in a noisy environment. The system was originally intended to be used in a space suit, wherein noise generated by airflow of the spacesuit life-support system can make it difficult for remote listeners to understand the astronaut s speech and can interfere with the astronaut s attempt to issue vocal commands to a voice-controlled robot. The system could be adapted to terrestrial use in helmets of protective suits that are typically worn in noisy settings: examples include biohazard, fire, rescue, and diving suits. The system (see figure) includes an array of microphones and small loudspeakers mounted at fixed positions in a helmet, amplifiers and signal-routing circuitry, and a commercial digital signal processor (DSP). Notwithstanding the fixed positions of the microphones and loudspeakers, the system can accommodate itself to any normal motion of the wearer s head within the helmet. The system operates in conjunction with a radio transceiver. An audio signal arriving via the transceiver intended to be heard by the wearer is adjusted in volume and otherwise conditioned and sent to the loudspeakers. The wearer s speech is collected by the microphones, the outputs of which are logically combined (phased) so as to form a microphone- array directional sensitivity pattern that discriminates in favor of sounds coming from vicinity of the wearer s mouth and against sounds coming from elsewhere. In the DSP, digitized samples of the microphone outputs are processed to filter out airflow noise and to eliminate feedback from the loudspeakers to the microphones. The resulting conditioned version of the wearer s speech signal is sent to the transceiver.

Prevalence of co-morbid depression in out-patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Roy, Tapash; Lloyd, Cathy E; Parvin, Masuma; Mohiuddin, Khondker Galib B; Rahman, Mosiur

2012-08-22

Little is known about the prevalence of depression in people with diabetes in Bangladesh. This study examined the prevalence and factors associated with depression in out-patients with Type 2 diabetes in Bangladesh. In this cross-sectional study a random sample of 483 diabetes out-patients from three diabetes clinics in Bangladesh was invited to participate. Of them 417 patients took part. Depressive symptoms were measured using previously developed and culturally standardized Bengali and Sylheti versions of the World HealthOrganization-5 Well Being Index (WHO-5) and the Patient Health Questionairre-9 (PHQ-9) with predefined cut-off scores. Data was collected using two different modes; e.g. standard assisted collection and audio questionnaire methods. Associations between depression and patient characteristics were explored using regression analysis. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 34% (PHQ-9 score ≥ 5) and 36% (WHO-5 score < 52) with audio questionnaire delivery method. The prevalence rates were similar regardless of the type (PHQ-9 vs. WHO-5) and language (Sylheti vs. Bengali) of the questionnaires, and methods of delivery (standard assisted vs. audio methods). The significant predictors of depressive symptoms using either the PHQ-9 or WHO-5 questionnaires were; age, income, gender, treatment intensity, and co-morbid cardiovascular disease. Further, depression was strongly associated with poor glycaemic control and number of co-morbid conditions. This study demonstrated that depression prevalence is common in out-patients with type 2 diabetes in Bangladesh. In a setting where recognition, screening and treatment levels remain low, health care providers need to focus their efforts on diagnosing, referring and effectively treating this important disease in order to improve service delivery.

Adaptive synchrosqueezing based on a quilted short-time Fourier transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berrian, Alexander; Saito, Naoki

2017-08-01

In recent years, the synchrosqueezing transform (SST) has gained popularity as a method for the analysis of signals that can be broken down into multiple components determined by instantaneous amplitudes and phases. One such version of SST, based on the short-time Fourier transform (STFT), enables the sharpening of instantaneous frequency (IF) information derived from the STFT, as well as the separation of amplitude-phase components corresponding to distinct IF curves. However, this SST is limited by the time-frequency resolution of the underlying window function, and may not resolve signals exhibiting diverse time-frequency behaviors with sufficient accuracy. In this work, we develop a framework for an SST based on a "quilted" short-time Fourier transform (SST-QSTFT), which allows adaptation to signal behavior in separate time-frequency regions through the use of multiple windows. This motivates us to introduce a discrete reassignment frequency formula based on a finite difference of the phase spectrum, ensuring computational accuracy for a wider variety of windows. We develop a theoretical framework for the SST-QSTFT in both the continuous and the discrete settings, and describe an algorithm for the automatic selection of optimal windows depending on the region of interest. Using synthetic data, we demonstrate the superior numerical performance of SST-QSTFT relative to other SST methods in a noisy context. Finally, we apply SST-QSTFT to audio recordings of animal calls to demonstrate the potential of our method for the analysis of real bioacoustic signals.

Audio Recording for Independent Confirmation of Clinical Assessments in Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

PubMed

Targum, Steven D; Murphy, Christopher; Khan, Jibran; Zumpano, Laura; Whitlock, Mark; Simen, Arthur A; Binneman, Brendon

2018-04-01

Objective : The assessment of patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) to deteremine whether a medication intervention is necessary is not always clear and might benefit from a second opinion. However, second opinions are time consuming, expensive, and not practical in most settings. We obtained independent, second opinion reviews of the primary clinician's assessment via audio-digital recording. Design : An audio-digital recording of key site-based assessments was used to generate site-independent "dual" reviews of the clinical presentation, symptom severity, and medication requirements of patients with GAD as part of the screening procedures for a clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02310568). Results : Site-independent reviewers affirmed the diagnosis, symptom severity metrics, and treatment requirements of 90 moderately ill patients with GAD. The patients endorsed excessive worry that was hard to control and essentially all six of the associated DSM-IV-TR anxiety symptoms. The Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety scores revealed moderately severe anxiety with a high Pearson's correlation ( r =0.852) between site-based and independent raters and minimal scoring discordance on each scale item. Based upon their independent reviews, these "second" opinions confirmed that these GAD patients warranted a new medication intervention. Thirty patients (33.3%) reported a previous history of a major depressive episode (MDE) and had significantly more depressive symptoms than patients without a history of MDE. Conclusion : The audio-digital recording method provides a useful second opinion that can affirm the need for a different treatment intervention in these anxious patients. A second live assessment would have required additional clinic time and added patient burden. The audio-digital recording method is less burdensome than live second opinion assessments and might have utility in both research and clinical practice settings.

A Content-Adaptive Analysis and Representation Framework for Audio Event Discovery from "Unscripted" Multimedia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radhakrishnan, Regunathan; Divakaran, Ajay; Xiong, Ziyou; Otsuka, Isao

2006-12-01

We propose a content-adaptive analysis and representation framework to discover events using audio features from "unscripted" multimedia such as sports and surveillance for summarization. The proposed analysis framework performs an inlier/outlier-based temporal segmentation of the content. It is motivated by the observation that "interesting" events in unscripted multimedia occur sparsely in a background of usual or "uninteresting" events. We treat the sequence of low/mid-level features extracted from the audio as a time series and identify subsequences that are outliers. The outlier detection is based on eigenvector analysis of the affinity matrix constructed from statistical models estimated from the subsequences of the time series. We define the confidence measure on each of the detected outliers as the probability that it is an outlier. Then, we establish a relationship between the parameters of the proposed framework and the confidence measure. Furthermore, we use the confidence measure to rank the detected outliers in terms of their departures from the background process. Our experimental results with sequences of low- and mid-level audio features extracted from sports video show that "highlight" events can be extracted effectively as outliers from a background process using the proposed framework. We proceed to show the effectiveness of the proposed framework in bringing out suspicious events from surveillance videos without any a priori knowledge. We show that such temporal segmentation into background and outliers, along with the ranking based on the departure from the background, can be used to generate content summaries of any desired length. Finally, we also show that the proposed framework can be used to systematically select "key audio classes" that are indicative of events of interest in the chosen domain.

Evaluating the Use of Auditory Systems to Improve Performance in Combat Search and Rescue

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

take advantage of human binaural hearing to present spatial information through auditory stimuli as it would occur in the real world. This allows the...multiple operators unambiguously and in a short amount of time. Spatial audio basics Spatial audio works with human binaural hearing to generate... binaural recordings “sound better” when heard in the same location where the recordings were made. While this appears to be related to the acoustic

Digital Audio Signal Processing and Nde: AN Unlikely but Valuable Partnership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaydecki, Patrick

2008-02-01

In the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) group, within the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Manchester, research is conducted into two seemingly distinct and disparate subjects: instrumentation for nondestructive evaluation, and DSP systems & algorithms for digital audio. We have often found that many of the hardware systems and algorithms employed to recover, extract or enhance audio signals may also be applied to signals provided by ultrasonic or magnetic NDE instruments. Furthermore, modern DSP hardware is so fast (typically performing hundreds of millions of operations per second), that much of the processing and signal reconstruction may be performed in real time. Here, we describe some of the hardware systems we have developed, together with algorithms that can be implemented both in real time and offline. A next generation system has now been designed, which incorporates a processor operating at 0.55 Giga MMACS, six input and eight output analogue channels, digital input/output in the form of S/PDIF, a JTAG and a USB interface. The software allows the user, with no knowledge of filter theory or programming, to design and run standard or arbitrary FIR, IIR and adaptive filters. Using audio as a vehicle, we can demonstrate the remarkable properties of modern reconstruction algorithms when used in conjunction with such hardware; applications in NDE include signal enhancement and recovery in acoustic, ultrasonic, magnetic and eddy current modalities.

About subjective evaluation of adaptive video streaming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tavakoli, Samira; Brunnström, Kjell; Garcia, Narciso

2015-03-01

The usage of HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) technology by content providers is increasing rapidly. Having available the video content in multiple qualities, using HAS allows to adapt the quality of downloaded video to the current network conditions providing smooth video-playback. However, the time-varying video quality by itself introduces a new type of impairment. The quality adaptation can be done in different ways. In order to find the best adaptation strategy maximizing users perceptual quality it is necessary to investigate about the subjective perception of adaptation-related impairments. However, the novelties of these impairments and their comparably long time duration make most of the standardized assessment methodologies fall less suited for studying HAS degradation. Furthermore, in traditional testing methodologies, the quality of the video in audiovisual services is often evaluated separated and not in the presence of audio. Nevertheless, the requirement of jointly evaluating the audio and the video within a subjective test is a relatively under-explored research field. In this work, we address the research question of determining the appropriate assessment methodology to evaluate the sequences with time-varying quality due to the adaptation. This was done by studying the influence of different adaptation related parameters through two different subjective experiments using a methodology developed to evaluate long test sequences. In order to study the impact of audio presence on quality assessment by the test subjects, one of the experiments was done in the presence of audio stimuli. The experimental results were subsequently compared with another experiment using the standardized single stimulus Absolute Category Rating (ACR) methodology.

Wavelet-based audio embedding and audio/video compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendenhall, Michael J.; Claypoole, Roger L., Jr.

2001-12-01

Watermarking, traditionally used for copyright protection, is used in a new and exciting way. An efficient wavelet-based watermarking technique embeds audio information into a video signal. Several effective compression techniques are applied to compress the resulting audio/video signal in an embedded fashion. This wavelet-based compression algorithm incorporates bit-plane coding, index coding, and Huffman coding. To demonstrate the potential of this audio embedding and audio/video compression algorithm, we embed an audio signal into a video signal and then compress. Results show that overall compression rates of 15:1 can be achieved. The video signal is reconstructed with a median PSNR of nearly 33 dB. Finally, the audio signal is extracted from the compressed audio/video signal without error.

Dragon Ears airborne acoustic array: CSP analysis applied to cross array to compute real-time 2D acoustic sound field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cerwin, Steve; Barnes, Julie; Kell, Scott; Walters, Mark

2003-09-01

This paper describes development and application of a novel method to accomplish real-time solid angle acoustic direction finding using two 8-element orthogonal microphone arrays. The developed prototype system was intended for localization and signature recognition of ground-based sounds from a small UAV. Recent advances in computer speeds have enabled the implementation of microphone arrays in many audio applications. Still, the real-time presentation of a two-dimensional sound field for the purpose of audio target localization is computationally challenging. In order to overcome this challenge, a crosspower spectrum phase1 (CSP) technique was applied to each 8-element arm of a 16-element cross array to provide audio target localization. In this paper, we describe the technique and compare it with two other commonly used techniques; Cross-Spectral Matrix2 and MUSIC3. The results show that the CSP technique applied to two 8-element orthogonal arrays provides a computationally efficient solution with reasonable accuracy and tolerable artifacts, sufficient for real-time applications. Additional topics include development of a synchronized 16-channel transmitter and receiver to relay the airborne data to the ground-based processor and presentation of test data demonstrating both ground-mounted operation and airborne localization of ground-based gunshots and loud engine sounds.

Non-invasive measurement of pulse wave velocity using transputer-based analysis of Doppler flow audio signals.

PubMed

Stewart, W R; Ramsey, M W; Jones, C J

1994-08-01

A system for the measurement of arterial pulse wave velocity is described. A personal computer (PC) plug-in transputer board is used to process the audio signals from two pocket Doppler ultrasound units. The transputer is used to provide a set of bandpass digital filters on two channels. The times of excursion of power through thresholds in each filter are recorded and used to estimate the onset of systolic flow. The system does not require an additional spectrum analyser and can work in real time. The transputer architecture provides for easy integration into any wider physiological measurement system.

Orbital component extraction by time-variant sinusoidal modeling.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinnesael, Matthias; Zivanovic, Miroslav; De Vleeschouwer, David; Claeys, Philippe; Schoukens, Johan

2016-04-01

Accurately deciphering periodic variations in paleoclimate proxy signals is essential for cyclostratigraphy. Classical spectral analysis often relies on methods based on the (Fast) Fourier Transformation. This technique has no unique solution separating variations in amplitude and frequency. This characteristic makes it difficult to correctly interpret a proxy's power spectrum or to accurately evaluate simultaneous changes in amplitude and frequency in evolutionary analyses. Here, we circumvent this drawback by using a polynomial approach to estimate instantaneous amplitude and frequency in orbital components. This approach has been proven useful to characterize audio signals (music and speech), which are non-stationary in nature (Zivanovic and Schoukens, 2010, 2012). Paleoclimate proxy signals and audio signals have in nature similar dynamics; the only difference is the frequency relationship between the different components. A harmonic frequency relationship exists in audio signals, whereas this relation is non-harmonic in paleoclimate signals. However, the latter difference is irrelevant for the problem at hand. Using a sliding window approach, the model captures time variations of an orbital component by modulating a stationary sinusoid centered at its mean frequency, with a single polynomial. Hence, the parameters that determine the model are the mean frequency of the orbital component and the polynomial coefficients. The first parameter depends on geologic interpretation, whereas the latter are estimated by means of linear least-squares. As an output, the model provides the orbital component waveform, either in the depth or time domain. Furthermore, it allows for a unique decomposition of the signal into its instantaneous amplitude and frequency. Frequency modulation patterns can be used to reconstruct changes in accumulation rate, whereas amplitude modulation can be used to reconstruct e.g. eccentricity-modulated precession. The time-variant sinusoidal model is applied to well-established Pleistocene benthic isotope records to evaluate its performance. Zivanovic M. and Schoukens J. (2010) On The Polynomial Approximation for Time-Variant Harmonic Signal Modeling. IEEE Transactions On Audio, Speech, and Language Processing vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 458-467. Doi: 10.1109/TASL.2010.2049673. Zivanovic M. and Schoukens J. (2012) Single and Piecewise Polynomials for Modeling of Pitched Sounds. IEEE Transactions On Audio, Speech, and Language Processing vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 1270-1281. Doi: 10.1109/TASL.2011.2174228.

Subtlenoise: sonification of distributed computing operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Love, P. A.

2015-12-01

The operation of distributed computing systems requires comprehensive monitoring to ensure reliability and robustness. There are two components found in most monitoring systems: one being visually rich time-series graphs and another being notification systems for alerting operators under certain pre-defined conditions. In this paper the sonification of monitoring messages is explored using an architecture that fits easily within existing infrastructures based on mature opensource technologies such as ZeroMQ, Logstash, and Supercollider (a synth engine). Message attributes are mapped onto audio attributes based on broad classification of the message (continuous or discrete metrics) but keeping the audio stream subtle in nature. The benefits of audio rendering are described in the context of distributed computing operations and may provide a less intrusive way to understand the operational health of these systems.

Three-Dimensional Audio Client Library

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rizzi, Stephen A.

2005-01-01

The Three-Dimensional Audio Client Library (3DAudio library) is a group of software routines written to facilitate development of both stand-alone (audio only) and immersive virtual-reality application programs that utilize three-dimensional audio displays. The library is intended to enable the development of three-dimensional audio client application programs by use of a code base common to multiple audio server computers. The 3DAudio library calls vendor-specific audio client libraries and currently supports the AuSIM Gold-Server and Lake Huron audio servers. 3DAudio library routines contain common functions for (1) initiation and termination of a client/audio server session, (2) configuration-file input, (3) positioning functions, (4) coordinate transformations, (5) audio transport functions, (6) rendering functions, (7) debugging functions, and (8) event-list-sequencing functions. The 3DAudio software is written in the C++ programming language and currently operates under the Linux, IRIX, and Windows operating systems.

Robust audio-visual speech recognition under noisy audio-video conditions.

PubMed

Stewart, Darryl; Seymour, Rowan; Pass, Adrian; Ming, Ji

2014-02-01

This paper presents the maximum weighted stream posterior (MWSP) model as a robust and efficient stream integration method for audio-visual speech recognition in environments, where the audio or video streams may be subjected to unknown and time-varying corruption. A significant advantage of MWSP is that it does not require any specific measurements of the signal in either stream to calculate appropriate stream weights during recognition, and as such it is modality-independent. This also means that MWSP complements and can be used alongside many of the other approaches that have been proposed in the literature for this problem. For evaluation we used the large XM2VTS database for speaker-independent audio-visual speech recognition. The extensive tests include both clean and corrupted utterances with corruption added in either/both the video and audio streams using a variety of types (e.g., MPEG-4 video compression) and levels of noise. The experiments show that this approach gives excellent performance in comparison to another well-known dynamic stream weighting approach and also compared to any fixed-weighted integration approach in both clean conditions or when noise is added to either stream. Furthermore, our experiments show that the MWSP approach dynamically selects suitable integration weights on a frame-by-frame basis according to the level of noise in the streams and also according to the naturally fluctuating relative reliability of the modalities even in clean conditions. The MWSP approach is shown to maintain robust recognition performance in all tested conditions, while requiring no prior knowledge about the type or level of noise.

Auditory and audio-visual processing in patients with cochlear, auditory brainstem, and auditory midbrain implants: An EEG study.

PubMed

Schierholz, Irina; Finke, Mareike; Kral, Andrej; Büchner, Andreas; Rach, Stefan; Lenarz, Thomas; Dengler, Reinhard; Sandmann, Pascale

2017-04-01

There is substantial variability in speech recognition ability across patients with cochlear implants (CIs), auditory brainstem implants (ABIs), and auditory midbrain implants (AMIs). To better understand how this variability is related to central processing differences, the current electroencephalography (EEG) study compared hearing abilities and auditory-cortex activation in patients with electrical stimulation at different sites of the auditory pathway. Three different groups of patients with auditory implants (Hannover Medical School; ABI: n = 6, CI: n = 6; AMI: n = 2) performed a speeded response task and a speech recognition test with auditory, visual, and audio-visual stimuli. Behavioral performance and cortical processing of auditory and audio-visual stimuli were compared between groups. ABI and AMI patients showed prolonged response times on auditory and audio-visual stimuli compared with NH listeners and CI patients. This was confirmed by prolonged N1 latencies and reduced N1 amplitudes in ABI and AMI patients. However, patients with central auditory implants showed a remarkable gain in performance when visual and auditory input was combined, in both speech and non-speech conditions, which was reflected by a strong visual modulation of auditory-cortex activation in these individuals. In sum, the results suggest that the behavioral improvement for audio-visual conditions in central auditory implant patients is based on enhanced audio-visual interactions in the auditory cortex. Their findings may provide important implications for the optimization of electrical stimulation and rehabilitation strategies in patients with central auditory prostheses. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2206-2225, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A pilot training manual for the terminal configured vehicle electronic attitude director indicator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gandelman, J.

1980-01-01

A hard copy version is presented of a 28-minute, 90 slide audiovisual program which provides the basic instructional format for introduction to the terminal configured vehicle electronic attitude director indicator (EADI) and the strategy for learning the symbols used on the EADI and their interpretation. The basic strategy is to start with known symbols and then introduce all new symbols with emphasis appropriate to their complexity and frequency of use. The upper half of each page of the manual contains a reproduction of the slide. The text associated with the slide is found on the lower half of each page and is recorded on audio tape.

Content-based audio authentication using a hierarchical patchwork watermark embedding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulbis, Michael; Müller, Erika

2010-05-01

Content-based audio authentication watermarking techniques extract perceptual relevant audio features, which are robustly embedded into the audio file to protect. Manipulations of the audio file are detected on the basis of changes between the original embedded feature information and the anew extracted features during verification. The main challenges of content-based watermarking are on the one hand the identification of a suitable audio feature to distinguish between content preserving and malicious manipulations. On the other hand the development of a watermark, which is robust against content preserving modifications and able to carry the whole authentication information. The payload requirements are significantly higher compared to transaction watermarking or copyright protection. Finally, the watermark embedding should not influence the feature extraction to avoid false alarms. Current systems still lack a sufficient alignment of watermarking algorithm and feature extraction. In previous work we developed a content-based audio authentication watermarking approach. The feature is based on changes in DCT domain over time. A patchwork algorithm based watermark was used to embed multiple one bit watermarks. The embedding process uses the feature domain without inflicting distortions to the feature. The watermark payload is limited by the feature extraction, more precisely the critical bands. The payload is inverse proportional to segment duration of the audio file segmentation. Transparency behavior was analyzed in dependence of segment size and thus the watermark payload. At a segment duration of about 20 ms the transparency shows an optimum (measured in units of Objective Difference Grade). Transparency and/or robustness are fast decreased for working points beyond this area. Therefore, these working points are unsuitable to gain further payload, needed for the embedding of the whole authentication information. In this paper we present a hierarchical extension of the watermark method to overcome the limitations given by the feature extraction. The approach is a recursive application of the patchwork algorithm onto its own patches, with a modified patch selection to ensure a better signal to noise ratio for the watermark embedding. The robustness evaluation was done by compression (mp3, ogg, aac), normalization, and several attacks of the stirmark benchmark for audio suite. Compared on the base of same payload and transparency the hierarchical approach shows improved robustness.

Audio visual speech source separation via improved context dependent association model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazemi, Alireza; Boostani, Reza; Sobhanmanesh, Fariborz

2014-12-01

In this paper, we exploit the non-linear relation between a speech source and its associated lip video as a source of extra information to propose an improved audio-visual speech source separation (AVSS) algorithm. The audio-visual association is modeled using a neural associator which estimates the visual lip parameters from a temporal context of acoustic observation frames. We define an objective function based on mean square error (MSE) measure between estimated and target visual parameters. This function is minimized for estimation of the de-mixing vector/filters to separate the relevant source from linear instantaneous or time-domain convolutive mixtures. We have also proposed a hybrid criterion which uses AV coherency together with kurtosis as a non-Gaussianity measure. Experimental results are presented and compared in terms of visually relevant speech detection accuracy and output signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) of source separation. The suggested audio-visual model significantly improves relevant speech classification accuracy compared to existing GMM-based model and the proposed AVSS algorithm improves the speech separation quality compared to reference ICA- and AVSS-based methods.

Perceptually controlled doping for audio source separation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahé, Gaël; Nadalin, Everton Z.; Suyama, Ricardo; Romano, João MT

2014-12-01

The separation of an underdetermined audio mixture can be performed through sparse component analysis (SCA) that relies however on the strong hypothesis that source signals are sparse in some domain. To overcome this difficulty in the case where the original sources are available before the mixing process, the informed source separation (ISS) embeds in the mixture a watermark, which information can help a further separation. Though powerful, this technique is generally specific to a particular mixing setup and may be compromised by an additional bitrate compression stage. Thus, instead of watermarking, we propose a `doping' method that makes the time-frequency representation of each source more sparse, while preserving its audio quality. This method is based on an iterative decrease of the distance between the distribution of the signal and a target sparse distribution, under a perceptual constraint. We aim to show that the proposed approach is robust to audio coding and that the use of the sparsified signals improves the source separation, in comparison with the original sources. In this work, the analysis is made only in instantaneous mixtures and focused on voice sources.

Home telecare system using cable television plants--an experimental field trial.

PubMed

Lee, R G; Chen, H S; Lin, C C; Chang, K C; Chen, J H

2000-03-01

To solve the inconvenience of routine transportation of chronically ill and handicapped patients, this paper proposes a platform based on a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network in Taiwan designed to make a home telecare system feasible. The aim of this home telecare system is to combine biomedical data, including three-channel electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood pressure (BP), video, and audio into a National Television Standard Committee (NTSC) channel for communication between the patient and healthcare provider. Digitized biomedical data and output from medical devices can be further modulated to a second audio program (SAP) subchannel which can be used for second-language audio in NTSC television signals. For long-distance transmission, we translate the digital biomedical data into the frequency domain using frequency shift key (FSK) technology and insert this signal into an SAP band. The whole system has been implemented and tested. The results obtained using this system clearly demonstrated that real-time video, audio, and biomedical data transmission are very clear with a carrier-to-noise ratio up to 43 dB.

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

Shull, D.

This report documents the initial feasibility tests performed using a commercial acoustic emission instrument for the purpose of detecting beetles in Department of Energy 9975 shipping packages. The device selected for this testing was a commercial handheld instrument and probe developed for the detection of termites, weevils, beetles and other insect infestations in wooden structures, trees, plants and soil. The results of two rounds of testing are presented. The first tests were performed by the vendor using only the hand-held instrument’s indications and real-time operator analysis of the audio signal content. The second tests included hands-free positioning of the instrumentmore » probe and post-collection analysis of the recorded audio signal content including audio background comparisons. The test results indicate that the system is promising for detecting the presence of drugstore beetles, however, additional work would be needed to improve the ease of detection and to automate the signal processing to eliminate the need for human interpretation. Mechanisms for hands-free positioning of the probe and audio background discrimination are also necessary for reliable detection and to reduce potential operator dose in radiation environments.« less

The role of laryngoscopy in the diagnosis of spasmodic dysphonia.

PubMed

Daraei, Pedram; Villari, Craig R; Rubin, Adam D; Hillel, Alexander T; Hapner, Edie R; Klein, Adam M; Johns, Michael M

2014-03-01

Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) can be difficult to diagnose, and patients often see multiple physicians for many years before diagnosis. Improving the speed of diagnosis for individuals with SD may decrease the time to treatment and improve patient quality of life more quickly. To assess whether the diagnosis of SD can be accurately predicted through auditory cues alone without the assistance of visual cues offered by laryngoscopic examination. Single-masked, case-control study at a specialized referral center that included patients who underwent laryngoscopic examination as part of a multidisciplinary workup for dysphonia. Twenty-two patients were selected in total: 10 with SD, 5 with vocal tremor, and 7 controls without SD or vocal tremor. The laryngoscopic examination was recorded, deidentified, and edited to make 3 media clips for each patient: video alone, audio alone, and combined video and audio. These clips were randomized and presented to 3 fellowship-trained laryngologist raters (A.D.R., A.T.H., and A.M.K.), who established the most probable diagnosis for each clip. Intrarater and interrater reliability were evaluated using repeat clips incorporated in the presentations. We measured diagnostic accuracy for video-only, audio-only, and combined multimedia clips. These measures were established before data collection. Data analysis was accomplished with analysis of variance and Tukey honestly significant differences. Of patients with SD, diagnostic accuracy was 10%, 73%, and 73% for video-only, audio-only, and combined, respectively (P < .001, df = 2). Of patients with vocal tremor, diagnostic accuracy was 93%, 73%, and 100% for video-only, audio-only, and combined, respectively (P = .05, df = 2). Of the controls, diagnostic accuracy was 81%, 19%, and 62% for video-only, audio-only, and combined, respectively (P < .001, df = 2). The diagnosis of SD during examination is based primarily on auditory cues. Viewing combined audio and video clips afforded no change in diagnostic accuracy compared with audio alone. Laryngoscopy serves an important role in the diagnosis of SD by excluding other pathologic causes and identifying vocal tremor.

Efficient audio signal processing for embedded systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiu, Leung Kin

As mobile platforms continue to pack on more computational power, electronics manufacturers start to differentiate their products by enhancing the audio features. However, consumers also demand smaller devices that could operate for longer time, hence imposing design constraints. In this research, we investigate two design strategies that would allow us to efficiently process audio signals on embedded systems such as mobile phones and portable electronics. In the first strategy, we exploit properties of the human auditory system to process audio signals. We designed a sound enhancement algorithm to make piezoelectric loudspeakers sound ”richer" and "fuller." Piezoelectric speakers have a small form factor but exhibit poor response in the low-frequency region. In the algorithm, we combine psychoacoustic bass extension and dynamic range compression to improve the perceived bass coming out from the tiny speakers. We also developed an audio energy reduction algorithm for loudspeaker power management. The perceptually transparent algorithm extends the battery life of mobile devices and prevents thermal damage in speakers. This method is similar to audio compression algorithms, which encode audio signals in such a ways that the compression artifacts are not easily perceivable. Instead of reducing the storage space, however, we suppress the audio contents that are below the hearing threshold, therefore reducing the signal energy. In the second strategy, we use low-power analog circuits to process the signal before digitizing it. We designed an analog front-end for sound detection and implemented it on a field programmable analog array (FPAA). The system is an example of an analog-to-information converter. The sound classifier front-end can be used in a wide range of applications because programmable floating-gate transistors are employed to store classifier weights. Moreover, we incorporated a feature selection algorithm to simplify the analog front-end. A machine learning algorithm AdaBoost is used to select the most relevant features for a particular sound detection application. In this classifier architecture, we combine simple "base" analog classifiers to form a strong one. We also designed the circuits to implement the AdaBoost-based analog classifier.

Adaptation of child oral health education leaflets for Arabic migrants in Australia: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Arora, Amit; Al-Salti, Ibrahim; Murad, Hussam; Tran, Quang; Itaoui, Rhonda; Bhole, Sameer; Ajwani, Shilpi; Jones, Charlotte; Manohar, Narendar

2018-01-10

The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of Arabic-speaking mothers views on the usefulness of existing oral health education leaflets aimed at young children and also to record their views on the tailored versions of these leaflets. This qualitative study was nested within a large ongoing birth cohort study in South Western Sydney, Australia. Arabic-speaking mothers (n = 19) with young children were purposively selected and approached for a semi-structured interview. Two original English leaflets giving advice on young children's oral health were sent to mother's prior to the interview. On the day of interview, mothers were given simplified-English and Arabic versions of both the leaflets and were asked to compare the three versions. Interviews were audio-recorded, subsequently transcribed verbatim and analysed by thematic analysis. Ethical approval was obtained from Human Research Ethics Committees of the former Sydney South West Area Health Service, University of Sydney and Western Sydney University. Mothers reported that simplified English together with the Arabic version of the leaflets were useful sources of information. Although many mothers favoured the simplified version over original English leaflets, the majority favoured the leaflets in Arabic. Ideally, a "dual Arabic - simplified English leaflet" was preferred. The understanding of key health messages was optimised through a simple layout and visual images. There is a need to tailor oral health education leaflets for Arabic-speaking migrants. Producers of dental leaflets should also consider a "dual Arabic - simplified English leaflet" to improve oral health knowledge of Arabic-speaking migrants. The use of simple layout and pictures assists Arabic-speaking migrants to understand the content of dental leaflets.

Audio in Courseware: Design Knowledge Issues.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aarntzen, Diana

1993-01-01

Considers issues that need to be addressed when incorporating audio in courseware design. Topics discussed include functions of audio in courseware; the relationship between auditive and visual information; learner characteristics in relation to audio; events of instruction; and audio characteristics, including interactivity and speech technology.…

Audio-visual interactions in environment assessment.

PubMed

Preis, Anna; Kociński, Jędrzej; Hafke-Dys, Honorata; Wrzosek, Małgorzata

2015-08-01

The aim of the study was to examine how visual and audio information influences audio-visual environment assessment. Original audio-visual recordings were made at seven different places in the city of Poznań. Participants of the psychophysical experiments were asked to rate, on a numerical standardized scale, the degree of comfort they would feel if they were in such an environment. The assessments of audio-visual comfort were carried out in a laboratory in four different conditions: (a) audio samples only, (b) original audio-visual samples, (c) video samples only, and (d) mixed audio-visual samples. The general results of this experiment showed a significant difference between the investigated conditions, but not for all the investigated samples. There was a significant improvement in comfort assessment when visual information was added (in only three out of 7 cases), when conditions (a) and (b) were compared. On the other hand, the results show that the comfort assessment of audio-visual samples could be changed by manipulating the audio rather than the video part of the audio-visual sample. Finally, it seems, that people could differentiate audio-visual representations of a given place in the environment based rather of on the sound sources' compositions than on the sound level. Object identification is responsible for both landscape and soundscape grouping. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Evaluation of a multi-methods approach to the collection and dissemination of feedback on OSCE performance in dental education.

PubMed

Wardman, M J; Yorke, V C; Hallam, J L

2018-05-01

Feedback is an essential part of the learning process, and students expect their feedback to be personalised, meaningful and timely. Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) assessments allow examiners to observe students carefully over the course of a number of varied station types, across a number of clinical knowledge and skill domains. They therefore present an ideal opportunity to record detailed feedback which allows students to reflect on and improve their performance. This article outlines two methods by which OSCE feedback was collected and then disseminated to undergraduate dental students across 2-year groups in a UK dental school: (i) Individual written feedback comments made by examiners during the examination, (ii) General audio feedback recorded by groups of examiners immediately following the examination. Evaluation of the feedback was sought from students and staff examiners. A multi-methods approach utilising Likert questionnaire items (quantitative) and open-ended feedback questions (qualitative) was used. Data analysis explored student and staff perceptions of the audio and written feedback. A total of 131 students (response rate 68%) and 52 staff examiners (response rate 83%) completed questionnaires. Quantitative data analysis showed that the written and audio formats were reported as a meaningful source of feedback for learning by both students (93% written, 89% audio) and staff (96% written, 92% audio). Qualitative data revealed the complementary nature of both types of feedback. Written feedback gives specific, individual information whilst audio shares general observations and allows students to learn from others. The advantages, limitations and challenges of the feedback methods are discussed, leading to the development of an informed set of implementation guidelines. Written and audio feedback methods are valued by students and staff. It is proposed that these may be very easily applied to OSCEs running in other dental schools. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Flexible server architecture for resource-optimal presentation of Internet multimedia streams to the client

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boenisch, Holger; Froitzheim, Konrad

1999-12-01

The transfer of live media streams such as video and audio over the Internet is subject to several problems, static and dynamic by nature. Important quality of service (QoS) parameters do not only differ between various receivers depending on their network access, service provider, and nationality, the QoS is also variable in time. Moreover the installed receiver base is heterogeneous with respect to operating system, browser or client software, and browser version. We present a new concept for serving live media streams. It is not longer based on the current one-size-fits all paradigm, where the server offers just one stream. Our compresslet system takes the opposite approach: it builds media streams `to order' and `just in time'. Every client subscribing to a media stream uses a servlet loaded into the media server to generate a tailored data stream for his resources and constraints. The server is designed such that commonly used components for media streams are computed once. The compresslets use these prefabricated components, code additional data if necessary, and construct the data stream based on the dynamic available QoS and other client constraints. A client-specific encoding leads to resource- optimal presentation that is especially useful for the presentation of complex multimedia documents on a variety of output devices.

47 CFR 73.403 - Digital audio broadcasting service requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Digital audio broadcasting service requirements... SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES Digital Audio Broadcasting § 73.403 Digital audio broadcasting service requirements. (a) Broadcast radio stations using IBOC must transmit at least one over-the-air digital audio...

47 CFR 73.403 - Digital audio broadcasting service requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Digital audio broadcasting service requirements... SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES Digital Audio Broadcasting § 73.403 Digital audio broadcasting service requirements. (a) Broadcast radio stations using IBOC must transmit at least one over-the-air digital audio...

47 CFR 73.403 - Digital audio broadcasting service requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Digital audio broadcasting service requirements... SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES Digital Audio Broadcasting § 73.403 Digital audio broadcasting service requirements. (a) Broadcast radio stations using IBOC must transmit at least one over-the-air digital audio...

47 CFR 73.403 - Digital audio broadcasting service requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Digital audio broadcasting service requirements... SERVICES RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES Digital Audio Broadcasting § 73.403 Digital audio broadcasting service requirements. (a) Broadcast radio stations using IBOC must transmit at least one over-the-air digital audio...

A real-time device for converting Doppler ultrasound audio signals into fluid flow velocity

PubMed Central

Hogeman, Cynthia S.; Koch, Dennis W.; Krishnan, Anandi; Momen, Afsana; Leuenberger, Urs A.

2010-01-01

A Doppler signal converter has been developed to facilitate cardiovascular and exercise physiology research. This device directly converts audio signals from a clinical Doppler ultrasound imaging system into a real-time analog signal that accurately represents blood flow velocity and is easily recorded by any standard data acquisition system. This real-time flow velocity signal, when simultaneously recorded with other physiological signals of interest, permits the observation of transient flow response to experimental interventions in a manner not possible when using standard Doppler imaging devices. This converted flow velocity signal also permits a more robust and less subjective analysis of data in a fraction of the time required by previous analytic methods. This signal converter provides this capability inexpensively and requires no modification of either the imaging or data acquisition system. PMID:20173048

Extraterrestrial sound for planetaria: A pedagogical study.

PubMed

Leighton, T G; Banda, N; Berges, B; Joseph, P F; White, P R

2016-08-01

The purpose of this project was to supply an acoustical simulation device to a local planetarium for use in live shows aimed at engaging and inspiring children in science and engineering. The device plays audio simulations of estimates of the sounds produced by natural phenomena to accompany audio-visual presentations and live shows about Venus, Mars, and Titan. Amongst the simulated noise are the sounds of thunder, wind, and cryo-volcanoes. The device can also modify the speech of the presenter (or audience member) in accordance with the underlying physics to reproduce those vocalizations as if they had been produced on the world under discussion. Given that no time series recordings exist of sounds from other worlds, these sounds had to be simulated. The goal was to ensure that the audio simulations were delivered in time for a planetarium's launch show to enable the requested outreach to children. The exercise has also allowed an explanation of the science and engineering behind the creation of the sounds. This has been achieved for young children, and also for older students and undergraduates, who could then debate the limitations of that method.

A realization of sound focused personal audio system using acoustic contrast control.

PubMed

Chang, Ji-Ho; Lee, Chan-Hui; Park, Jin-Young; Kim, Yang-Hann

2009-04-01

A personal audio system that does not use earphone or any wire would have great interest and potential impact on the audio industries. In this study, a line array speaker system is used to localize sound in the listening zone. The contrast control [Choi, J.-W. and Kim, Y.-H. (2002). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 111, 1695-1700] is applied, which is a method to make acoustically bright zone around the user and acoustically dark zone in other regions by maximizing the ratio of acoustic potential energy density between the bright and the dark zone. This ratio is regarded as acoustic contrast, analogous with what is used for optical devices. For the evaluation of the performance of acoustic contrast control, experiments are performed and the results are compared with those of uncontrolled case and time reversal array.

Speech vs. singing: infants choose happier sounds

PubMed Central

Corbeil, Marieve; Trehub, Sandra E.; Peretz, Isabelle

2013-01-01

Infants prefer speech to non-vocal sounds and to non-human vocalizations, and they prefer happy-sounding speech to neutral speech. They also exhibit an interest in singing, but there is little knowledge of their relative interest in speech and singing. The present study explored infants' attention to unfamiliar audio samples of speech and singing. In Experiment 1, infants 4–13 months of age were exposed to happy-sounding infant-directed speech vs. hummed lullabies by the same woman. They listened significantly longer to the speech, which had considerably greater acoustic variability and expressiveness, than to the lullabies. In Experiment 2, infants of comparable age who heard the lyrics of a Turkish children's song spoken vs. sung in a joyful/happy manner did not exhibit differential listening. Infants in Experiment 3 heard the happily sung lyrics of the Turkish children's song vs. a version that was spoken in an adult-directed or affectively neutral manner. They listened significantly longer to the sung version. Overall, happy voice quality rather than vocal mode (speech or singing) was the principal contributor to infant attention, regardless of age. PMID:23805119

A Fluid Mechanics Hypercourse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fay, James A.; Sonwalkar, Nishikant

1996-05-01

This CD-ROM is designed to accompany James Fay's Introduction to Fluid Mechanics. An enhanced hypermedia version of the textbook, it offers a number of ways to explore the fluid mechanics domain. These include a complete hypertext version of the original book, physical-experiment video clips, excerpts from external references, audio annotations, colored graphics, review questions, and progressive hints for solving problems. Throughout, the authors provide expert guidance in navigating the typed links so that students do not get lost in the learning process. System requirements: Macintosh with 68030 or greater processor and with at least 16 Mb of RAM. Operating System 6.0.4 or later for 680x0 processor and System 7.1.2 or later for Power-PC. CD-ROM drive with 256- color capability. Preferred display 14 inches or above (SuperVGA with 1 megabyte of VRAM). Additional system font software: Computer Modern postscript fonts (CM/PS Screen Fonts, CMBSY10, and CMTT10) and Adobe Type Manager (ATM 3.0 or later). James A. Fay is Professor Emeritus and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT.

Blind source separation and localization using microphone arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Longji

The blind source separation and localization problem for audio signals is studied using microphone arrays. Pure delay mixtures of source signals typically encountered in outdoor environments are considered. Our proposed approach utilizes the subspace methods, including multiple signal classification (MUSIC) and estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance techniques (ESPRIT) algorithms, to estimate the directions of arrival (DOAs) of the sources from the collected mixtures. Since audio signals are generally considered broadband, the DOA estimates at frequencies with the large sum of squared amplitude values are combined to obtain the final DOA estimates. Using the estimated DOAs, the corresponding mixing and demixing matrices are computed, and the source signals are recovered using the inverse short time Fourier transform. Subspace methods take advantage of the spatial covariance matrix of the collected mixtures to achieve robustness to noise. While the subspace methods have been studied for localizing radio frequency signals, audio signals have their special properties. For instance, they are nonstationary, naturally broadband and analog. All of these make the separation and localization for the audio signals more challenging. Moreover, our algorithm is essentially equivalent to the beamforming technique, which suppresses the signals in unwanted directions and only recovers the signals in the estimated DOAs. Several crucial issues related to our algorithm and their solutions have been discussed, including source number estimation, spatial aliasing, artifact filtering, different ways of mixture generation, and source coordinate estimation using multiple arrays. Additionally, comprehensive simulations and experiments have been conducted to examine various aspects of the algorithm. Unlike the existing blind source separation and localization methods, which are generally time consuming, our algorithm needs signal mixtures of only a short duration and therefore supports real-time implementation.

Visual Image Sensor Organ Replacement: Implementation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maluf, A. David (Inventor)

2011-01-01

Method and system for enhancing or extending visual representation of a selected region of a visual image, where visual representation is interfered with or distorted, by supplementing a visual signal with at least one audio signal having one or more audio signal parameters that represent one or more visual image parameters, such as vertical and/or horizontal location of the region; region brightness; dominant wavelength range of the region; change in a parameter value that characterizes the visual image, with respect to a reference parameter value; and time rate of change in a parameter value that characterizes the visual image. Region dimensions can be changed to emphasize change with time of a visual image parameter.

Enhanced audio-visual interactions in the auditory cortex of elderly cochlear-implant users.

PubMed

Schierholz, Irina; Finke, Mareike; Schulte, Svenja; Hauthal, Nadine; Kantzke, Christoph; Rach, Stefan; Büchner, Andreas; Dengler, Reinhard; Sandmann, Pascale

2015-10-01

Auditory deprivation and the restoration of hearing via a cochlear implant (CI) can induce functional plasticity in auditory cortical areas. How these plastic changes affect the ability to integrate combined auditory (A) and visual (V) information is not yet well understood. In the present study, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to examine whether age, temporary deafness and altered sensory experience with a CI can affect audio-visual (AV) interactions in post-lingually deafened CI users. Young and elderly CI users and age-matched NH listeners performed a speeded response task on basic auditory, visual and audio-visual stimuli. Regarding the behavioral results, a redundant signals effect, that is, faster response times to cross-modal (AV) than to both of the two modality-specific stimuli (A, V), was revealed for all groups of participants. Moreover, in all four groups, we found evidence for audio-visual integration. Regarding event-related responses (ERPs), we observed a more pronounced visual modulation of the cortical auditory response at N1 latency (approximately 100 ms after stimulus onset) in the elderly CI users when compared with young CI users and elderly NH listeners. Thus, elderly CI users showed enhanced audio-visual binding which may be a consequence of compensatory strategies developed due to temporary deafness and/or degraded sensory input after implantation. These results indicate that the combination of aging, sensory deprivation and CI facilitates the coupling between the auditory and the visual modality. We suggest that this enhancement in multisensory interactions could be used to optimize auditory rehabilitation, especially in elderly CI users, by the application of strong audio-visually based rehabilitation strategies after implant switch-on. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The power of digital audio in interactive instruction: An unexploited medium

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

Pratt, J.; Trainor, M.

1989-01-01

Widespread use of audio in computer-based training (CBT) occurred with the advent of the interactive videodisc technology. This paper discusses the alternative of digital audio, which, unlike videodisc audio, enables one to rapidly revise the audio used in the CBT and which may be used in nonvideo CBT applications as well. We also discuss techniques used in audio script writing, editing, and production. Results from evaluations indicate a high degree of user satisfaction. 4 refs.

47 CFR 11.51 - EAS code and Attention Signal Transmission requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... Message (EOM) codes using the EAS Protocol. The Attention Signal must precede any emergency audio message... audio messages. No Attention Signal is required for EAS messages that do not contain audio programming... EAS messages in the main audio channel. All DAB stations shall also transmit EAS messages on all audio...

47 CFR 11.51 - EAS code and Attention Signal Transmission requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Message (EOM) codes using the EAS Protocol. The Attention Signal must precede any emergency audio message... audio messages. No Attention Signal is required for EAS messages that do not contain audio programming... EAS messages in the main audio channel. All DAB stations shall also transmit EAS messages on all audio...

47 CFR 11.51 - EAS code and Attention Signal Transmission requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Message (EOM) codes using the EAS Protocol. The Attention Signal must precede any emergency audio message... audio messages. No Attention Signal is required for EAS messages that do not contain audio programming... EAS messages in the main audio channel. All DAB stations shall also transmit EAS messages on all audio...

Communicative Competence in Audio Classrooms: A Position Paper for the CADE 1991 Conference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burge, Liz

Classroom practitioners need to move their attention away from the technological and logistical competencies required for audio conferencing (AC) to the required communicative competencies in order to advance their skills in handling the psychodynamics of audio virtual classrooms which include audio alone and audio with graphics. While the…

The Audio Description as a Physics Teaching Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cozendey, Sabrina; Costa, Maria da Piedade

2016-01-01

This study analyses the use of audio description in teaching physics concepts, aiming to determine the variables that influence the understanding of the concept. One education resource was audio described. For make the audio description the screen was freezing. The video with and without audio description should be presented to students, so that…

A third-order class-D amplifier with and without ripple compensation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cox, Stephen M.; du Toit Mouton, H.

2018-06-01

We analyse the nonlinear behaviour of a third-order class-D amplifier, and demonstrate the remarkable effectiveness of the recently introduced ripple compensation (RC) technique in reducing the audio distortion of the device. The amplifier converts an input audio signal to a high-frequency train of rectangular pulses, whose widths are modulated according to the input signal (pulse-width modulation) and employs negative feedback. After determining the steady-state operating point for constant input and calculating its stability, we derive a small-signal model (SSM), which yields in closed form the transfer function relating (infinitesimal) input and output disturbances. This SSM shows how the RC technique is able to linearise the small-signal response of the device. We extend this SSM through a fully nonlinear perturbation calculation of the dynamics of the amplifier, based on the disparity in time scales between the pulse train and the audio signal. We obtain the nonlinear response of the amplifier to a general audio signal, avoiding the linearisation inherent in the SSM; we thereby more precisely quantify the reduction in distortion achieved through RC. Finally, simulations corroborate our theoretical predictions and illustrate the dramatic deterioration in performance that occurs when the amplifier is operated in an unstable regime. The perturbation calculation is rather general, and may be adapted to quantify the way in which other nonlinear negative-feedback pulse-modulated devices track a time-varying input signal that slowly modulates the system parameters.

Audio-Visual Temporal Recalibration Can be Constrained by Content Cues Regardless of Spatial Overlap.

PubMed

Roseboom, Warrick; Kawabe, Takahiro; Nishida, Shin'ya

2013-01-01

It has now been well established that the point of subjective synchrony for audio and visual events can be shifted following exposure to asynchronous audio-visual presentations, an effect often referred to as temporal recalibration. Recently it was further demonstrated that it is possible to concurrently maintain two such recalibrated estimates of audio-visual temporal synchrony. However, it remains unclear precisely what defines a given audio-visual pair such that it is possible to maintain a temporal relationship distinct from other pairs. It has been suggested that spatial separation of the different audio-visual pairs is necessary to achieve multiple distinct audio-visual synchrony estimates. Here we investigated if this is necessarily true. Specifically, we examined whether it is possible to obtain two distinct temporal recalibrations for stimuli that differed only in featural content. Using both complex (audio visual speech; see Experiment 1) and simple stimuli (high and low pitch audio matched with either vertically or horizontally oriented Gabors; see Experiment 2) we found concurrent, and opposite, recalibrations despite there being no spatial difference in presentation location at any point throughout the experiment. This result supports the notion that the content of an audio-visual pair alone can be used to constrain distinct audio-visual synchrony estimates regardless of spatial overlap.

Audio-Visual Temporal Recalibration Can be Constrained by Content Cues Regardless of Spatial Overlap

PubMed Central

Roseboom, Warrick; Kawabe, Takahiro; Nishida, Shin’Ya

2013-01-01

It has now been well established that the point of subjective synchrony for audio and visual events can be shifted following exposure to asynchronous audio-visual presentations, an effect often referred to as temporal recalibration. Recently it was further demonstrated that it is possible to concurrently maintain two such recalibrated estimates of audio-visual temporal synchrony. However, it remains unclear precisely what defines a given audio-visual pair such that it is possible to maintain a temporal relationship distinct from other pairs. It has been suggested that spatial separation of the different audio-visual pairs is necessary to achieve multiple distinct audio-visual synchrony estimates. Here we investigated if this is necessarily true. Specifically, we examined whether it is possible to obtain two distinct temporal recalibrations for stimuli that differed only in featural content. Using both complex (audio visual speech; see Experiment 1) and simple stimuli (high and low pitch audio matched with either vertically or horizontally oriented Gabors; see Experiment 2) we found concurrent, and opposite, recalibrations despite there being no spatial difference in presentation location at any point throughout the experiment. This result supports the notion that the content of an audio-visual pair alone can be used to constrain distinct audio-visual synchrony estimates regardless of spatial overlap. PMID:23658549

47 CFR 73.322 - FM stereophonic sound transmission standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... transmission, modulation of the carrier by audio components within the baseband range of 50 Hz to 15 kHz shall... the carrier by audio components within the audio baseband range of 23 kHz to 99 kHz shall not exceed... method described in (a), must limit the modulation of the carrier by audio components within the audio...

47 CFR 73.322 - FM stereophonic sound transmission standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... transmission, modulation of the carrier by audio components within the baseband range of 50 Hz to 15 kHz shall... the carrier by audio components within the audio baseband range of 23 kHz to 99 kHz shall not exceed... method described in (a), must limit the modulation of the carrier by audio components within the audio...

47 CFR 73.322 - FM stereophonic sound transmission standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... transmission, modulation of the carrier by audio components within the baseband range of 50 Hz to 15 kHz shall... the carrier by audio components within the audio baseband range of 23 kHz to 99 kHz shall not exceed... method described in (a), must limit the modulation of the carrier by audio components within the audio...

47 CFR 73.322 - FM stereophonic sound transmission standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... transmission, modulation of the carrier by audio components within the baseband range of 50 Hz to 15 kHz shall... the carrier by audio components within the audio baseband range of 23 kHz to 99 kHz shall not exceed... method described in (a), must limit the modulation of the carrier by audio components within the audio...

Video content parsing based on combined audio and visual information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tong; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

1999-08-01

While previous research on audiovisual data segmentation and indexing primarily focuses on the pictorial part, significant clues contained in the accompanying audio flow are often ignored. A fully functional system for video content parsing can be achieved more successfully through a proper combination of audio and visual information. By investigating the data structure of different video types, we present tools for both audio and visual content analysis and a scheme for video segmentation and annotation in this research. In the proposed system, video data are segmented into audio scenes and visual shots by detecting abrupt changes in audio and visual features, respectively. Then, the audio scene is categorized and indexed as one of the basic audio types while a visual shot is presented by keyframes and associate image features. An index table is then generated automatically for each video clip based on the integration of outputs from audio and visual analysis. It is shown that the proposed system provides satisfying video indexing results.

Securing Digital Audio using Complex Quadratic Map

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suryadi, MT; Satria Gunawan, Tjandra; Satria, Yudi

2018-03-01

In This digital era, exchanging data are common and easy to do, therefore it is vulnerable to be attacked and manipulated from unauthorized parties. One data type that is vulnerable to attack is digital audio. So, we need data securing method that is not vulnerable and fast. One of the methods that match all of those criteria is securing the data using chaos function. Chaos function that is used in this research is complex quadratic map (CQM). There are some parameter value that causing the key stream that is generated by CQM function to pass all 15 NIST test, this means that the key stream that is generated using this CQM is proven to be random. In addition, samples of encrypted digital sound when tested using goodness of fit test are proven to be uniform, so securing digital audio using this method is not vulnerable to frequency analysis attack. The key space is very huge about 8.1×l031 possible keys and the key sensitivity is very small about 10-10, therefore this method is also not vulnerable against brute-force attack. And finally, the processing speed for both encryption and decryption process on average about 450 times faster that its digital audio duration.

Long-Term Animal Observation by Wireless Sensor Networks with Sound Recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Ning-Han; Wu, Chen-An; Hsieh, Shu-Ju

Due to wireless sensor networks can transmit data wirelessly and can be disposed easily, they are used in the wild to monitor the change of environment. However, the lifetime of sensor is limited by the battery, especially when the monitored data type is audio, the lifetime is very short due to a huge amount of data transmission. By intuition, sensor mote analyzes the sensed data and decides not to deliver them to server that can reduce the expense of energy. Nevertheless, the ability of sensor mote is not powerful enough to work on complicated methods. Therefore, it is an urgent issue to design a method to keep analyzing speed and accuracy under the restricted memory and processor. This research proposed an embedded audio processing module in the sensor mote to extract and analyze audio features in advance. Then, through the estimation of likelihood of observed animal sound by the frequencies distribution, only the interesting audio data are sent back to server. The prototype of WSN system is built and examined in the wild to observe frogs. According to the results of experiments, the energy consumed by sensors through our method can be reduced effectively to prolong the observing time of animal detecting sensors.

MEG dual scanning: a procedure to study real-time auditory interaction between two persons

PubMed Central

Baess, Pamela; Zhdanov, Andrey; Mandel, Anne; Parkkonen, Lauri; Hirvenkari, Lotta; Mäkelä, Jyrki P.; Jousmäki, Veikko; Hari, Riitta

2012-01-01

Social interactions fill our everyday life and put strong demands on our brain function. However, the possibilities for studying the brain basis of social interaction are still technically limited, and even modern brain imaging studies of social cognition typically monitor just one participant at a time. We present here a method to connect and synchronize two faraway neuromagnetometers. With this method, two participants at two separate sites can interact with each other through a stable real-time audio connection with minimal delay and jitter. The magnetoencephalographic (MEG) and audio recordings of both laboratories are accurately synchronized for joint offline analysis. The concept can be extended to connecting multiple MEG devices around the world. As a proof of concept of the MEG-to-MEG link, we report the results of time-sensitive recordings of cortical evoked responses to sounds delivered at laboratories separated by 5 km. PMID:22514530

Recognition and characterization of unstructured environmental sounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Selina

2011-12-01

Environmental sounds are what we hear everyday, or more generally sounds that surround us ambient or background audio. Humans utilize both vision and hearing to respond to their surroundings, a capability still quite limited in machine processing. The first step toward achieving multimodal input applications is the ability to process unstructured audio and recognize audio scenes (or environments). Such ability would have applications in content analysis and mining of multimedia data or improving robustness in context aware applications through multi-modality, such as in assistive robotics, surveillances, or mobile device-based services. The goal of this thesis is on the characterization of unstructured environmental sounds for understanding and predicting the context surrounding of an agent or device. Most research on audio recognition has focused primarily on speech and music. Less attention has been paid to the challenges and opportunities for using audio to characterize unstructured audio. My research focuses on investigating challenging issues in characterizing unstructured environmental audio and to develop novel algorithms for modeling the variations of the environment. The first step in building a recognition system for unstructured auditory environment was to investigate on techniques and audio features for working with such audio data. We begin by performing a study that explore suitable features and the feasibility of designing an automatic environment recognition system using audio information. In my initial investigation to explore the feasibility of designing an automatic environment recognition system using audio information, I have found that traditional recognition and feature extraction for audio were not suitable for environmental sound, as they lack any type of structures, unlike those of speech and music which contain formantic and harmonic structures, thus dispelling the notion that traditional speech and music recognition techniques can simply be used for realistic environmental sound. Natural unstructured environment sounds contain a large variety of sounds, which are in fact noise-like and are not effectively modeled by Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) or other commonly-used audio features, e.g. energy, zero-crossing, etc. Due to the lack of appropriate features that is suitable for environmental audio and to achieve a more effective representation, I proposed a specialized feature extraction algorithm for environmental sounds that utilizes the matching pursuit (MP) algorithm to learn the inherent structure of each type of sounds, which we called MP-features. MP-features have shown to capture and represent sounds from different sources and different ranges, where frequency domain features (e.g., MFCCs) fail and can be advantageous when combining with MFCCs to improve the overall performance. The third component leads to our investigation on modeling and detecting the background audio. One of the goals of this research is to characterize an environment. Since many events would blend into the background, I wanted to look for a way to achieve a general model for any particular environment. Once we have an idea of the background, it will enable us to identify foreground events even if we havent seen these events before. Therefore, the next step is to investigate into learning the audio background model for each environment type, despite the occurrences of different foreground events. In this work, I presented a framework for robust audio background modeling, which includes learning the models for prediction, data knowledge and persistent characteristics of the environment. This approach has the ability to model the background and detect foreground events as well as the ability to verify whether the predicted background is indeed the background or a foreground event that protracts for a longer period of time. In this work, I also investigated the use of a semi-supervised learning technique to exploit and label new unlabeled audio data. The final components of my thesis will involve investigating on learning sound structures for generalization and applying the proposed ideas to context aware applications. The inherent nature of environmental sound is noisy and contains relatively large amounts of overlapping events between different environments. Environmental sounds contain large variances even within a single environment type, and frequently, there are no divisible or clear boundaries between some types. Traditional methods of classification are generally not robust enough to handle classes with overlaps. This audio, hence, requires representation by complex models. Using deep learning architecture provides a way to obtain a generative model-based method for classification. Specifically, I considered the use of Deep Belief Networks (DBNs) to model environmental audio and investigate its applicability with noisy data to improve robustness and generalization. A framework was proposed using composite-DBNs to discover high-level representations and to learn a hierarchical structure for different acoustic environments in a data-driven fashion. Experimental results on real data sets demonstrate its effectiveness over traditional methods with over 90% accuracy on recognition for a high number of environmental sound types.

Optimal Window and Lattice in Gabor Transform. Application to Audio Analysis.

PubMed

Lachambre, Helene; Ricaud, Benjamin; Stempfel, Guillaume; Torrésani, Bruno; Wiesmeyr, Christoph; Onchis-Moaca, Darian

2015-01-01

This article deals with the use of optimal lattice and optimal window in Discrete Gabor Transform computation. In the case of a generalized Gaussian window, extending earlier contributions, we introduce an additional local window adaptation technique for non-stationary signals. We illustrate our approach and the earlier one by addressing three time-frequency analysis problems to show the improvements achieved by the use of optimal lattice and window: close frequencies distinction, frequency estimation and SNR estimation. The results are presented, when possible, with real world audio signals.

Risk Factors for Sexual Aggression in Young Men: An Expansion of the Confluence Model

PubMed Central

Abbey, Antonia; Jacques-Tiura, Angela J.; LeBreton, James M.

2011-01-01

There are many explanations for high rates of sexual aggression, with no one theory dominating the field. This study extends past research by evaluating an expanded version of the confluence model with a community sample. One hour audio computer-assisted self-interviews were completed by 470 young single men. Using structural equation analyses, delinquency, hostile masculinity, impersonal sex, and misperception of women’s sexual cues were positively and directly associated with the number of sexually aggressive acts committed. There were also indirect effects of childhood victimization, personality traits associated with subclinical levels of psychopathy, and alcohol consumption. These findings demonstrate the usefulness of the confluence model, as well as the importance of broadening this theory to include additional constructs. PMID:21678429

Factors affecting accuracy in the Developmental Eye Movement Test measurement for Cantonese-speaking children.

PubMed

Pang, Peter C; Lam, Carly S; Woo, George C

2010-09-01

This study aims to determine the factors affecting the accuracy in the Developmental Eye Movement (DEM) test measurement for Cantonese-speaking children. The voices of 10 Cantonese-speaking children (aged between six and eight years) undertaking the vertical test (40 numbers) of the DEM test were recorded on a digital audio recorder. These voice clips were assessed by an experienced examiner to give the DEM test times. The examiner repeated the measurement five times for each voice clip and completed all 10 voice clips from the 10 children. The average of a single measurement, the mean of two, the mean of three and the mean of five repeated measurements were then compared. Five experienced and five inexperienced examiners of the DEM test were asked to record the results from five Cantonese-speaking children by listening to the playback of prerecorded audio clips. The deviation of the results from the preset values between the two groups was compared. There is no difference between the single measurement and those obtained by mean of two, three, four or five. Both experienced and inexperienced examiners obtained a higher deviation from the preset values in the adjusted compared with the non-adjusted times in both vertical and horizontal times. Experienced examiners measured the vertical times and adjusted vertical times significantly closer to the preset values than the inexperienced examiners (paired t-test, p < 0.05). The DEM test needs to be measured only once for an accurate time measurement. Inaccurate assessment of 'reading errors' in the DEM test can increase the inaccuracy of the adjusted times. It is suggested that an audio recording of the test be made to allow reassessment of reading errors. Experience in using the DEM test yields a more accurate DEM measurement as errors are detected more easily.

Development of the ISS EMU Dashboard Software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bernard, Craig; Hill, Terry R.

2011-01-01

The EMU (Extra-Vehicular Mobility Unit) Dashboard was developed at NASA s Johnson Space Center to aid in real-time mission support for the ISS (International Space Station) and Shuttle EMU space suit by time synchronizing down-linked video, space suit data and audio from the mission control audio loops. Once the input streams are synchronized and recorded, the data can be replayed almost instantly and has proven invaluable in understanding in-flight hardware anomalies and playing back information conveyed by the crew to missions control and the back room support. This paper will walk through the development from an engineer s idea brought to life by an intern to real time mission support and how this tool is evolving today and its challenges to support EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activities) and human exploration in the 21st century.

Revealing the ecological content of long-duration audio-recordings of the environment through clustering and visualisation.

PubMed

Phillips, Yvonne F; Towsey, Michael; Roe, Paul

2018-01-01

Audio recordings of the environment are an increasingly important technique to monitor biodiversity and ecosystem function. While the acquisition of long-duration recordings is becoming easier and cheaper, the analysis and interpretation of that audio remains a significant research area. The issue addressed in this paper is the automated reduction of environmental audio data to facilitate ecological investigations. We describe a method that first reduces environmental audio to vectors of acoustic indices, which are then clustered. This can reduce the audio data by six to eight orders of magnitude yet retain useful ecological information. We describe techniques to visualise sequences of cluster occurrence (using for example, diel plots, rose plots) that assist interpretation of environmental audio. Colour coding acoustic clusters allows months and years of audio data to be visualised in a single image. These techniques are useful in identifying and indexing the contents of long-duration audio recordings. They could also play an important role in monitoring long-term changes in species abundance brought about by habitat degradation and/or restoration.

Revealing the ecological content of long-duration audio-recordings of the environment through clustering and visualisation

PubMed Central

Towsey, Michael; Roe, Paul

2018-01-01

Audio recordings of the environment are an increasingly important technique to monitor biodiversity and ecosystem function. While the acquisition of long-duration recordings is becoming easier and cheaper, the analysis and interpretation of that audio remains a significant research area. The issue addressed in this paper is the automated reduction of environmental audio data to facilitate ecological investigations. We describe a method that first reduces environmental audio to vectors of acoustic indices, which are then clustered. This can reduce the audio data by six to eight orders of magnitude yet retain useful ecological information. We describe techniques to visualise sequences of cluster occurrence (using for example, diel plots, rose plots) that assist interpretation of environmental audio. Colour coding acoustic clusters allows months and years of audio data to be visualised in a single image. These techniques are useful in identifying and indexing the contents of long-duration audio recordings. They could also play an important role in monitoring long-term changes in species abundance brought about by habitat degradation and/or restoration. PMID:29494629

Holographic disk with high data transfer rate: its application to an audio response memory.

PubMed

Kubota, K; Ono, Y; Kondo, M; Sugama, S; Nishida, N; Sakaguchi, M

1980-03-15

This paper describes a memory realized with a high data transfer rate using the holographic parallel-processing function and its application to an audio response system that supplies many audio messages to many terminals simultaneously. Digitalized audio messages are recorded as tiny 1-D Fourier transform holograms on a holographic disk. A hologram recorder and a hologram reader were constructed to test and demonstrate the holographic audio response memory feasibility. Experimental results indicate the potentiality of an audio response system with a 2000-word vocabulary and 250-Mbit/sec bit transfer rate.

Video as a technology for interpersonal communications: a new perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whittaker, Steve

1995-03-01

Some of the most challenging multimedia applications have involved real- time conferencing, using audio and video to support interpersonal communication. Here we re-examine assumptions about the role, importance and implementation of video information in such systems. Rather than focussing on novel technologies, we present evaluation data relevant to both the classes of real-time multimedia applications we should develop and their design and implementation. Evaluations of videoconferencing systems show that previous work has overestimated the importance of video at the expense of audio. This has strong implications for the implementation of bandwidth allocation and synchronization. Furthermore our recent studies of workplace interaction show that prior work has neglected another potentially vital function of visual information: in assessing the communication availability of others. In this new class of application, rather than providing a supplement to audio information, visual information is used to promote the opportunistic communications that are prevalent in face-to-face settings. We discuss early experiments with such connection applications and identify outstanding design and implementation issues. Finally we examine a different class of application 'video-as-data', where the video image is used to transmit information about the work objects themselves, rather than information about interactants.

Audio signal analysis for tool wear monitoring in sheet metal stamping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ubhayaratne, Indivarie; Pereira, Michael P.; Xiang, Yong; Rolfe, Bernard F.

2017-02-01

Stamping tool wear can significantly degrade product quality, and hence, online tool condition monitoring is a timely need in many manufacturing industries. Even though a large amount of research has been conducted employing different sensor signals, there is still an unmet demand for a low-cost easy to set up condition monitoring system. Audio signal analysis is a simple method that has the potential to meet this demand, but has not been previously used for stamping process monitoring. Hence, this paper studies the existence and the significance of the correlation between emitted sound signals and the wear state of sheet metal stamping tools. The corrupting sources generated by the tooling of the stamping press and surrounding machinery have higher amplitudes compared to that of the sound emitted by the stamping operation itself. Therefore, a newly developed semi-blind signal extraction technique was employed as a pre-processing technique to mitigate the contribution of these corrupting sources. The spectral analysis results of the raw and extracted signals demonstrate a significant qualitative relationship between wear progression and the emitted sound signature. This study lays the basis for employing low-cost audio signal analysis in the development of a real-time industrial tool condition monitoring system.

Audio-Tactile Integration in Congenitally and Late Deaf Cochlear Implant Users

PubMed Central

Nava, Elena; Bottari, Davide; Villwock, Agnes; Fengler, Ineke; Büchner, Andreas; Lenarz, Thomas; Röder, Brigitte

2014-01-01

Several studies conducted in mammals and humans have shown that multisensory processing may be impaired following congenital sensory loss and in particular if no experience is achieved within specific early developmental time windows known as sensitive periods. In this study we investigated whether basic multisensory abilities are impaired in hearing-restored individuals with deafness acquired at different stages of development. To this aim, we tested congenitally and late deaf cochlear implant (CI) recipients, age-matched with two groups of hearing controls, on an audio-tactile redundancy paradigm, in which reaction times to unimodal and crossmodal redundant signals were measured. Our results showed that both congenitally and late deaf CI recipients were able to integrate audio-tactile stimuli, suggesting that congenital and acquired deafness does not prevent the development and recovery of basic multisensory processing. However, we found that congenitally deaf CI recipients had a lower multisensory gain compared to their matched controls, which may be explained by their faster responses to tactile stimuli. We discuss this finding in the context of reorganisation of the sensory systems following sensory loss and the possibility that these changes cannot be “rewired” through auditory reafferentation. PMID:24918766

Audio-tactile integration in congenitally and late deaf cochlear implant users.

PubMed

Nava, Elena; Bottari, Davide; Villwock, Agnes; Fengler, Ineke; Büchner, Andreas; Lenarz, Thomas; Röder, Brigitte

2014-01-01

Several studies conducted in mammals and humans have shown that multisensory processing may be impaired following congenital sensory loss and in particular if no experience is achieved within specific early developmental time windows known as sensitive periods. In this study we investigated whether basic multisensory abilities are impaired in hearing-restored individuals with deafness acquired at different stages of development. To this aim, we tested congenitally and late deaf cochlear implant (CI) recipients, age-matched with two groups of hearing controls, on an audio-tactile redundancy paradigm, in which reaction times to unimodal and crossmodal redundant signals were measured. Our results showed that both congenitally and late deaf CI recipients were able to integrate audio-tactile stimuli, suggesting that congenital and acquired deafness does not prevent the development and recovery of basic multisensory processing. However, we found that congenitally deaf CI recipients had a lower multisensory gain compared to their matched controls, which may be explained by their faster responses to tactile stimuli. We discuss this finding in the context of reorganisation of the sensory systems following sensory loss and the possibility that these changes cannot be "rewired" through auditory reafferentation.

Electrophysiological evidence for Audio-visuo-lingual speech integration.

PubMed

Treille, Avril; Vilain, Coriandre; Schwartz, Jean-Luc; Hueber, Thomas; Sato, Marc

2018-01-31

Recent neurophysiological studies demonstrate that audio-visual speech integration partly operates through temporal expectations and speech-specific predictions. From these results, one common view is that the binding of auditory and visual, lipread, speech cues relies on their joint probability and prior associative audio-visual experience. The present EEG study examined whether visual tongue movements integrate with relevant speech sounds, despite little associative audio-visual experience between the two modalities. A second objective was to determine possible similarities and differences of audio-visual speech integration between unusual audio-visuo-lingual and classical audio-visuo-labial modalities. To this aim, participants were presented with auditory, visual, and audio-visual isolated syllables, with the visual presentation related to either a sagittal view of the tongue movements or a facial view of the lip movements of a speaker, with lingual and facial movements previously recorded by an ultrasound imaging system and a video camera. In line with previous EEG studies, our results revealed an amplitude decrease and a latency facilitation of P2 auditory evoked potentials in both audio-visual-lingual and audio-visuo-labial conditions compared to the sum of unimodal conditions. These results argue against the view that auditory and visual speech cues solely integrate based on prior associative audio-visual perceptual experience. Rather, they suggest that dynamic and phonetic informational cues are sharable across sensory modalities, possibly through a cross-modal transfer of implicit articulatory motor knowledge. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-Resolution Audio with Inaudible High-Frequency Components Induces a Relaxed Attentional State without Conscious Awareness.

PubMed

Kuribayashi, Ryuma; Nittono, Hiroshi

2017-01-01

High-resolution audio has a higher sampling frequency and a greater bit depth than conventional low-resolution audio such as compact disks. The higher sampling frequency enables inaudible sound components (above 20 kHz) that are cut off in low-resolution audio to be reproduced. Previous studies of high-resolution audio have mainly focused on the effect of such high-frequency components. It is known that alpha-band power in a human electroencephalogram (EEG) is larger when the inaudible high-frequency components are present than when they are absent. Traditionally, alpha-band EEG activity has been associated with arousal level. However, no previous studies have explored whether sound sources with high-frequency components affect the arousal level of listeners. The present study examined this possibility by having 22 participants listen to two types of a 400-s musical excerpt of French Suite No. 5 by J. S. Bach (on cembalo, 24-bit quantization, 192 kHz A/D sampling), with or without inaudible high-frequency components, while performing a visual vigilance task. High-alpha (10.5-13 Hz) and low-beta (13-20 Hz) EEG powers were larger for the excerpt with high-frequency components than for the excerpt without them. Reaction times and error rates did not change during the task and were not different between the excerpts. The amplitude of the P3 component elicited by target stimuli in the vigilance task increased in the second half of the listening period for the excerpt with high-frequency components, whereas no such P3 amplitude change was observed for the other excerpt without them. The participants did not distinguish between these excerpts in terms of sound quality. Only a subjective rating of inactive pleasantness after listening was higher for the excerpt with high-frequency components than for the other excerpt. The present study shows that high-resolution audio that retains high-frequency components has an advantage over similar and indistinguishable digital sound sources in which such components are artificially cut off, suggesting that high-resolution audio with inaudible high-frequency components induces a relaxed attentional state without conscious awareness.

Subjective evaluation and electroacoustic theoretical validation of a new approach to audio upmixing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Usher, John S.

Audio signal processing systems for converting two-channel (stereo) recordings to four or five channels are increasingly relevant. These audio upmixers can be used with conventional stereo sound recordings and reproduced with multichannel home theatre or automotive loudspeaker audio systems to create a more engaging and natural-sounding listening experience. This dissertation discusses existing approaches to audio upmixing for recordings of musical performances and presents specific design criteria for a system to enhance spatial sound quality. A new upmixing system is proposed and evaluated according to these criteria and a theoretical model for its behavior is validated using empirical measurements. The new system removes short-term correlated components from two electronic audio signals using a pair of adaptive filters, updated according to a frequency domain implementation of the normalized-least-means-square algorithm. The major difference of the new system with all extant audio upmixers is that unsupervised time-alignment of the input signals (typically, by up to +/-10 ms) as a function of frequency (typically, using a 1024-band equalizer) is accomplished due to the non-minimum phase adaptive filter. Two new signals are created from the weighted difference of the inputs, and are then radiated with two loudspeakers behind the listener. According to the consensus in the literature on the effect of interaural correlation on auditory image formation, the self-orthogonalizing properties of the algorithm ensure minimal distortion of the frontal source imagery and natural-sounding, enveloping reverberance (ambiance) imagery. Performance evaluation of the new upmix system was accomplished in two ways: Firstly, using empirical electroacoustic measurements which validate a theoretical model of the system; and secondly, with formal listening tests which investigated auditory spatial imagery with a graphical mapping tool and a preference experiment. Both electroacoustic and subjective methods investigated system performance with a variety of test stimuli for solo musical performances reproduced using a loudspeaker in an orchestral concert-hall and recorded using different microphone techniques. The objective and subjective evaluations combined with a comparative study with two commercial systems demonstrate that the proposed system provides a new, computationally practical, high sound quality solution to upmixing.

Investigating the quality of video consultations performed using fourth generation (4G) mobile telecommunications.

PubMed

Caffery, Liam J; Smith, Anthony C

2015-09-01

The use of fourth-generation (4G) mobile telecommunications to provide real-time video consultations were investigated in this study with the aims of determining if 4G is a suitable telecommunications technology; and secondly, to identify if variation in perceived audio and video quality were due to underlying network performance. Three patient end-points that used 4G Internet connections were evaluated. Consulting clinicians recorded their perception of audio and video quality using the International Telecommunications Union scales during clinics with these patient end-points. These scores were used to calculate a mean opinion score (MOS). The network performance metrics were obtained for each session and the relationships between these metrics and the session's quality scores were tested. Clinicians scored the quality of 50 hours of video consultations, involving 36 clinic sessions. The MOS for audio was 4.1 ± 0.62 and the MOS for video was 4.4 ± 0.22. Image impairment and effort to listen were also rated favourably. There was no correlation between audio or video quality and the network metrics of packet loss or jitter. These findings suggest that 4G networks are an appropriate telecommunication technology to deliver real-time video consultations. Variations in quality scores observed during this study were not explained by the packet loss and jitter in the underlying network. Before establishing a telemedicine service, the performance of the 4G network should be assessed at the location of the proposed service. This is due to known variability in performance of 4G networks. © The Author(s) 2015.

78 FR 38093 - Seventh Meeting: RTCA Special Committee 226, Audio Systems and Equipment

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-25

... Committee 226, Audio Systems and Equipment AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). ACTION: Meeting Notice of RTCA Special Committee 226, Audio Systems and Equipment. SUMMARY... 226, Audio Systems and Equipment [[Page 38094

47 CFR 73.403 - Digital audio broadcasting service requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... programming stream at no direct charge to listeners. In addition, a broadcast radio station must simulcast its analog audio programming on one of its digital audio programming streams. The DAB audio programming... analog programming service currently provided to listeners. (b) Emergency information. The emergency...

High-Fidelity Piezoelectric Audio Device

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woodward, Stanley E.; Fox, Robert L.; Bryant, Robert G.

2003-01-01

ModalMax is a very innovative means of harnessing the vibration of a piezoelectric actuator to produce an energy efficient low-profile device with high-bandwidth high-fidelity audio response. The piezoelectric audio device outperforms many commercially available speakers made using speaker cones. The piezoelectric device weighs substantially less (4 g) than the speaker cones which use magnets (10 g). ModalMax devices have extreme fabrication simplicity. The entire audio device is fabricated by lamination. The simplicity of the design lends itself to lower cost. The piezoelectric audio device can be used without its acoustic chambers and thereby resulting in a very low thickness of 0.023 in. (0.58 mm). The piezoelectric audio device can be completely encapsulated, which makes it very attractive for use in wet environments. Encapsulation does not significantly alter the audio response. Its small size (see Figure 1) is applicable to many consumer electronic products, such as pagers, portable radios, headphones, laptop computers, computer monitors, toys, and electronic games. The audio device can also be used in automobile or aircraft sound systems.

Health Insurance Data

MedlinePlus

... define geographic areas and how geography changes over time. Latest Information ... audio files from the Census Bureau, including "Profile America," a daily series of bite-sized statistics, placing current data in ...

Subjective audio quality evaluation of embedded-optimization-based distortion precompensation algorithms.

PubMed

Defraene, Bruno; van Waterschoot, Toon; Diehl, Moritz; Moonen, Marc

2016-07-01

Subjective audio quality evaluation experiments have been conducted to assess the performance of embedded-optimization-based precompensation algorithms for mitigating perceptible linear and nonlinear distortion in audio signals. It is concluded with statistical significance that the perceived audio quality is improved by applying an embedded-optimization-based precompensation algorithm, both in case (i) nonlinear distortion and (ii) a combination of linear and nonlinear distortion is present. Moreover, a significant positive correlation is reported between the collected subjective and objective PEAQ audio quality scores, supporting the validity of using PEAQ to predict the impact of linear and nonlinear distortion on the perceived audio quality.

47 CFR 73.9005 - Compliance requirements for covered demodulator products: Audio.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... products: Audio. 73.9005 Section 73.9005 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED....9005 Compliance requirements for covered demodulator products: Audio. Except as otherwise provided in §§ 73.9003(a) or 73.9004(a), covered demodulator products shall not output the audio portions of...

36 CFR 1002.12 - Audio disturbances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Audio disturbances. 1002.12... RECREATION § 1002.12 Audio disturbances. (a) The following are prohibited: (1) Operating motorized equipment or machinery such as an electric generating plant, motor vehicle, motorized toy, or an audio device...

36 CFR 1002.12 - Audio disturbances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Audio disturbances. 1002.12... RECREATION § 1002.12 Audio disturbances. (a) The following are prohibited: (1) Operating motorized equipment or machinery such as an electric generating plant, motor vehicle, motorized toy, or an audio device...

50 CFR 27.72 - Audio equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Audio equipment. 27.72 Section 27.72 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) THE... Audio equipment. The operation or use of audio devices including radios, recording and playback devices...

36 CFR 1002.12 - Audio disturbances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Audio disturbances. 1002.12... RECREATION § 1002.12 Audio disturbances. (a) The following are prohibited: (1) Operating motorized equipment or machinery such as an electric generating plant, motor vehicle, motorized toy, or an audio device...

36 CFR 1002.12 - Audio disturbances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Audio disturbances. 1002.12... RECREATION § 1002.12 Audio disturbances. (a) The following are prohibited: (1) Operating motorized equipment or machinery such as an electric generating plant, motor vehicle, motorized toy, or an audio device...

50 CFR 27.72 - Audio equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 8 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Audio equipment. 27.72 Section 27.72 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) THE... Audio equipment. The operation or use of audio devices including radios, recording and playback devices...

50 CFR 27.72 - Audio equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Audio equipment. 27.72 Section 27.72 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) THE... Audio equipment. The operation or use of audio devices including radios, recording and playback devices...

47 CFR 87.483 - Audio visual warning systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Audio visual warning systems. 87.483 Section 87... AVIATION SERVICES Stations in the Radiodetermination Service § 87.483 Audio visual warning systems. An audio visual warning system (AVWS) is a radar-based obstacle avoidance system. AVWS activates...

Alpha EEG Frontal Asymmetries during Audiovisual Perception in Cochlear Implant Users. A Study with Bilateral and Unilateral Young Users.

PubMed

Maglione, A G; Scorpecci, A; Malerba, P; Marsella, P; Giannantonio, S; Colosimo, A; Babiloni, F; Vecchiato, G

2015-01-01

The aim of the present study is to investigate the variations of the electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha rhythm in order to measure the appreciation of bilateral and unilateral young cochlear implant users during the observation of a musical cartoon. The cartoon has been modified for the generation of three experimental conditions: one with the original audio, another one with a distorted sound and, finally, a mute version. The EEG data have been recorded during the observation of the cartoons in the three experimental conditions. The frontal alpha EEG imbalance has been calculated as a measure of motivation and pleasantness to be compared across experimental populations and conditions. The EEG frontal imbalance of the alpha rhythm showed significant variations during the perception of the different cartoons. In particular, the pattern of activation of normal-hearing children is very similar to the one elicited by the bilateral implanted patients. On the other hand, results related to the unilateral subjects do not present significant variations of the imbalance index across the three cartoons. The presented results suggest that the unilateral patients could not appreciate the difference in the audio format as well as bilaterally implanted and normal hearing subjects. The frontal alpha EEG imbalance is a useful tool to detect the differences in the appreciation of audiovisual stimuli in cochlear implant patients.

Transmission of live laparoscopic surgery over the Internet2.

PubMed

Damore, L J; Johnson, J A; Dixon, R S; Iverson, M A; Ellison, E C; Melvin, W S

1999-11-01

Video broadcasting of surgical procedures is an important tool for education, training, and consultation. Current video conferencing systems are expensive and time-consuming and require preplanning. Real-time Internet video is known for its poor quality and relies on the equipment and the speed of the connection. The Internet2, a new high-speed (up to 2,048 Mbps), large bandwidth data network presently connects more than 100 universities and corporations. We have successfully used the Internet2 to broadcast the first real-time, high-quality audio/video program from a live laparoscopic operation to distant points. Video output of the laparoscopic camera and audio from a wireless microphone were broadcast to distant sites using a proprietary, PC-based implementation of H.320 video conferencing over a TCP/IP network connected to the Internet2. The receiving sites participated in two-way, real-time video and audio communications and graded the quality of the signal they received. On August 25, 1998, a laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication was transmitted to Internet2 stations in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and to an Internet station in New York. On September 28 and 29, 1998, we broadcast laparoscopic operations throughout both days to the Internet2 Fall Conference in San Francisco, California. Most recently, on February 24, 1999, we transmitted a laparoscopic Heller myotomy to the Abilene Network Launch Event in Washington, DC. The Internet2 is currently able to provide the bandwidth needed for a turn-key video conferencing system with high-resolution, real-time transmission. The system could be used for a variety of teaching and educational programs for experienced surgeons, residents, and medical students.

47 CFR 10.520 - Common audio attention signal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Common audio attention signal. 10.520 Section... Equipment Requirements § 10.520 Common audio attention signal. A Participating CMS Provider and equipment manufacturers may only market devices for public use under part 10 that include an audio attention signal that...

36 CFR 2.12 - Audio disturbances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Audio disturbances. 2.12... RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 2.12 Audio disturbances. (a) The following are prohibited..., motorized toy, or an audio device, such as a radio, television set, tape deck or musical instrument, in a...

36 CFR 2.12 - Audio disturbances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Audio disturbances. 2.12... RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 2.12 Audio disturbances. (a) The following are prohibited..., motorized toy, or an audio device, such as a radio, television set, tape deck or musical instrument, in a...

37 CFR 202.22 - Acquisition and deposit of unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs. 202.22 Section 202.22 Patents, Trademarks, and... REGISTRATION OF CLAIMS TO COPYRIGHT § 202.22 Acquisition and deposit of unpublished audio and audiovisual... and copies of unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs by the Library of Congress under...

36 CFR § 1002.12 - Audio disturbances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2013-07-01 2012-07-01 true Audio disturbances. § 1002.12... RECREATION § 1002.12 Audio disturbances. (a) The following are prohibited: (1) Operating motorized equipment or machinery such as an electric generating plant, motor vehicle, motorized toy, or an audio device...

47 CFR 10.520 - Common audio attention signal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Common audio attention signal. 10.520 Section... Equipment Requirements § 10.520 Common audio attention signal. A Participating CMS Provider and equipment manufacturers may only market devices for public use under part 10 that include an audio attention signal that...

37 CFR 202.22 - Acquisition and deposit of unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs. 202.22 Section 202.22 Patents, Trademarks, and... REGISTRATION OF CLAIMS TO COPYRIGHT § 202.22 Acquisition and deposit of unpublished audio and audiovisual... and copies of unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs by the Library of Congress under...

36 CFR 2.12 - Audio disturbances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Audio disturbances. 2.12... RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 2.12 Audio disturbances. (a) The following are prohibited..., motorized toy, or an audio device, such as a radio, television set, tape deck or musical instrument, in a...

37 CFR 202.22 - Acquisition and deposit of unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs. 202.22 Section 202.22 Patents, Trademarks, and... REGISTRATION OF CLAIMS TO COPYRIGHT § 202.22 Acquisition and deposit of unpublished audio and audiovisual... and copies of unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs by the Library of Congress under...

36 CFR 2.12 - Audio disturbances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Audio disturbances. 2.12... RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 2.12 Audio disturbances. (a) The following are prohibited..., motorized toy, or an audio device, such as a radio, television set, tape deck or musical instrument, in a...

47 CFR 11.33 - EAS Decoder.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

...: (1) Inputs. Decoders must have the capability to receive at least two audio inputs from EAS... externally, at least two minutes of audio or text messages. A decoder manufactured without an internal means to record and store audio or text must be equipped with a means (such as an audio or digital jack...

47 CFR 11.33 - EAS Decoder.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

...: (1) Inputs. Decoders must have the capability to receive at least two audio inputs from EAS... externally, at least two minutes of audio or text messages. A decoder manufactured without an internal means to record and store audio or text must be equipped with a means (such as an audio or digital jack...

47 CFR 10.520 - Common audio attention signal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Common audio attention signal. 10.520 Section... Equipment Requirements § 10.520 Common audio attention signal. A Participating CMS Provider and equipment manufacturers may only market devices for public use under part 10 that include an audio attention signal that...

37 CFR 202.22 - Acquisition and deposit of unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs. 202.22 Section 202.22 Patents, Trademarks, and... REGISTRATION OF CLAIMS TO COPYRIGHT § 202.22 Acquisition and deposit of unpublished audio and audiovisual... and copies of unpublished audio and audiovisual transmission programs by the Library of Congress under...

47 CFR 10.520 - Common audio attention signal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Common audio attention signal. 10.520 Section... Equipment Requirements § 10.520 Common audio attention signal. A Participating CMS Provider and equipment manufacturers may only market devices for public use under part 10 that include an audio attention signal that...

47 CFR 11.33 - EAS Decoder.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

...: (1) Inputs. Decoders must have the capability to receive at least two audio inputs from EAS... externally, at least two minutes of audio or text messages. A decoder manufactured without an internal means to record and store audio or text must be equipped with a means (such as an audio or digital jack...

36 CFR 2.12 - Audio disturbances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Audio disturbances. 2.12... RESOURCE PROTECTION, PUBLIC USE AND RECREATION § 2.12 Audio disturbances. (a) The following are prohibited..., motorized toy, or an audio device, such as a radio, television set, tape deck or musical instrument, in a...

Advances in Audio-Based Systems to Monitor Patient Adherence and Inhaler Drug Delivery.

PubMed

Taylor, Terence E; Zigel, Yaniv; De Looze, Céline; Sulaiman, Imran; Costello, Richard W; Reilly, Richard B

2018-03-01

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide have asthma and COPD. Current medications to control these chronic respiratory diseases can be administered using inhaler devices, such as the pressurized metered dose inhaler and the dry powder inhaler. Provided that they are used as prescribed, inhalers can improve patient clinical outcomes and quality of life. Poor patient inhaler adherence (both time of use and user technique) is, however, a major clinical concern and is associated with poor disease control, increased hospital admissions, and increased mortality rates, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. There are currently limited methods available to health-care professionals to objectively and remotely monitor patient inhaler adherence. This review describes recent sensor-based technologies that use audio-based approaches that show promising opportunities for monitoring inhaler adherence in clinical practice. This review discusses how one form of sensor-based technology, audio-based monitoring systems, can provide clinically pertinent information regarding patient inhaler use over the course of treatment. Audio-based monitoring can provide health-care professionals with quantitative measurements of the drug delivery of inhalers, signifying a clear clinical advantage over other methods of assessment. Furthermore, objective audio-based adherence measures can improve the predictability of patient outcomes to treatment compared with current standard methods of adherence assessment used in clinical practice. Objective feedback on patient inhaler adherence can be used to personalize treatment to the patient, which may enhance precision medicine in the treatment of chronic respiratory diseases. Copyright © 2017 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Virtual classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlowicz, Michael

After four decades of perfecting techniques for communication with spacecraft on the way to other worlds, space scientists are now working on new ways to reach students in this one. In a partnership between NASA and the University of North Dakota (UND), scientists and engineers from both institutions will soon lead an experiment in Internet learning.Starting January 22, UND will offer a threemonth computerized course in telerobotics. Using RealAudio and CU-SeeMe channels of the Internet to allow real-time transmission of video and audio, instructors will teach college-and graduate-level students the fundamentals of the remote operation and control of a robot.

Real time simulation using position sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Isbell, William B. (Inventor); Taylor, Jason A. (Inventor); Studor, George F. (Inventor); Womack, Robert W. (Inventor); Hilferty, Michael F. (Inventor); Bacon, Bruce R. (Inventor)

2000-01-01

An interactive exercise system including exercise equipment having a resistance system, a speed sensor, a controller that varies the resistance setting of the exercise equipment, and a playback device for playing pre-recorded video and audio. The controller, operating in conjunction with speed information from the speed sensor and terrain information from media table files, dynamically varies the resistance setting of the exercise equipment in order to simulate varying degrees of difficulty while the playback device concurrently plays back the video and audio to create the simulation that the user is exercising in a natural setting such as a real-world exercise course.

Sounding ruins: reflections on the production of an 'audio drift'.

PubMed

Gallagher, Michael

2015-07-01

This article is about the use of audio media in researching places, which I term 'audio geography'. The article narrates some episodes from the production of an 'audio drift', an experimental environmental sound work designed to be listened to on a portable MP3 player whilst walking in a ruinous landscape. Reflecting on how this work functions, I argue that, as well as representing places, audio geography can shape listeners' attention and bodily movements, thereby reworking places, albeit temporarily. I suggest that audio geography is particularly apt for amplifying the haunted and uncanny qualities of places. I discuss some of the issues raised for research ethics, epistemology and spectral geographies.

Sounding ruins: reflections on the production of an ‘audio drift’

PubMed Central

Gallagher, Michael

2014-01-01

This article is about the use of audio media in researching places, which I term ‘audio geography’. The article narrates some episodes from the production of an ‘audio drift’, an experimental environmental sound work designed to be listened to on a portable MP3 player whilst walking in a ruinous landscape. Reflecting on how this work functions, I argue that, as well as representing places, audio geography can shape listeners’ attention and bodily movements, thereby reworking places, albeit temporarily. I suggest that audio geography is particularly apt for amplifying the haunted and uncanny qualities of places. I discuss some of the issues raised for research ethics, epistemology and spectral geographies. PMID:29708107

DETECTOR FOR MODULATED AND UNMODULATED SIGNALS

DOEpatents

Patterson, H.H.; Webber, G.H.

1959-08-25

An r-f signal-detecting device is described, which is embodied in a compact coaxial circuit principally comprising a detecting crystal diode and a modulating crystal diode connected in parallel. Incoming modulated r-f signals are demodulated by the detecting crystal diode to furnish an audio input to an audio amplifier. The detecting diode will not, however, produce an audio signal from an unmodulated r-f signal. In order that unmodulated signals may be detected, such incoming signals have a locally produced audio signal superimposed on them at the modulating crystal diode and then the"induced or artificially modulated" signal is reflected toward the detecting diode which in the process of demodulation produces an audio signal for the audio amplifier.

Speech information retrieval: a review

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

Hafen, Ryan P.; Henry, Michael J.

Audio is an information-rich component of multimedia. Information can be extracted from audio in a number of different ways, and thus there are several established audio signal analysis research fields. These fields include speech recognition, speaker recognition, audio segmentation and classification, and audio finger-printing. The information that can be extracted from tools and methods developed in these fields can greatly enhance multimedia systems. In this paper, we present the current state of research in each of the major audio analysis fields. The goal is to introduce enough back-ground for someone new in the field to quickly gain high-level understanding andmore » to provide direction for further study.« less

Content-based intermedia synchronization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Dong-Young; Sampath-Kumar, Srihari; Rangan, P. Venkat

1995-03-01

Inter-media synchronization methods developed until now have been based on syntactic timestamping of video frames and audio samples. These methods are not fully appropriate for the synchronization of multimedia objects which may have to be accessed individually by their contents, e.g. content-base data retrieval. We propose a content-based multimedia synchronization scheme in which a media stream is viewed as hierarchial composition of smaller objects which are logically structured based on the contents, and the synchronization is achieved by deriving temporal relations among logical units of media object. content-based synchronization offers several advantages such as, elimination of the need for time stamping, freedom from limitations of jitter, synchronization of independently captured media objects in video editing, and compensation for inherent asynchronies in capture times of video and audio.

A digital audio/video interleaving system. [for Shuttle Orbiter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richards, R. W.

1978-01-01

A method of interleaving an audio signal with its associated video signal for simultaneous transmission or recording, and the subsequent separation of the two signals, is described. Comparisons are made between the new audio signal interleaving system and the Skylab Pam audio/video interleaving system, pointing out improvements gained by using the digital audio/video interleaving system. It was found that the digital technique is the simplest, most effective and most reliable method for interleaving audio and/or other types of data into the video signal for the Shuttle Orbiter application. Details of the design of a multiplexer capable of accommodating two basic data channels, each consisting of a single 31.5-kb/s digital bit stream are given. An adaptive slope delta modulation system is introduced to digitize audio signals, producing a high immunity of work intelligibility to channel errors, primarily due to the robust nature of the delta-modulation algorithm.

Characteristics of audio and sub-audio telluric signals

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

Telford, W.M.

1977-06-01

Telluric current measurements in the audio and sub-audio frequency range, made in various parts of Canada and South America over the past four years, indicate that the signal amplitude is relatively uniform over 6 to 8 midday hours (LMT) except in Chile and that the signal anisotropy is reasonably constant in azimuth.

43 CFR 8365.2-2 - Audio devices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Audio devices. 8365.2-2 Section 8365.2-2..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RECREATION PROGRAMS VISITOR SERVICES Rules of Conduct § 8365.2-2 Audio devices. On... audio device such as a radio, television, musical instrument, or other noise producing device or...

43 CFR 8365.2-2 - Audio devices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Audio devices. 8365.2-2 Section 8365.2-2..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RECREATION PROGRAMS VISITOR SERVICES Rules of Conduct § 8365.2-2 Audio devices. On... audio device such as a radio, television, musical instrument, or other noise producing device or...

43 CFR 8365.2-2 - Audio devices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Audio devices. 8365.2-2 Section 8365.2-2..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RECREATION PROGRAMS VISITOR SERVICES Rules of Conduct § 8365.2-2 Audio devices. On... audio device such as a radio, television, musical instrument, or other noise producing device or...

43 CFR 8365.2-2 - Audio devices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Audio devices. 8365.2-2 Section 8365.2-2..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR RECREATION PROGRAMS VISITOR SERVICES Rules of Conduct § 8365.2-2 Audio devices. On... audio device such as a radio, television, musical instrument, or other noise producing device or...

78 FR 18416 - Sixth Meeting: RTCA Special Committee 226, Audio Systems and Equipment

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-26

... 226, Audio Systems and Equipment AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). ACTION: Meeting Notice of RTCA Special Committee 226, Audio Systems and Equipment. SUMMARY... 226, Audio Systems and Equipment. DATES: The meeting will be held April 15-17, 2013 from 9:00 a.m.-5...

Audio-Vision: Audio-Visual Interaction in Desktop Multimedia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daniels, Lee

Although sophisticated multimedia authoring applications are now available to amateur programmers, the use of audio in of these programs has been inadequate. Due to the lack of research in the use of audio in instruction, there are few resources to assist the multimedia producer in using sound effectively and efficiently. This paper addresses the…

Audio Frequency Analysis in Mobile Phones

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aguilar, Horacio Munguía

2016-01-01

A new experiment using mobile phones is proposed in which its audio frequency response is analyzed using the audio port for inputting external signal and getting a measurable output. This experiment shows how the limited audio bandwidth used in mobile telephony is the main cause of the poor speech quality in this service. A brief discussion is…

A Longitudinal, Quantitative Study of Student Attitudes towards Audio Feedback for Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parkes, Mitchell; Fletcher, Peter

2017-01-01

This paper reports on the findings of a three-year longitudinal study investigating the experiences of postgraduate level students who were provided with audio feedback for their assessment. Results indicated that students positively received audio feedback. Overall, students indicated a preference for audio feedback over written feedback. No…

Audio-Tutorial Instruction: A Strategy For Teaching Introductory College Geology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fenner, Peter; Andrews, Ted F.

The rationale of audio-tutorial instruction is discussed, and the history and development of the audio-tutorial botany program at Purdue University is described. Audio-tutorial programs in geology at eleven colleges and one school are described, illustrating several ways in which programs have been developed and integrated into courses. Programs…

Audio-video decision support for patients: the documentary genré as a basis for decision aids.

PubMed

Volandes, Angelo E; Barry, Michael J; Wood, Fiona; Elwyn, Glyn

2013-09-01

Decision support tools are increasingly using audio-visual materials. However, disagreement exists about the use of audio-visual materials as they may be subjective and biased. This is a literature review of the major texts for documentary film studies to extrapolate issues of objectivity and bias from film to decision support tools. The key features of documentary films are that they attempt to portray real events and that the attempted reality is always filtered through the lens of the filmmaker. The same key features can be said of decision support tools that use audio-visual materials. Three concerns arising from documentary film studies as they apply to the use of audio-visual materials in decision support tools include whose perspective matters (stakeholder bias), how to choose among audio-visual materials (selection bias) and how to ensure objectivity (editorial bias). Decision science needs to start a debate about how audio-visual materials are to be used in decision support tools. Simply because audio-visual materials may be subjective and open to bias does not mean that we should not use them. Methods need to be found to ensure consensus around balance and editorial control, such that audio-visual materials can be used. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Audio Motor Training at the Foot Level Improves Space Representation.

PubMed

Aggius-Vella, Elena; Campus, Claudio; Finocchietti, Sara; Gori, Monica

2017-01-01

Spatial representation is developed thanks to the integration of visual signals with the other senses. It has been shown that the lack of vision compromises the development of some spatial representations. In this study we tested the effect of a new rehabilitation device called ABBI (Audio Bracelet for Blind Interaction) to improve space representation. ABBI produces an audio feedback linked to body movement. Previous studies from our group showed that this device improves the spatial representation of space in early blind adults around the upper part of the body. Here we evaluate whether the audio motor feedback produced by ABBI can also improve audio spatial representation of sighted individuals in the space around the legs. Forty five blindfolded sighted subjects participated in the study, subdivided into three experimental groups. An audio space localization (front-back discrimination) task was performed twice by all groups of subjects before and after different kind of training conditions. A group (experimental) performed an audio-motor training with the ABBI device placed on their foot. Another group (control) performed a free motor activity without audio feedback associated with body movement. The other group (control) passively listened to the ABBI sound moved at foot level by the experimenter without producing any body movement. Results showed that only the experimental group, which performed the training with the audio-motor feedback, showed an improvement in accuracy for sound discrimination. No improvement was observed for the two control groups. These findings suggest that the audio-motor training with ABBI improves audio space perception also in the space around the legs in sighted individuals. This result provides important inputs for the rehabilitation of the space representations in the lower part of the body.

Audio Motor Training at the Foot Level Improves Space Representation

PubMed Central

Aggius-Vella, Elena; Campus, Claudio; Finocchietti, Sara; Gori, Monica

2017-01-01

Spatial representation is developed thanks to the integration of visual signals with the other senses. It has been shown that the lack of vision compromises the development of some spatial representations. In this study we tested the effect of a new rehabilitation device called ABBI (Audio Bracelet for Blind Interaction) to improve space representation. ABBI produces an audio feedback linked to body movement. Previous studies from our group showed that this device improves the spatial representation of space in early blind adults around the upper part of the body. Here we evaluate whether the audio motor feedback produced by ABBI can also improve audio spatial representation of sighted individuals in the space around the legs. Forty five blindfolded sighted subjects participated in the study, subdivided into three experimental groups. An audio space localization (front-back discrimination) task was performed twice by all groups of subjects before and after different kind of training conditions. A group (experimental) performed an audio-motor training with the ABBI device placed on their foot. Another group (control) performed a free motor activity without audio feedback associated with body movement. The other group (control) passively listened to the ABBI sound moved at foot level by the experimenter without producing any body movement. Results showed that only the experimental group, which performed the training with the audio-motor feedback, showed an improvement in accuracy for sound discrimination. No improvement was observed for the two control groups. These findings suggest that the audio-motor training with ABBI improves audio space perception also in the space around the legs in sighted individuals. This result provides important inputs for the rehabilitation of the space representations in the lower part of the body. PMID:29326564

Effectiveness and Comparison of Various Audio Distraction Aids in Management of Anxious Dental Paediatric Patients.

PubMed

Navit, Saumya; Johri, Nikita; Khan, Suleman Abbas; Singh, Rahul Kumar; Chadha, Dheera; Navit, Pragati; Sharma, Anshul; Bahuguna, Rachana

2015-12-01

Dental anxiety is a widespread phenomenon and a concern for paediatric dentistry. The inability of children to deal with threatening dental stimuli often manifests as behaviour management problems. Nowadays, the use of non-aversive behaviour management techniques is more advocated, which are more acceptable to parents, patients and practitioners. Therefore, this present study was conducted to find out which audio aid was the most effective in the managing anxious children. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of audio-distraction aids in reducing the anxiety of paediatric patients while undergoing various stressful and invasive dental procedures. The objectives were to ascertain whether audio distraction is an effective means of anxiety management and which type of audio aid is the most effective. A total number of 150 children, aged between 6 to 12 years, randomly selected amongst the patients who came for their first dental check-up, were placed in five groups of 30 each. These groups were the control group, the instrumental music group, the musical nursery rhymes group, the movie songs group and the audio stories group. The control group was treated under normal set-up & audio group listened to various audio presentations during treatment. Each child had four visits. In each visit, after the procedures was completed, the anxiety levels of the children were measured by the Venham's Picture Test (VPT), Venham's Clinical Rating Scale (VCRS) and pulse rate measurement with the help of pulse oximeter. A significant difference was seen between all the groups for the mean pulse rate, with an increase in subsequent visit. However, no significant difference was seen in the VPT & VCRS scores between all the groups. Audio aids in general reduced anxiety in comparison to the control group, and the most significant reduction in anxiety level was observed in the audio stories group. The conclusion derived from the present study was that audio distraction was effective in reducing anxiety and audio-stories were the most effective.

Asking the right questions to get the right answers: using cognitive interviews to review the acceptability, comprehension and clinical meaningfulness of patient self-report adverse event items in oncology patients.

PubMed

Holch, Patricia; Warrington, Lorraine; Potrata, Barbara; Ziegler, Lucy; Hector, Ceri; Keding, Ada; Harley, Clare; Absolom, Kate; Morris, Carolyn; Bamforth, Leon; Velikova, Galina

Standardized reporting of treatment-related adverse events (AE) is essential in clinical trials, usually achieved by using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) reported by clinicians. Patient-reported adverse events (PRAE) may add value to clinician assessments, providing patient perspective on subjective toxicity. We developed an online patient symptom report and self-management system for real-time reporting and managing AE during cancer treatment integrated with electronic patient records (eRAPID). As part of this program we developed a patient version of the CTCAE (version 4.0), rephrasing terminology into a self-report format. We explored patient understanding of these items via cognitive interviews. Sixty patients (33 female, 27 male) undergoing treatment were purposively sampled by age, gender and tumor group (median age 61.5, range 35-84, 12 breast, 12 gynecological, 13 colorectal, 12 lung and 11 renal). Twenty-one PRAE items were completed on a touch-screen computer. Subsequent audio-recorded cognitive interviews and thematic analysis explored patients' comprehension of items via verbal probing techniques during three interview rounds (n = 20 patients/round). In total 33 item amendments were made; 29% related to question comprehension, 68% response option and 3% order effects. These amendments to phrasing and language improved patient understanding but maintained CTCAE grading and key medical information. Changes were endorsed by members of a patient advisory group (N = 11). Item adaptations resulted in a bank of consistently interpreted self-report AE items for use in future research program. In-depth analysis of items through cognitive interviews is an important step towards developing an internationally valid system for PRAE, thus improving patient safety and experiences during cancer treatment.

Risk factors for sexual aggression in young men: an expansion of the confluence model.

PubMed

Abbey, Antonia; Jacques-Tiura, Angela J; LeBreton, James M

2011-01-01

There are many explanations for high rates of sexual aggression, with no one theory dominating the field. This study extends past research by evaluating an expanded version of the confluence model with a community sample. One-hour audio computer-assisted self-interviews were completed by 470 young single men. Using structural equation analyses, delinquency, hostile masculinity, impersonal sex, and misperception of women's sexual cues were positively and directly associated with the number of sexually aggressive acts committed. There were also indirect effects of childhood victimization, personality traits associated with subclinical levels of psychopathy, and alcohol consumption. These findings demonstrate the usefulness of the confluence model, as well as the importance of broadening this theory to include additional constructs. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Multiresolution analysis (discrete wavelet transform) through Daubechies family for emotion recognition in speech.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campo, D.; Quintero, O. L.; Bastidas, M.

2016-04-01

We propose a study of the mathematical properties of voice as an audio signal. This work includes signals in which the channel conditions are not ideal for emotion recognition. Multiresolution analysis- discrete wavelet transform - was performed through the use of Daubechies Wavelet Family (Db1-Haar, Db6, Db8, Db10) allowing the decomposition of the initial audio signal into sets of coefficients on which a set of features was extracted and analyzed statistically in order to differentiate emotional states. ANNs proved to be a system that allows an appropriate classification of such states. This study shows that the extracted features using wavelet decomposition are enough to analyze and extract emotional content in audio signals presenting a high accuracy rate in classification of emotional states without the need to use other kinds of classical frequency-time features. Accordingly, this paper seeks to characterize mathematically the six basic emotions in humans: boredom, disgust, happiness, anxiety, anger and sadness, also included the neutrality, for a total of seven states to identify.

Responding Effectively to Composition Students: Comparing Student Perceptions of Written and Audio Feedback

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bilbro, J.; Iluzada, C.; Clark, D. E.

2013-01-01

The authors compared student perceptions of audio and written feedback in order to assess what types of students may benefit from receiving audio feedback on their essays rather than written feedback. Many instructors previously have reported the advantages they see in audio feedback, but little quantitative research has been done on how the…

78 FR 57673 - Eighth Meeting: RTCA Special Committee 226, Audio Systems and Equipment

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-19

... Committee 226, Audio Systems and Equipment AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). ACTION: Meeting Notice of RTCA Special Committee 226, Audio Systems and Equipment. SUMMARY... Committee 226, Audio Systems and Equipment. DATES: The meeting will be held October 8-10, 2012 from 9:00 a.m...

77 FR 37732 - Fourteenth Meeting: RTCA Special Committee 224, Audio Systems and Equipment

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-22

... Committee 224, Audio Systems and Equipment AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). ACTION: Meeting Notice of RTCA Special Committee 224, Audio Systems and Equipment. SUMMARY... Committee 224, Audio Systems and Equipment. DATES: The meeting will be held July 11, 2012, from 10 a.m.-4 p...

76 FR 57923 - Establishment of Rules and Policies for the Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service in the 2310...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-19

... Rules and Policies for the Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service in the 2310-2360 MHz Frequency Band... Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) Second Report and Order. The information collection requirements were... of these rule sections. See Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) Second Report and Order...

The Use of Asynchronous Audio Feedback with Online RN-BSN Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

London, Julie E.

2013-01-01

The use of audio technology by online nursing educators is a recent phenomenon. Research has been conducted in the area of audio technology in different domains and populations, but very few researchers have focused on nursing. Preliminary results have indicated that using audio in place of text can increase student cognition and socialization.…

Computerized Audio-Visual Instructional Sequences (CAVIS): A Versatile System for Listening Comprehension in Foreign Language Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aleman-Centeno, Josefina R.

1983-01-01

Discusses the development and evaluation of CAVIS, which consists of an Apple microcomputer used with audiovisual dialogs. Includes research on the effects of three conditions: (1) computer with audio and visual, (2) computer with audio alone and (3) audio alone in short-term and long-term recall. (EKN)

Low-delay predictive audio coding for the HIVITS HDTV codec

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McParland, A. K.; Gilchrist, N. H. C.

1995-01-01

The status of work relating to predictive audio coding, as part of the European project on High Quality Video Telephone and HD(TV) Systems (HIVITS), is reported. The predictive coding algorithm is developed, along with six-channel audio coding and decoding hardware. Demonstrations of the audio codec operating in conjunction with the video codec, are given.

(abstract) Synthesis of Speaker Facial Movements to Match Selected Speech Sequences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scott, Kenneth C.

1994-01-01

We are developing a system for synthesizing image sequences the simulate the facial motion of a speaker. To perform this synthesis, we are pursuing two major areas of effort. We are developing the necessary computer graphics technology to synthesize a realistic image sequence of a person speaking selected speech sequences. Next, we are developing a model that expresses the relation between spoken phonemes and face/mouth shape. A subject is video taped speaking an arbitrary text that contains expression of the full list of desired database phonemes. The subject is video taped from the front speaking normally, recording both audio and video detail simultaneously. Using the audio track, we identify the specific video frames on the tape relating to each spoken phoneme. From this range we digitize the video frame which represents the extreme of mouth motion/shape. Thus, we construct a database of images of face/mouth shape related to spoken phonemes. A selected audio speech sequence is recorded which is the basis for synthesizing a matching video sequence; the speaker need not be the same as used for constructing the database. The audio sequence is analyzed to determine the spoken phoneme sequence and the relative timing of the enunciation of those phonemes. Synthesizing an image sequence corresponding to the spoken phoneme sequence is accomplished using a graphics technique known as morphing. Image sequence keyframes necessary for this processing are based on the spoken phoneme sequence and timing. We have been successful in synthesizing the facial motion of a native English speaker for a small set of arbitrary speech segments. Our future work will focus on advancement of the face shape/phoneme model and independent control of facial features.

Mini-Patt

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jenkins, Jimmy R.; Krockover, Gerald H.

1973-01-01

Describes a procedure that allows teachers to produce audio-tutorial instructional tapes suitable for their own classes in a short period of time, usually in about one to three hours for a thirty minute tape. (JR)

47 CFR 73.402 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Digital Audio Broadcasting § 73.402 Definitions. (a) DAB. Digital audio broadcast stations are those radio... into multiple channels for additional audio programming uses. (g) Datacasting. Subdividing the digital...

47 CFR 73.402 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... Digital Audio Broadcasting § 73.402 Definitions. (a) DAB. Digital audio broadcast stations are those radio... into multiple channels for additional audio programming uses. (g) Datacasting. Subdividing the digital...

47 CFR 73.402 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Digital Audio Broadcasting § 73.402 Definitions. (a) DAB. Digital audio broadcast stations are those radio... into multiple channels for additional audio programming uses. (g) Datacasting. Subdividing the digital...

47 CFR 73.402 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Digital Audio Broadcasting § 73.402 Definitions. (a) DAB. Digital audio broadcast stations are those radio... into multiple channels for additional audio programming uses. (g) Datacasting. Subdividing the digital...

The presentation of expert testimony via live audio-visual communication.

PubMed

Miller, R D

1991-01-01

As part of a national effort to improve efficiency in court procedures, the American Bar Association has recommended, on the basis of a number of pilot studies, increased use of current audio-visual technology, such as telephone and live video communication, to eliminate delays caused by unavailability of participants in both civil and criminal procedures. Although these recommendations were made to facilitate court proceedings, and for the convenience of attorneys and judges, they also have the potential to save significant time for clinical expert witnesses as well. The author reviews the studies of telephone testimony that were done by the American Bar Association and other legal research groups, as well as the experience in one state forensic evaluation and treatment center. He also reviewed the case law on the issue of remote testimony. He then presents data from a national survey of state attorneys general concerning the admissibility of testimony via audio-visual means, including video depositions. Finally, he concludes that the option to testify by telephone provides a significant savings in precious clinical time for forensic clinicians in public facilities, and urges that such clinicians work actively to convince courts and/or legislatures in states that do not permit such testimony (currently the majority), to consider accepting it, to improve the effective use of scarce clinical resources in public facilities.

Audio-visual biofeedback for respiratory-gated radiotherapy: Impact of audio instruction and audio-visual biofeedback on respiratory-gated radiotherapy

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

George, Rohini; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; Chung, Theodore D.

2006-07-01

Purpose: Respiratory gating is a commercially available technology for reducing the deleterious effects of motion during imaging and treatment. The efficacy of gating is dependent on the reproducibility within and between respiratory cycles during imaging and treatment. The aim of this study was to determine whether audio-visual biofeedback can improve respiratory reproducibility by decreasing residual motion and therefore increasing the accuracy of gated radiotherapy. Methods and Materials: A total of 331 respiratory traces were collected from 24 lung cancer patients. The protocol consisted of five breathing training sessions spaced about a week apart. Within each session the patients initially breathedmore » without any instruction (free breathing), with audio instructions and with audio-visual biofeedback. Residual motion was quantified by the standard deviation of the respiratory signal within the gating window. Results: Audio-visual biofeedback significantly reduced residual motion compared with free breathing and audio instruction. Displacement-based gating has lower residual motion than phase-based gating. Little reduction in residual motion was found for duty cycles less than 30%; for duty cycles above 50% there was a sharp increase in residual motion. Conclusions: The efficiency and reproducibility of gating can be improved by: incorporating audio-visual biofeedback, using a 30-50% duty cycle, gating during exhalation, and using displacement-based gating.« less

Comparing the Effects of Classroom Audio-Recording and Video-Recording on Preservice Teachers' Reflection of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergman, Daniel

2015-01-01

This study examined the effects of audio and video self-recording on preservice teachers' written reflections. Participants (n = 201) came from a secondary teaching methods course and its school-based (clinical) fieldwork. The audio group (n[subscript A] = 106) used audio recorders to monitor their teaching in fieldwork placements; the video group…

Transana Qualitative Video and Audio Analysis Software as a Tool for Teaching Intellectual Assessment Skills to Graduate Psychology Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rush, S. Craig

2014-01-01

This article draws on the author's experience using qualitative video and audio analysis, most notably through use of the Transana qualitative video and audio analysis software program, as an alternative method for teaching IQ administration skills to students in a graduate psychology program. Qualitative video and audio analysis may be useful for…

Development and Assessment of Web Courses That Use Streaming Audio and Video Technologies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ingebritsen, Thomas S.; Flickinger, Kathleen

Iowa State University, through a program called Project BIO (Biology Instructional Outreach), has been using RealAudio technology for about 2 years in college biology courses that are offered entirely via the World Wide Web. RealAudio is a type of streaming media technology that can be used to deliver audio content and a variety of other media…

Space Shuttle Orbiter audio subsystem. [to communication and tracking system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stewart, C. H.

1978-01-01

The selection of the audio multiplex control configuration for the Space Shuttle Orbiter audio subsystem is discussed and special attention is given to the evaluation criteria of cost, weight and complexity. The specifications and design of the subsystem are described and detail is given to configurations of the audio terminal and audio central control unit (ATU, ACCU). The audio input from the ACCU, at a signal level of -12.2 to 14.8 dBV, nominal range, at 1 kHz, was found to have balanced source impedance and a balanced local impedance of 6000 + or - 600 ohms at 1 kHz, dc isolated. The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) electroacoustic test laboratory, an audio engineering facility consisting of a collection of acoustic test chambers, analyzed problems of speaker and headset performance, multiplexed control data coupled with audio channels, and the Orbiter cabin acoustic effects on the operational performance of voice communications. This system allows technical management and project engineering to address key constraining issues, such as identifying design deficiencies of the headset interface unit and the assessment of the Orbiter cabin performance of voice communications, which affect the subsystem development.

Implementing Audio-CASI on Windows’ Platforms

PubMed Central

Cooley, Philip C.; Turner, Charles F.

2011-01-01

Audio computer-assisted self interviewing (Audio-CASI) technologies have recently been shown to provide important and sometimes dramatic improvements in the quality of survey measurements. This is particularly true for measurements requiring respondents to divulge highly sensitive information such as their sexual, drug use, or other sensitive behaviors. However, DOS-based Audio-CASI systems that were designed and adopted in the early 1990s have important limitations. Most salient is the poor control they provide for manipulating the video presentation of survey questions. This article reports our experiences adapting Audio-CASI to Microsoft Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 platforms. Overall, our Windows-based system provided the desired control over video presentation and afforded other advantages including compatibility with a much wider array of audio devices than our DOS-based Audio-CASI technologies. These advantages came at the cost of increased system requirements --including the need for both more RAM and larger hard disks. While these costs will be an issue for organizations converting large inventories of PCS to Windows Audio-CASI today, this will not be a serious constraint for organizations and individuals with small inventories of machines to upgrade or those purchasing new machines today. PMID:22081743

41 CFR 51-8.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... request. Such copies can take the form of paper copy, audio-visual materials, or machine readable materials (e.g., magnetic tape or disk), among others. (g) The term search includes all time spent looking... time spent resolving general legal or policy issues regarding the application of exemptions. [54 FR...

41 CFR 51-8.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... request. Such copies can take the form of paper copy, audio-visual materials, or machine readable materials (e.g., magnetic tape or disk), among others. (g) The term search includes all time spent looking... time spent resolving general legal or policy issues regarding the application of exemptions. [54 FR...

Audio Steganography with Embedded Text

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teck Jian, Chua; Chai Wen, Chuah; Rahman, Nurul Hidayah Binti Ab.; Hamid, Isredza Rahmi Binti A.

2017-08-01

Audio steganography is about hiding the secret message into the audio. It is a technique uses to secure the transmission of secret information or hide their existence. It also may provide confidentiality to secret message if the message is encrypted. To date most of the steganography software such as Mp3Stego and DeepSound use block cipher such as Advanced Encryption Standard or Data Encryption Standard to encrypt the secret message. It is a good practice for security. However, the encrypted message may become too long to embed in audio and cause distortion of cover audio if the secret message is too long. Hence, there is a need to encrypt the message with stream cipher before embedding the message into the audio. This is because stream cipher provides bit by bit encryption meanwhile block cipher provide a fixed length of bits encryption which result a longer output compare to stream cipher. Hence, an audio steganography with embedding text with Rivest Cipher 4 encryption cipher is design, develop and test in this project.

High capacity reversible watermarking for audio by histogram shifting and predicted error expansion.

PubMed

Wang, Fei; Xie, Zhaoxin; Chen, Zuo

2014-01-01

Being reversible, the watermarking information embedded in audio signals can be extracted while the original audio data can achieve lossless recovery. Currently, the few reversible audio watermarking algorithms are confronted with following problems: relatively low SNR (signal-to-noise) of embedded audio; a large amount of auxiliary embedded location information; and the absence of accurate capacity control capability. In this paper, we present a novel reversible audio watermarking scheme based on improved prediction error expansion and histogram shifting. First, we use differential evolution algorithm to optimize prediction coefficients and then apply prediction error expansion to output stego data. Second, in order to reduce location map bits length, we introduced histogram shifting scheme. Meanwhile, the prediction error modification threshold according to a given embedding capacity can be computed by our proposed scheme. Experiments show that this algorithm improves the SNR of embedded audio signals and embedding capacity, drastically reduces location map bits length, and enhances capacity control capability.

Audio-visual speech experience with age influences perceived audio-visual asynchrony in speech.

PubMed

Alm, Magnus; Behne, Dawn

2013-10-01

Previous research indicates that perception of audio-visual (AV) synchrony changes in adulthood. Possible explanations for these age differences include a decline in hearing acuity, a decline in cognitive processing speed, and increased experience with AV binding. The current study aims to isolate the effect of AV experience by comparing synchrony judgments from 20 young adults (20 to 30 yrs) and 20 normal-hearing middle-aged adults (50 to 60 yrs), an age range for which a decline of cognitive processing speed is expected to be minimal. When presented with AV stop consonant syllables with asynchronies ranging from 440 ms audio-lead to 440 ms visual-lead, middle-aged adults showed significantly less tolerance for audio-lead than young adults. Middle-aged adults also showed a greater shift in their point of subjective simultaneity than young adults. Natural audio-lead asynchronies are arguably more predictable than natural visual-lead asynchronies, and this predictability may render audio-lead thresholds more prone to experience-related fine-tuning.

WebGL and web audio software lightweight components for multimedia education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Xin; Yuksel, Kivanc; Skarbek, Władysław

2017-08-01

The paper presents the results of our recent work on development of contemporary computing platform DC2 for multimedia education usingWebGL andWeb Audio { the W3C standards. Using literate programming paradigm the WEBSA educational tools were developed. It offers for a user (student), the access to expandable collection of WEBGL Shaders and web Audio scripts. The unique feature of DC2 is the option of literate programming, offered for both, the author and the reader in order to improve interactivity to lightweightWebGL andWeb Audio components. For instance users can define: source audio nodes including synthetic sources, destination audio nodes, and nodes for audio processing such as: sound wave shaping, spectral band filtering, convolution based modification, etc. In case of WebGL beside of classic graphics effects based on mesh and fractal definitions, the novel image processing analysis by shaders is offered like nonlinear filtering, histogram of gradients, and Bayesian classifiers.

Design and implementation of an audio indicator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Shiyong; Li, Zhao; Li, Biqing

2017-04-01

This page proposed an audio indicator which designed by using C9014, LED by operational amplifier level indicator, the decimal count/distributor of CD4017. The experimental can control audibly neon and holiday lights through the signal. Input audio signal after C9014 composed of operational amplifier for power amplifier, the adjust potentiometer extraction amplification signal input voltage CD4017 distributors make its drive to count, then connect the LED display running situation of the circuit. This simple audio indicator just use only U1 and can produce two colors LED with the audio signal tandem come pursuit of the running effect, from LED display the running of the situation takes can understand the general audio signal. The variation in the audio and the frequency of the signal and the corresponding level size. In this light can achieve jump to change, slowly, atlas, lighting four forms, used in home, hotel, discos, theater, advertising and other fields, and a wide range of USES, rU1h life in a modern society.

Ultrasonic speech translator and communications system

DOEpatents

Akerman, M.A.; Ayers, C.W.; Haynes, H.D.

1996-07-23

A wireless communication system undetectable by radio frequency methods for converting audio signals, including human voice, to electronic signals in the ultrasonic frequency range, transmitting the ultrasonic signal by way of acoustical pressure waves across a carrier medium, including gases, liquids, or solids, and reconverting the ultrasonic acoustical pressure waves back to the original audio signal. The ultrasonic speech translator and communication system includes an ultrasonic transmitting device and an ultrasonic receiving device. The ultrasonic transmitting device accepts as input an audio signal such as human voice input from a microphone or tape deck. The ultrasonic transmitting device frequency modulates an ultrasonic carrier signal with the audio signal producing a frequency modulated ultrasonic carrier signal, which is transmitted via acoustical pressure waves across a carrier medium such as gases, liquids or solids. The ultrasonic receiving device converts the frequency modulated ultrasonic acoustical pressure waves to a frequency modulated electronic signal, demodulates the audio signal from the ultrasonic carrier signal, and conditions the demodulated audio signal to reproduce the original audio signal at its output. 7 figs.

Investigating Perceptual Biases, Data Reliability, and Data Discovery in a Methodology for Collecting Speech Errors From Audio Recordings.

PubMed

Alderete, John; Davies, Monica

2018-04-01

This work describes a methodology of collecting speech errors from audio recordings and investigates how some of its assumptions affect data quality and composition. Speech errors of all types (sound, lexical, syntactic, etc.) were collected by eight data collectors from audio recordings of unscripted English speech. Analysis of these errors showed that: (i) different listeners find different errors in the same audio recordings, but (ii) the frequencies of error patterns are similar across listeners; (iii) errors collected "online" using on the spot observational techniques are more likely to be affected by perceptual biases than "offline" errors collected from audio recordings; and (iv) datasets built from audio recordings can be explored and extended in a number of ways that traditional corpus studies cannot be.

Pre-recorded instructional audio vs. dispatchers' conversational assistance in telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation: A randomized controlled simulation study.

PubMed

Birkun, Alexei; Glotov, Maksim; Ndjamen, Herman Franklin; Alaiye, Esther; Adeleke, Temidara; Samarin, Sergey

2018-01-01

To assess the effectiveness of the telephone chest-compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guided by a pre-recorded instructional audio when compared with dispatcher-assisted resuscitation. It was a prospective, blind, randomised controlled study involving 109 medical students without previous CPR training. In a standardized mannequin scenario, after the step of dispatcher-assisted cardiac arrest recognition, the participants performed compression-only resuscitation guided over the telephone by either: (1) the pre-recorded instructional audio ( n =57); or (2) verbal dispatcher assistance ( n =52). The simulation video records were reviewed to assess the CPR performance using a 13-item checklist. The interval from call reception to the first compression, total number and rate of compressions, total number and duration of pauses after the first compression were also recorded. There were no significant differences between the recording-assisted and dispatcher-assisted groups based on the overall performance score (5.6±2.2 vs. 5.1±1.9, P >0.05) or individual criteria of the CPR performance checklist. The recording-assisted group demonstrated significantly shorter time interval from call receipt to the first compression (86.0±14.3 vs. 91.2±14.2 s, P <0.05), higher compression rate (94.9±26.4 vs. 89.1±32.8 min -1 ) and number of compressions provided (170.2±48.0 vs. 156.2±60.7). When provided by untrained persons in the simulated settings, the compression-only resuscitation guided by the pre-recorded instructional audio is no less efficient than dispatcher-assisted CPR. Future studies are warranted to further assess feasibility of using instructional audio aid as a potential alternative to dispatcher assistance.

Pre-recorded instructional audio vs. dispatchers’ conversational assistance in telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation: A randomized controlled simulation study

PubMed Central

Birkun, Alexei; Glotov, Maksim; Ndjamen, Herman Franklin; Alaiye, Esther; Adeleke, Temidara; Samarin, Sergey

2018-01-01

BACKGROUND: To assess the effectiveness of the telephone chest-compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guided by a pre-recorded instructional audio when compared with dispatcher-assisted resuscitation. METHODS: It was a prospective, blind, randomised controlled study involving 109 medical students without previous CPR training. In a standardized mannequin scenario, after the step of dispatcher-assisted cardiac arrest recognition, the participants performed compression-only resuscitation guided over the telephone by either: (1) the pre-recorded instructional audio (n=57); or (2) verbal dispatcher assistance (n=52). The simulation video records were reviewed to assess the CPR performance using a 13-item checklist. The interval from call reception to the first compression, total number and rate of compressions, total number and duration of pauses after the first compression were also recorded. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the recording-assisted and dispatcher-assisted groups based on the overall performance score (5.6±2.2 vs. 5.1±1.9, P>0.05) or individual criteria of the CPR performance checklist. The recording-assisted group demonstrated significantly shorter time interval from call receipt to the first compression (86.0±14.3 vs. 91.2±14.2 s, P<0.05), higher compression rate (94.9±26.4 vs. 89.1±32.8 min-1) and number of compressions provided (170.2±48.0 vs. 156.2±60.7). CONCLUSION: When provided by untrained persons in the simulated settings, the compression-only resuscitation guided by the pre-recorded instructional audio is no less efficient than dispatcher-assisted CPR. Future studies are warranted to further assess feasibility of using instructional audio aid as a potential alternative to dispatcher assistance.

Fuzzy Logic-Based Audio Pattern Recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malcangi, M.

2008-11-01

Audio and audio-pattern recognition is becoming one of the most important technologies to automatically control embedded systems. Fuzzy logic may be the most important enabling methodology due to its ability to rapidly and economically model such application. An audio and audio-pattern recognition engine based on fuzzy logic has been developed for use in very low-cost and deeply embedded systems to automate human-to-machine and machine-to-machine interaction. This engine consists of simple digital signal-processing algorithms for feature extraction and normalization, and a set of pattern-recognition rules manually tuned or automatically tuned by a self-learning process.

Paper-Based Textbooks with Audio Support for Print-Disabled Students.

PubMed

Fujiyoshi, Akio; Ohsawa, Akiko; Takaira, Takuya; Tani, Yoshiaki; Fujiyoshi, Mamoru; Ota, Yuko

2015-01-01

Utilizing invisible 2-dimensional codes and digital audio players with a 2-dimensional code scanner, we developed paper-based textbooks with audio support for students with print disabilities, called "multimodal textbooks." Multimodal textbooks can be read with the combination of the two modes: "reading printed text" and "listening to the speech of the text from a digital audio player with a 2-dimensional code scanner." Since multimodal textbooks look the same as regular textbooks and the price of a digital audio player is reasonable (about 30 euro), we think multimodal textbooks are suitable for students with print disabilities in ordinary classrooms.

Horatio Audio-Describes Shakespeare's "Hamlet": Blind and Low-Vision Theatre-Goers Evaluate an Unconventional Audio Description Strategy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Udo, J. P.; Acevedo, B.; Fels, D. I.

2010-01-01

Audio description (AD) has been introduced as one solution for providing people who are blind or have low vision with access to live theatre, film and television content. However, there is little research to inform the process, user preferences and presentation style. We present a study of a single live audio-described performance of Hart House…

Implementation of an Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (ACASI) System in a General Medicine Clinic

PubMed Central

Deamant, C.; Smith, J.; Garcia, D.; Angulo, F.

2015-01-01

Summary Background Routine implementation of instruments to capture patient-reported outcomes could guide clinical practice and facilitate health services research. Audio interviews facilitate self-interviews across literacy levels. Objectives To evaluate time burden for patients, and factors associated with response times for an audio computer-assisted self interview (ACASI) system integrated into the clinical workflow. Methods We developed an ACASI system, integrated with a research data warehouse. Instruments for symptom burden, self-reported health, depression screening, tobacco use, and patient satisfaction were administered through touch-screen monitors in the general medicine clinic at the Cook County Health & Hospitals System during April 8, 2011-July 27, 2012. We performed a cross-sectional study to evaluate the mean time burden per item and for each module of instruments; we evaluated factors associated with longer response latency. Results Among 1,670 interviews, the mean per-question response time was 18.4 [SD, 6.1] seconds. By multivariable analysis, age was most strongly associated with prolonged response time and increased per decade compared to < 50 years as follows (additional seconds per question; 95% CI): 50–59 years (1.4; 0.7 to 2.1 seconds); 60–69 (3.4; 2.6 to 4.1); 70–79 (5.1; 4.0 to 6.1); and 80–89 (5.5; 4.1 to 7.0). Response times also were longer for Spanish language (3.9; 2.9 to 4.9); no home computer use (3.3; 2.8 to 3.9); and, low mental self-reported health (0.6; 0.0 to 1.1). However, most interviews were completed within 10 minutes. Conclusions An ACASI software system can be included in a patient visit and adds minimal time burden. The burden was greatest for older patients, interviews in Spanish, and for those with less computer exposure. A patient’s self-reported health had minimal impact on response times. PMID:25848420

Implementation of an audio computer-assisted self-interview (ACASI) system in a general medicine clinic: patient response burden.

PubMed

Trick, W E; Deamant, C; Smith, J; Garcia, D; Angulo, F

2015-01-01

Routine implementation of instruments to capture patient-reported outcomes could guide clinical practice and facilitate health services research. Audio interviews facilitate self-interviews across literacy levels. To evaluate time burden for patients, and factors associated with response times for an audio computer-assisted self interview (ACASI) system integrated into the clinical workflow. We developed an ACASI system, integrated with a research data warehouse. Instruments for symptom burden, self-reported health, depression screening, tobacco use, and patient satisfaction were administered through touch-screen monitors in the general medicine clinic at the Cook County Health & Hospitals System during April 8, 2011-July 27, 2012. We performed a cross-sectional study to evaluate the mean time burden per item and for each module of instruments; we evaluated factors associated with longer response latency. Among 1,670 interviews, the mean per-question response time was 18.4 [SD, 6.1] seconds. By multivariable analysis, age was most strongly associated with prolonged response time and increased per decade compared to < 50 years as follows (additional seconds per question; 95% CI): 50-59 years (1.4; 0.7 to 2.1 seconds); 60-69 (3.4; 2.6 to 4.1); 70-79 (5.1; 4.0 to 6.1); and 80-89 (5.5; 4.1 to 7.0). Response times also were longer for Spanish language (3.9; 2.9 to 4.9); no home computer use (3.3; 2.8 to 3.9); and, low mental self-reported health (0.6; 0.0 to 1.1). However, most interviews were completed within 10 minutes. An ACASI software system can be included in a patient visit and adds minimal time burden. The burden was greatest for older patients, interviews in Spanish, and for those with less computer exposure. A patient's self-reported health had minimal impact on response times.

Audio-visual speech processing in age-related hearing loss: Stronger integration and increased frontal lobe recruitment.

PubMed

Rosemann, Stephanie; Thiel, Christiane M

2018-07-15

Hearing loss is associated with difficulties in understanding speech, especially under adverse listening conditions. In these situations, seeing the speaker improves speech intelligibility in hearing-impaired participants. On the neuronal level, previous research has shown cross-modal plastic reorganization in the auditory cortex following hearing loss leading to altered processing of auditory, visual and audio-visual information. However, how reduced auditory input effects audio-visual speech perception in hearing-impaired subjects is largely unknown. We here investigated the impact of mild to moderate age-related hearing loss on processing audio-visual speech using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Normal-hearing and hearing-impaired participants performed two audio-visual speech integration tasks: a sentence detection task inside the scanner and the McGurk illusion outside the scanner. Both tasks consisted of congruent and incongruent audio-visual conditions, as well as auditory-only and visual-only conditions. We found a significantly stronger McGurk illusion in the hearing-impaired participants, which indicates stronger audio-visual integration. Neurally, hearing loss was associated with an increased recruitment of frontal brain areas when processing incongruent audio-visual, auditory and also visual speech stimuli, which may reflect the increased effort to perform the task. Hearing loss modulated both the audio-visual integration strength measured with the McGurk illusion and brain activation in frontal areas in the sentence task, showing stronger integration and higher brain activation with increasing hearing loss. Incongruent compared to congruent audio-visual speech revealed an opposite brain activation pattern in left ventral postcentral gyrus in both groups, with higher activation in hearing-impaired participants in the incongruent condition. Our results indicate that already mild to moderate hearing loss impacts audio-visual speech processing accompanied by changes in brain activation particularly involving frontal areas. These changes are modulated by the extent of hearing loss. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

47 CFR 101.91 - Involuntary relocation procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... engineering, equipment, site and FCC fees, as well as any legitimate and prudent transaction expenses incurred..., reliability is measured by the percent of time the bit error rate (BER) exceeds a desired value, and for analog or digital voice transmissions, it is measured by the percent of time that audio signal quality...

A Comparison of Inquiry Activities in Elementary Science Classes by Means of Tape Recordings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horine, Norman Wayne

Reported is a study to determine differences between selected elementary Index, Revised Inquiry Index, percentage of class time spent in pupil experiment Index, Revised Inquiry Index, percentage of class time spend in pupil experiment and time spent in reading and/or extended viewing activities. Audio-tape recordings were made using materials from…

Digital Audio Application to Short Wave Broadcasting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, Edward Y.

1997-01-01

Digital audio is becoming prevalent not only in consumer electornics, but also in different broadcasting media. Terrestrial analog audio broadcasting in the AM and FM bands will be eventually be replaced by digital systems.

Steganalysis of recorded speech

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Micah K.; Lyu, Siwei; Farid, Hany

2005-03-01

Digital audio provides a suitable cover for high-throughput steganography. At 16 bits per sample and sampled at a rate of 44,100 Hz, digital audio has the bit-rate to support large messages. In addition, audio is often transient and unpredictable, facilitating the hiding of messages. Using an approach similar to our universal image steganalysis, we show that hidden messages alter the underlying statistics of audio signals. Our statistical model begins by building a linear basis that captures certain statistical properties of audio signals. A low-dimensional statistical feature vector is extracted from this basis representation and used by a non-linear support vector machine for classification. We show the efficacy of this approach on LSB embedding and Hide4PGP. While no explicit assumptions about the content of the audio are made, our technique has been developed and tested on high-quality recorded speech.

Effects of aging on audio-visual speech integration.

PubMed

Huyse, Aurélie; Leybaert, Jacqueline; Berthommier, Frédéric

2014-10-01

This study investigated the impact of aging on audio-visual speech integration. A syllable identification task was presented in auditory-only, visual-only, and audio-visual congruent and incongruent conditions. Visual cues were either degraded or unmodified. Stimuli were embedded in stationary noise alternating with modulated noise. Fifteen young adults and 15 older adults participated in this study. Results showed that older adults had preserved lipreading abilities when the visual input was clear but not when it was degraded. The impact of aging on audio-visual integration also depended on the quality of the visual cues. In the visual clear condition, the audio-visual gain was similar in both groups and analyses in the framework of the fuzzy-logical model of perception confirmed that older adults did not differ from younger adults in their audio-visual integration abilities. In the visual reduction condition, the audio-visual gain was reduced in the older group, but only when the noise was stationary, suggesting that older participants could compensate for the loss of lipreading abilities by using the auditory information available in the valleys of the noise. The fuzzy-logical model of perception confirmed the significant impact of aging on audio-visual integration by showing an increased weight of audition in the older group.

TECHNICAL NOTE: Portable audio electronics for impedance-based measurements in microfluidics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, Paul; Sinton, David

2010-08-01

We demonstrate the use of audio electronics-based signals to perform on-chip electrochemical measurements. Cell phones and portable music players are examples of consumer electronics that are easily operated and are ubiquitous worldwide. Audio output (play) and input (record) signals are voltage based and contain frequency and amplitude information. A cell phone, laptop soundcard and two compact audio players are compared with respect to frequency response; the laptop soundcard provides the most uniform frequency response, while the cell phone performance is found to be insufficient. The audio signals in the common portable music players and laptop soundcard operate in the range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz and are found to be applicable, as voltage input and output signals, to impedance-based electrochemical measurements in microfluidic systems. Validated impedance-based measurements of concentration (0.1-50 mM), flow rate (2-120 µL min-1) and particle detection (32 µm diameter) are demonstrated. The prevailing, lossless, wave audio file format is found to be suitable for data transmission to and from external sources, such as a centralized lab, and the cost of all hardware (in addition to audio devices) is ~10 USD. The utility demonstrated here, in combination with the ubiquitous nature of portable audio electronics, presents new opportunities for impedance-based measurements in portable microfluidic systems.

Impact of audio narrated animation on students' understanding and learning environment based on gender

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasrudin, Ajeng Ratih; Setiawan, Wawan; Sanjaya, Yayan

2017-05-01

This study is titled the impact of audio narrated animation on students' understanding in learning humanrespiratory system based on gender. This study was conducted in eight grade of junior high school. This study aims to investigate the difference of students' understanding and learning environment at boys and girls classes in learning human respiratory system using audio narrated animation. Research method that is used is quasy experiment with matching pre-test post-test comparison group design. The procedures of study are: (1) preliminary study and learning habituation using audio narrated animation; (2) implementation of learning using audio narrated animation and taking data; (3) analysis and discussion. The result of analysis shows that there is significant difference on students' understanding and learning environment at boys and girls classes in learning human respiratory system using audio narrated animation, both in general and specifically in achieving learning indicators. The discussion related to the impact of audio narrated animation, gender characteristics, and constructivist learning environment. It can be concluded that there is significant difference of students' understanding at boys and girls classes in learning human respiratory system using audio narrated animation. Additionally, based on interpretation of students' respond, there is the difference increment of agreement level in learning environment.

Review of Audio Interfacing Literature for Computer-Assisted Music Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watanabe, Nan

1980-01-01

Presents a review of the literature dealing with audio devices used in computer assisted music instruction and discusses the need for research and development of reliable, cost-effective, random access audio hardware. (Author)

Comparison between audio-only and audiovisual biofeedback for regulating patients' respiration during four-dimensional radiotherapy.

PubMed

Yu, Jesang; Choi, Ji Hoon; Ma, Sun Young; Jeung, Tae Sig; Lim, Sangwook

2015-09-01

To compare audio-only biofeedback to conventional audiovisual biofeedback for regulating patients' respiration during four-dimensional radiotherapy, limiting damage to healthy surrounding tissues caused by organ movement. Six healthy volunteers were assisted by audiovisual or audio-only biofeedback systems to regulate their respirations. Volunteers breathed through a mask developed for this study by following computer-generated guiding curves displayed on a screen, combined with instructional sounds. They then performed breathing following instructional sounds only. The guiding signals and the volunteers' respiratory signals were logged at 20 samples per second. The standard deviations between the guiding and respiratory curves for the audiovisual and audio-only biofeedback systems were 21.55% and 23.19%, respectively; the average correlation coefficients were 0.9778 and 0.9756, respectively. The regularities between audiovisual and audio-only biofeedback for six volunteers' respirations were same statistically from the paired t-test. The difference between the audiovisual and audio-only biofeedback methods was not significant. Audio-only biofeedback has many advantages, as patients do not require a mask and can quickly adapt to this method in the clinic.

Ultrasonic speech translator and communications system

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

Akerman, M.A.; Ayers, C.W.; Haynes, H.D.

1996-07-23

A wireless communication system undetectable by radio frequency methods for converting audio signals, including human voice, to electronic signals in the ultrasonic frequency range, transmitting the ultrasonic signal by way of acoustical pressure waves across a carrier medium, including gases, liquids, or solids, and reconverting the ultrasonic acoustical pressure waves back to the original audio signal. The ultrasonic speech translator and communication system includes an ultrasonic transmitting device and an ultrasonic receiving device. The ultrasonic transmitting device accepts as input an audio signal such as human voice input from a microphone or tape deck. The ultrasonic transmitting device frequency modulatesmore » an ultrasonic carrier signal with the audio signal producing a frequency modulated ultrasonic carrier signal, which is transmitted via acoustical pressure waves across a carrier medium such as gases, liquids or solids. The ultrasonic receiving device converts the frequency modulated ultrasonic acoustical pressure waves to a frequency modulated electronic signal, demodulates the audio signal from the ultrasonic carrier signal, and conditions the demodulated audio signal to reproduce the original audio signal at its output. 7 figs.« less

Ultrasonic speech translator and communications system

DOEpatents

Akerman, M. Alfred; Ayers, Curtis W.; Haynes, Howard D.

1996-01-01

A wireless communication system undetectable by radio frequency methods for converting audio signals, including human voice, to electronic signals in the ultrasonic frequency range, transmitting the ultrasonic signal by way of acoustical pressure waves across a carrier medium, including gases, liquids, or solids, and reconverting the ultrasonic acoustical pressure waves back to the original audio signal. The ultrasonic speech translator and communication system (20) includes an ultrasonic transmitting device (100) and an ultrasonic receiving device (200). The ultrasonic transmitting device (100) accepts as input (115) an audio signal such as human voice input from a microphone (114) or tape deck. The ultrasonic transmitting device (100) frequency modulates an ultrasonic carrier signal with the audio signal producing a frequency modulated ultrasonic carrier signal, which is transmitted via acoustical pressure waves across a carrier medium such as gases, liquids or solids. The ultrasonic receiving device (200) converts the frequency modulated ultrasonic acoustical pressure waves to a frequency modulated electronic signal, demodulates the audio signal from the ultrasonic carrier signal, and conditions the demodulated audio signal to reproduce the original audio signal at its output (250).

A Primer on Choosing the Medium for Multimedia: Videodisc vs. Videotape.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shamp, Scott A.

1993-01-01

Discusses videodisc and videotape basic needs, software development issues, user workstation issues, appropriate applications for the different audio/visual storage media, counter vs. time-code VCRs, and implications for student development. (MDH)

A longitudinal, randomized, and prospective study of nocturnal monitoring in children and adolescents with epilepsy: Effects on quality of life and sleep.

PubMed

Borusiak, Peter; Bast, Thomas; Kluger, Gerhard; Weidenfeld, Andrea; Langer, Thorsten; Jenke, Andreas C W; Wiegand, Gert

2016-08-01

Most studies on seizure detection systems focus more on the effectiveness of devices than on their practicability in and impact on everyday life. Our study investigated the impact of a technical monitoring system on subjective quality of sleep and the lives of affected families. Furthermore, we evaluated the impact of anxiety levels on seizure monitoring and vice versa. Forty-three patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy were included. Initially, the families decided whether they did (group 1, n=27) or did not (group 2, n=16) want to use a monitoring device. In group 1, patients were randomly assigned to using Epi-Care® (group 1A, n=14) or an audio baby monitor (group 1B, n=13). Quality of life was assessed at two points (t1, at the start of the study and t2, at 5-7months of follow-up) using the SF-12, Kindl-R, and "Familien-Belastungs-Fragebogen" (German version of the "Impact on Family Scale"). In addition, parental anxiety was measured using the State-Trait Anxiety-Inventory, and subjective quality of sleep was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Statistical analysis focused on the possible differences between groups 1 and 2 that may influence parents' decisions and the effects of the presence and types of technical monitoring over time. Anxiety levels were not significantly different between the groups with and without monitoring (group 1 vs. group 2). We also found no statistically significant, substantial baseline differences between the Epi-Care® and audio baby monitor groups, with at least medium effect sizes (group 1A vs. group 1B). Parents' health-related mental quality of life measured via the SF-12 increased significantly over time in all groups. By tendency, the fear of further seizures as well as the frequency of cosleeping arrangements in the monitoring group decreased during the study and approached the stable values of the control group. Individual parental anxiety levels are not crucial in the decision regarding the use of a monitoring device. A monitoring system may help some families in certain aspects of daily life. During the first months following a diagnosis of epilepsy, quality of life increases independently of the use of a monitoring system. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The impact of weight classification on safety: timing steps to adapt to external constraints

PubMed Central

Gill, S.V.

2015-01-01

Objectives: The purpose of the current study was to evaluate how weight classification influences safety by examining adults’ ability to meet a timing constraint: walking to the pace of an audio metronome. Methods: With a cross-sectional design, walking parameters were collected as 55 adults with normal (n=30) and overweight (n=25) body mass index scores walked to slow, normal, and fast audio metronome paces. Results: Between group comparisons showed that at the fast pace, those with overweight body mass index (BMI) had longer double limb support and stance times and slower cadences than the normal weight group (all ps<0.05). Examinations of participants’ ability to meet the metronome paces revealed that participants who were overweight had higher cadences at the slow and fast paces (all ps<0.05). Conclusions: Findings suggest that those with overweight BMI alter their gait to maintain biomechanical stability. Understanding how excess weight influences gait adaptation can inform interventions to improve safety for individuals with obesity. PMID:25730658

Multimodal integration of micro-Doppler sonar and auditory signals for behavior classification with convolutional networks.

PubMed

Dura-Bernal, Salvador; Garreau, Guillaume; Georgiou, Julius; Andreou, Andreas G; Denham, Susan L; Wennekers, Thomas

2013-10-01

The ability to recognize the behavior of individuals is of great interest in the general field of safety (e.g. building security, crowd control, transport analysis, independent living for the elderly). Here we report a new real-time acoustic system for human action and behavior recognition that integrates passive audio and active micro-Doppler sonar signatures over multiple time scales. The system architecture is based on a six-layer convolutional neural network, trained and evaluated using a dataset of 10 subjects performing seven different behaviors. Probabilistic combination of system output through time for each modality separately yields 94% (passive audio) and 91% (micro-Doppler sonar) correct behavior classification; probabilistic multimodal integration increases classification performance to 98%. This study supports the efficacy of micro-Doppler sonar systems in characterizing human actions, which can then be efficiently classified using ConvNets. It also demonstrates that the integration of multiple sources of acoustic information can significantly improve the system's performance.

Mining knowledge in noisy audio data

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

Czyzewski, A.

1996-12-31

This paper demonstrates a KDD method applied to audio data analysis, particularly, it presents possibilities which result from replacing traditional methods of analysis and acoustic signal processing by KDD algorithms when restoring audio recordings affected by strong noise.

Research into Teleconferencing

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-02-01

Wichman (1970) found more cooperation under conditions of audio- visual communication than conditions of audio communication alone. Laplante (1971) found...was found for audio teleconferences. These results, taken with the results concerning group perfor- mance, seem to indicate that visual communication gives

An Audio-Visual Resource Notebook for Adult Consumer Education. An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Audio-Visual Aids for Adult Consumer Education, with Special Emphasis on Materials for Elderly, Low-Income and Handicapped Consumers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Virginia State Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Richmond, VA.

This document is an annotated bibliography of audio-visual aids in the field of consumer education, intended especially for use among low-income, elderly, and handicapped consumers. It was developed to aid consumer education program planners in finding audio-visual resources to enhance their presentations. Materials listed include 293 resources…

Comparison of three orientation and mobility aids for individuals with blindness: Verbal description, audio-tactile map and audio-haptic map.

PubMed

Papadopoulos, Konstantinos; Koustriava, Eleni; Koukourikos, Panagiotis; Kartasidou, Lefkothea; Barouti, Marialena; Varveris, Asimis; Misiou, Marina; Zacharogeorga, Timoclia; Anastasiadis, Theocharis

2017-01-01

Disorientation and inability of wayfinding are phenomena with a great frequency for individuals with visual impairments during the process of travelling novel environments. Orientation and mobility aids could suggest important tools for the preparation of a more secure and cognitively mapped travelling. The aim of the present study was to examine if spatial knowledge structured after an individual with blindness had studied the map of an urban area that was delivered through a verbal description, an audio-tactile map or an audio-haptic map, could be used for detecting in the area specific points of interest. The effectiveness of the three aids with reference to each other was also examined. The results of the present study highlight the effectiveness of the audio-tactile and the audio-haptic maps as orientation and mobility aids, especially when these are compared to verbal descriptions.

Detecting double compression of audio signal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Rui; Shi, Yun Q.; Huang, Jiwu

2010-01-01

MP3 is the most popular audio format nowadays in our daily life, for example music downloaded from the Internet and file saved in the digital recorder are often in MP3 format. However, low bitrate MP3s are often transcoded to high bitrate since high bitrate ones are of high commercial value. Also audio recording in digital recorder can be doctored easily by pervasive audio editing software. This paper presents two methods for the detection of double MP3 compression. The methods are essential for finding out fake-quality MP3 and audio forensics. The proposed methods use support vector machine classifiers with feature vectors formed by the distributions of the first digits of the quantized MDCT (modified discrete cosine transform) coefficients. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods. To the best of our knowledge, this piece of work is the first one to detect double compression of audio signal.

A high efficiency PWM CMOS class-D audio power amplifier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhangming, Zhu; Lianxi, Liu; Yintang, Yang; Han, Lei

2009-02-01

Based on the difference close-loop feedback technique and the difference pre-amp, a high efficiency PWM CMOS class-D audio power amplifier is proposed. A rail-to-rail PWM comparator with window function has been embedded in the class-D audio power amplifier. Design results based on the CSMC 0.5 μm CMOS process show that the max efficiency is 90%, the PSRR is -75 dB, the power supply voltage range is 2.5-5.5 V, the THD+N in 1 kHz input frequency is less than 0.20%, the quiescent current in no load is 2.8 mA, and the shutdown current is 0.5 μA. The active area of the class-D audio power amplifier is about 1.47 × 1.52 mm2. With the good performance, the class-D audio power amplifier can be applied to several audio power systems.

A National Medical Information System for Senegal: Architecture and Services.

PubMed

Camara, Gaoussou; Diallo, Al Hassim; Lo, Moussa; Tendeng, Jacques-Noël; Lo, Seynabou

2016-01-01

In Senegal, great amounts of data are daily generated by medical activities such as consultation, hospitalization, blood test, x-ray, birth, death, etc. These data are still recorded in register, printed images, audios and movies which are manually processed. However, some medical organizations have their own software for non-standardized patient record management, appointment, wages, etc. without any possibility of sharing these data or communicating with other medical structures. This leads to lots of limitations in reusing or sharing these data because of their possible structural and semantic heterogeneity. To overcome these problems we have proposed a National Medical Information System for Senegal (SIMENS). As an integrated platform, SIMENS provides an EHR system that supports healthcare activities, a mobile version and a web portal. The SIMENS architecture proposes also a data and application integration services for supporting interoperability and decision making.

Musical stairs: the impact of audio feedback during stair-climbing physical therapies for children.

PubMed

Khan, Ajmal; Biddiss, Elaine

2015-05-01

Enhanced biofeedback during rehabilitation therapies has the potential to provide a therapeutic environment optimally designed for neuroplasticity. This study investigates the impact of audio feedback on the achievement of a targeted therapeutic goal, namely, use of reciprocal steps. Stair-climbing therapy sessions conducted with and without audio feedback were compared in a randomized AB/BA cross-over study design. Seventeen children, aged 4-7 years, with various diagnoses participated. Reports from the participants, therapists, and a blinded observer were collected to evaluate achievement of the therapeutic goal, motivation and enjoyment during the therapy sessions. Audio feedback resulted in a 5.7% increase (p = 0.007) in reciprocal steps. Levels of participant enjoyment increased significantly (p = 0.031) and motivation was reported by child participants and therapists to be greater when audio feedback was provided. These positive results indicate that audio feedback may influence the achievement of therapeutic goals and promote enjoyment and motivation in young patients engaged in rehabilitation therapies. This study lays the groundwork for future research to determine the long term effects of audio feedback on functional outcomes of therapy. Stair-climbing is an important mobility skill for promoting independence and activities of daily life and is a key component of rehabilitation therapies for physically disabled children. Provision of audio feedback during stair-climbing therapies for young children may increase their achievement of a targeted therapeutic goal (i.e., use of reciprocal steps). Children's motivation and enjoyment of the stair-climbing therapy was enhanced when audio feedback was provided.

7 CFR 1.167 - Conference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... that conducting the conference by audio-visual telecommunication: (i) Is necessary to prevent prejudice.... If the Judge determines that a conference conducted by audio-visual telecommunication would... correspondence, the conference shall be conducted by audio-visual telecommunication unless the Judge determines...

7 CFR 1.167 - Conference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... that conducting the conference by audio-visual telecommunication: (i) Is necessary to prevent prejudice.... If the Judge determines that a conference conducted by audio-visual telecommunication would... correspondence, the conference shall be conducted by audio-visual telecommunication unless the Judge determines...

47 CFR 11.54 - EAS operation during a National Level emergency.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... emergency, EAS Participants may transmit in lieu of the EAS audio feed an audio feed of the President's voice message from an alternative source, such as a broadcast network audio feed. [77 FR 16705, Mar. 22...

7 CFR 1.167 - Conference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... that conducting the conference by audio-visual telecommunication: (i) Is necessary to prevent prejudice.... If the Judge determines that a conference conducted by audio-visual telecommunication would... correspondence, the conference shall be conducted by audio-visual telecommunication unless the Judge determines...

7 CFR 47.14 - Prehearing conferences.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... determines that conducting the conference by audio-visual telecommunication: (i) Is necessary to prevent.... If the examiner determines that a conference conducted by audio-visual telecommunication would... correspondence, the conference shall be conducted by audio-visual telecommunication unless the examiner...

47 CFR 11.54 - EAS operation during a National Level emergency.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... emergency, EAS Participants may transmit in lieu of the EAS audio feed an audio feed of the President's voice message from an alternative source, such as a broadcast network audio feed. [77 FR 16705, Mar. 22...

7 CFR 1.167 - Conference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... that conducting the conference by audio-visual telecommunication: (i) Is necessary to prevent prejudice.... If the Judge determines that a conference conducted by audio-visual telecommunication would... correspondence, the conference shall be conducted by audio-visual telecommunication unless the Judge determines...

7 CFR 47.16 - Depositions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... which the deposition is to be conducted (telephone, audio-visual telecommunication, or by personal...) The place of the deposition; (iii) The manner of the deposition (telephone, audio-visual... shall be conducted in the manner (telephone, audio-visual telecommunication, or personal attendance of...

7 CFR 1.167 - Conference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... that conducting the conference by audio-visual telecommunication: (i) Is necessary to prevent prejudice.... If the Judge determines that a conference conducted by audio-visual telecommunication would... correspondence, the conference shall be conducted by audio-visual telecommunication unless the Judge determines...

47 CFR 11.54 - EAS operation during a National Level emergency.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... emergency, EAS Participants may transmit in lieu of the EAS audio feed an audio feed of the President's voice message from an alternative source, such as a broadcast network audio feed. [77 FR 16705, Mar. 22...

Instrumental Landing Using Audio Indication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burlak, E. A.; Nabatchikov, A. M.; Korsun, O. N.

2018-02-01

The paper proposes an audio indication method for presenting to a pilot the information regarding the relative positions of an aircraft in the tasks of precision piloting. The implementation of the method is presented, the use of such parameters of audio signal as loudness, frequency and modulation are discussed. To confirm the operability of the audio indication channel the experiments using modern aircraft simulation facility were carried out. The simulated performed the instrument landing using the proposed audio method to indicate the aircraft deviations in relation to the slide path. The results proved compatible with the simulated instrumental landings using the traditional glidescope pointers. It inspires to develop the method in order to solve other precision piloting tasks.

Power saver circuit for audio/visual signal unit

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

Right, R. W.

1985-02-12

A combined audio and visual signal unit with the audio and visual components actuated alternately and powered over a single cable pair in such a manner that only one of the audio and visual components is drawing power from the power supply at any given instant. Thus, the power supply is never called upon to provide more energy than that drawn by the one of the components having the greater power requirement. This is particularly advantageous when several combined audio and visual signal units are coupled in parallel on one cable pair. Typically, the signal unit may comprise a hornmore » and a strobe light for a fire alarm signalling system.« less

Robot Command Interface Using an Audio-Visual Speech Recognition System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ceballos, Alexánder; Gómez, Juan; Prieto, Flavio; Redarce, Tanneguy

In recent years audio-visual speech recognition has emerged as an active field of research thanks to advances in pattern recognition, signal processing and machine vision. Its ultimate goal is to allow human-computer communication using voice, taking into account the visual information contained in the audio-visual speech signal. This document presents a command's automatic recognition system using audio-visual information. The system is expected to control the laparoscopic robot da Vinci. The audio signal is treated using the Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients parametrization method. Besides, features based on the points that define the mouth's outer contour according to the MPEG-4 standard are used in order to extract the visual speech information.

Effect of Reaction Developing Training on Audio-Visual Feet Reaction Time in Wrestlers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaya, Mustafa

2016-01-01

Reaction time is one of the most determinative elements for a successful sports performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 12-week feet reaction developing trainings upon feet reaction time of females at 11-13 age interval. Volunteer sportsmen between 11 and 13 age interval who were active in Tokat Provincial…

Calculation of Left Ventricular Diastolic Time Constant (TAU) in Dogs with Mitral Regurgitation Using Continuous-Wave Doppler.

PubMed

Wen, Chaoyang; Sun, Jing; Fan, Chunzhi; Dou, Jianping

2018-05-04

The left ventricular diastolic time constant (Tau) cannot be practically measured non-invasively. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate a new method for the evaluation of Tau using continuous-wave (CW) Doppler in dogs with mitral regurgitation. Guided by ultrasound, we created 12 beagle models of mitral regurgitation and acute ischemic left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Raw audio signals of the CW Doppler spectra were collected, and new mitral regurgitation Doppler spectra were observed after computer re-processing. The new Doppler spectra contour line was constructed using MATLAB (Version R2009), and two time intervals, t1-t2 and t1-t3, were measured on the descending branch of the mitral regurgitation Doppler spectrum and were substituted into Bai's equation group. The Doppler-derived Tau (Tau-d) was resolved and compared with the simultaneous catheter-derived Tau (Tau-c). No significant difference (p > 0.05) between Tau-d (49.33 ± 18.79 ms) and Tau-c (48.76 ± 17.60 ms) was found. A correlation analysis between Tau-d and Tau-c suggested a strong positive relationship (r = 0.85, p = 0.000). Bland-Altman plots of Tau-d and Tau-c revealed fair agreement. Compared with previous non-invasive approaches, this method is simpler and more accurate. There is a strong positive relationship and fair agreement between Tau-d and Tau-c. Copyright © 2018 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of batch audio/video conversion platform based on JavaEE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Yansong; Jiang, Lianpin

2018-03-01

With the rapid development of digital publishing industry, the direction of audio / video publishing shows the diversity of coding standards for audio and video files, massive data and other significant features. Faced with massive and diverse data, how to quickly and efficiently convert to a unified code format has brought great difficulties to the digital publishing organization. In view of this demand and present situation in this paper, basing on the development architecture of Sptring+SpringMVC+Mybatis, and combined with the open source FFMPEG format conversion tool, a distributed online audio and video format conversion platform with a B/S structure is proposed. Based on the Java language, the key technologies and strategies designed in the design of platform architecture are analyzed emphatically in this paper, designing and developing a efficient audio and video format conversion system, which is composed of “Front display system”, "core scheduling server " and " conversion server ". The test results show that, compared with the ordinary audio and video conversion scheme, the use of batch audio and video format conversion platform can effectively improve the conversion efficiency of audio and video files, and reduce the complexity of the work. Practice has proved that the key technology discussed in this paper can be applied in the field of large batch file processing, and has certain practical application value.

A telepresence robot system realized by embedded object concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vallius, Tero; Röning, Juha

2006-10-01

This paper presents the Embedded Object Concept (EOC) and a telepresence robot system which is a test case for the EOC. The EOC utilizes common object-oriented methods used in software by applying them to combined Lego-like software-hardware entities. These entities represent objects in object-oriented design methods, and they are the building blocks of embedded systems. The goal of the EOC is to make the designing embedded systems faster and easier. This concept enables people without comprehensive knowledge in electronics design to create new embedded systems, and for experts it shortens the design time of new embedded systems. We present the current status of a telepresence robot created with second-generation Atomi-objects, which is the name for our implementation of the embedded objects. The telepresence robot is a relatively complex test case for the EOC. The robot has been constructed using incremental device development, which is made possible by the architecture of the EOC. The robot contains video and audio exchange capability and a controlling system for driving with two wheels. The robot is built in two versions, the first consisting of a PC device and Atomi-objects, and the second consisting of only Atomi-objects. The robot is currently incomplete, but most of it has been successfully tested.

76 FR 32360 - Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-06

... do so within the period of time allowed by this notice, you should advise the contact listed below as... other for profit. Number of Respondents and Responses: 158 respondents; 2,406 responses. Estimated Time... Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS), Aeronautical Mobile Telemetry (AMT), and Deep Space Network...

Real-time speech-driven animation of expressive talking faces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jia; You, Mingyu; Chen, Chun; Song, Mingli

2011-05-01

In this paper, we present a real-time facial animation system in which speech drives mouth movements and facial expressions synchronously. Considering five basic emotions, a hierarchical structure with an upper layer of emotion classification is established. Based on the recognized emotion label, the under-layer classification at sub-phonemic level has been modelled on the relationship between acoustic features of frames and audio labels in phonemes. Using certain constraint, the predicted emotion labels of speech are adjusted to gain the facial expression labels which are combined with sub-phonemic labels. The combinations are mapped into facial action units (FAUs), and audio-visual synchronized animation with mouth movements and facial expressions is generated by morphing between FAUs. The experimental results demonstrate that the two-layer structure succeeds in both emotion and sub-phonemic classifications, and the synthesized facial sequences reach a comparative convincing quality.

Analysis of musical expression in audio signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dixon, Simon

2003-01-01

In western art music, composers communicate their work to performers via a standard notation which specificies the musical pitches and relative timings of notes. This notation may also include some higher level information such as variations in the dynamics, tempo and timing. Famous performers are characterised by their expressive interpretation, the ability to convey structural and emotive information within the given framework. The majority of work on audio content analysis focusses on retrieving score-level information; this paper reports on the extraction of parameters describing the performance, a task which requires a much higher degree of accuracy. Two systems are presented: BeatRoot, an off-line beat tracking system which finds the times of musical beats and tracks changes in tempo throughout a performance, and the Performance Worm, a system which provides a real-time visualisation of the two most important expressive dimensions, tempo and dynamics. Both of these systems are being used to process data for a large-scale study of musical expression in classical and romantic piano performance, which uses artificial intelligence (machine learning) techniques to discover fundamental patterns or principles governing expressive performance.

Multimedia storytelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linder, C. A.; Wilbert, M.; Holmes, R. M.

2010-12-01

Multimedia video presentations, which integrate still photographs with video clips, audio interviews, ambient sounds, and music, are an effective and engaging way to tell science stories. In July 2009, Linder joined professors and undergraduates on an expedition to the Kolyma River in northeastern Siberia. This IPY science project, called The Polaris Project (http://www.thepolarisproject.org), is an undergraduate research experience where students and faculty work together to increase our understanding of climate change impacts, including thawing permafrost, in this remote corner of the world. During the summer field season, Linder conducted dozens of interviews, captured over 20,000 still photographs and hours of ambient audio and video clips. Following the 2009 expedition, Linder blended this massive archive of visual and audio information into a 10-minute overview video and five student vignettes. In 2010, Linder again traveled to Siberia as part of the Polaris Project, this time mentoring an environmental journalism student who will lead the production of a video about the 2010 field season. Using examples from the Polaris productions, we will present tips, tools, and techniques for creating compelling multimedia science stories.

Implementation and performance evaluation of acoustic denoising algorithms for UAV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chowdhury, Ahmed Sony Kamal

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have become popular alternative for wildlife monitoring and border surveillance applications. Elimination of the UAV's background noise and classifying the target audio signal effectively are still a major challenge. The main goal of this thesis is to remove UAV's background noise by means of acoustic denoising techniques. Existing denoising algorithms, such as Adaptive Least Mean Square (LMS), Wavelet Denoising, Time-Frequency Block Thresholding, and Wiener Filter, were implemented and their performance evaluated. The denoising algorithms were evaluated for average Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Segmental SNR (SSNR), Log Likelihood Ratio (LLR), and Log Spectral Distance (LSD) metrics. To evaluate the effectiveness of the denoising algorithms on classification of target audio, we implemented Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Naive Bayes classification algorithms. Simulation results demonstrate that LMS and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) denoising algorithm offered superior performance than other algorithms. Finally, we implemented the LMS and DWT algorithms on a DSP board for hardware evaluation. Experimental results showed that LMS algorithm's performance is robust compared to DWT for various noise types to classify target audio signals.

Quantifying auditory temporal stability in a large database of recorded music.

PubMed

Ellis, Robert J; Duan, Zhiyan; Wang, Ye

2014-01-01

"Moving to the beat" is both one of the most basic and one of the most profound means by which humans (and a few other species) interact with music. Computer algorithms that detect the precise temporal location of beats (i.e., pulses of musical "energy") in recorded music have important practical applications, such as the creation of playlists with a particular tempo for rehabilitation (e.g., rhythmic gait training), exercise (e.g., jogging), or entertainment (e.g., continuous dance mixes). Although several such algorithms return simple point estimates of an audio file's temporal structure (e.g., "average tempo", "time signature"), none has sought to quantify the temporal stability of a series of detected beats. Such a method--a "Balanced Evaluation of Auditory Temporal Stability" (BEATS)--is proposed here, and is illustrated using the Million Song Dataset (a collection of audio features and music metadata for nearly one million audio files). A publically accessible web interface is also presented, which combines the thresholdable statistics of BEATS with queryable metadata terms, fostering potential avenues of research and facilitating the creation of highly personalized music playlists for clinical or recreational applications.

An Efficient Method for Image and Audio Steganography using Least Significant Bit (LSB) Substitution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chadha, Ankit; Satam, Neha; Sood, Rakshak; Bade, Dattatray

2013-09-01

In order to improve the data hiding in all types of multimedia data formats such as image and audio and to make hidden message imperceptible, a novel method for steganography is introduced in this paper. It is based on Least Significant Bit (LSB) manipulation and inclusion of redundant noise as secret key in the message. This method is applied to data hiding in images. For data hiding in audio, Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) both are used. All the results displayed prove to be time-efficient and effective. Also the algorithm is tested for various numbers of bits. For those values of bits, Mean Square Error (MSE) and Peak-Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (PSNR) are calculated and plotted. Experimental results show that the stego-image is visually indistinguishable from the original cover-image when n<=4, because of better PSNR which is achieved by this technique. The final results obtained after steganography process does not reveal presence of any hidden message, thus qualifying the criteria of imperceptible message.

Unsupervised Decoding of Long-Term, Naturalistic Human Neural Recordings with Automated Video and Audio Annotations

PubMed Central

Wang, Nancy X. R.; Olson, Jared D.; Ojemann, Jeffrey G.; Rao, Rajesh P. N.; Brunton, Bingni W.

2016-01-01

Fully automated decoding of human activities and intentions from direct neural recordings is a tantalizing challenge in brain-computer interfacing. Implementing Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) outside carefully controlled experiments in laboratory settings requires adaptive and scalable strategies with minimal supervision. Here we describe an unsupervised approach to decoding neural states from naturalistic human brain recordings. We analyzed continuous, long-term electrocorticography (ECoG) data recorded over many days from the brain of subjects in a hospital room, with simultaneous audio and video recordings. We discovered coherent clusters in high-dimensional ECoG recordings using hierarchical clustering and automatically annotated them using speech and movement labels extracted from audio and video. To our knowledge, this represents the first time techniques from computer vision and speech processing have been used for natural ECoG decoding. Interpretable behaviors were decoded from ECoG data, including moving, speaking and resting; the results were assessed by comparison with manual annotation. Discovered clusters were projected back onto the brain revealing features consistent with known functional areas, opening the door to automated functional brain mapping in natural settings. PMID:27148018

7 CFR 1.148 - Depositions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... (telephone, audio-visual telecommunication, or personal attendance of those who are to participate in the... that conducting the deposition by audio-visual telecommunication: (i) Is necessary to prevent prejudice... determines that a deposition conducted by audio-visual telecommunication would measurably increase the United...

47 CFR Figure 2 to Subpart N of... - Typical Audio Wave

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Typical Audio Wave 2 Figure 2 to Subpart N of Part 2 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL FREQUENCY ALLOCATIONS AND RADIO... Audio Wave EC03JN91.006 ...

9 CFR 202.112 - Rule 12: Oral hearing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... hearing shall be conducted by audio-visual telecommunication unless the presiding officer determines that... hearing by audio-visual telecommunication. If the presiding officer determines that a hearing conducted by audio-visual telecommunication would measurably increase the United States Department of Agriculture's...

9 CFR 202.112 - Rule 12: Oral hearing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... hearing shall be conducted by audio-visual telecommunication unless the presiding officer determines that... hearing by audio-visual telecommunication. If the presiding officer determines that a hearing conducted by audio-visual telecommunication would measurably increase the United States Department of Agriculture's...

MedlinePlus FAQ: Is audio description available for videos on MedlinePlus?

MedlinePlus

... audiodescription.html Question: Is audio description available for videos on MedlinePlus? To use the sharing features on ... page, please enable JavaScript. Answer: Audio description of videos helps make the content of videos accessible to ...

Elastic Characterization of Concrete Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guerra-Vela, Claudio; Ruiz, Abraham; Zypman, Fredy R.

2001-03-01

Many geographical locations share a common problem of high environmental humidity. It is thus desirable to build houses that can withstand strong water loading. In this work we study the evolution of High Performance Concrete as a function of hardening stage. The technique that we use is based on the propagation of resonant audio frequency modes of oscillation along the long axis of homemade HPC cylindrical samples. An audio generator fed piezoelectric (at one end of the rod) excites vibrations in the sample. Off resonance these vibrations do not propagate away from the piezoelectric site. On the other hand, when a resonance is reached the vibration extends all over the bar. A second piezoelectric is placed at the other extreme of the cylinder. We measure three parameters: the resonant frequency, speed of sound, and loss factor. To measure the resonant frequency we connect the two piezos to an oscilloscope in the x-y mode. At resonance the oscilloscope displays an ellipse and the audio generator reports the frequency. To measure the speed of sound, we excite the firs piezo with a pulse and measure the delay time in the second piezo. The loss factor can be extracted from the ratio of the exciting pulse and the measured one. From these parameters we calculate the Young modulus, the area moment of inertia and the effective density of the HPC. These quantities are measured twice a day during the 28-day hardening time.

Sounds of silence: How to animate virtual worlds with sound

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Astheimer, Peter

1993-01-01

Sounds are an integral and sometimes annoying part of our daily life. Virtual worlds which imitate natural environments gain a lot of authenticity from fast, high quality visualization combined with sound effects. Sounds help to increase the degree of immersion for human dwellers in imaginary worlds significantly. The virtual reality toolkit of IGD (Institute for Computer Graphics) features a broad range of standard visual and advanced real-time audio components which interpret an object-oriented definition of the scene. The virtual reality system 'Virtual Design' realized with the toolkit enables the designer of virtual worlds to create a true audiovisual environment. Several examples on video demonstrate the usage of the audio features in Virtual Design.

CREMA-D: Crowd-sourced Emotional Multimodal Actors Dataset

PubMed Central

Cao, Houwei; Cooper, David G.; Keutmann, Michael K.; Gur, Ruben C.; Nenkova, Ani; Verma, Ragini

2014-01-01

People convey their emotional state in their face and voice. We present an audio-visual data set uniquely suited for the study of multi-modal emotion expression and perception. The data set consists of facial and vocal emotional expressions in sentences spoken in a range of basic emotional states (happy, sad, anger, fear, disgust, and neutral). 7,442 clips of 91 actors with diverse ethnic backgrounds were rated by multiple raters in three modalities: audio, visual, and audio-visual. Categorical emotion labels and real-value intensity values for the perceived emotion were collected using crowd-sourcing from 2,443 raters. The human recognition of intended emotion for the audio-only, visual-only, and audio-visual data are 40.9%, 58.2% and 63.6% respectively. Recognition rates are highest for neutral, followed by happy, anger, disgust, fear, and sad. Average intensity levels of emotion are rated highest for visual-only perception. The accurate recognition of disgust and fear requires simultaneous audio-visual cues, while anger and happiness can be well recognized based on evidence from a single modality. The large dataset we introduce can be used to probe other questions concerning the audio-visual perception of emotion. PMID:25653738

StirMark Benchmark: audio watermarking attacks based on lossy compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinebach, Martin; Lang, Andreas; Dittmann, Jana

2002-04-01

StirMark Benchmark is a well-known evaluation tool for watermarking robustness. Additional attacks are added to it continuously. To enable application based evaluation, in our paper we address attacks against audio watermarks based on lossy audio compression algorithms to be included in the test environment. We discuss the effect of different lossy compression algorithms like MPEG-2 audio Layer 3, Ogg or VQF on a selection of audio test data. Our focus is on changes regarding the basic characteristics of the audio data like spectrum or average power and on removal of embedded watermarks. Furthermore we compare results of different watermarking algorithms and show that lossy compression is still a challenge for most of them. There are two strategies for adding evaluation of robustness against lossy compression to StirMark Benchmark: (a) use of existing free compression algorithms (b) implementation of a generic lossy compression simulation. We discuss how such a model can be implemented based on the results of our tests. This method is less complex, as no real psycho acoustic model has to be applied. Our model can be used for audio watermarking evaluation of numerous application fields. As an example, we describe its importance for e-commerce applications with watermarking security.

Comparison between audio-only and audiovisual biofeedback for regulating patients' respiration during four-dimensional radiotherapy

PubMed Central

Yu, Jesang; Choi, Ji Hoon; Ma, Sun Young; Jeung, Tae Sig

2015-01-01

Purpose To compare audio-only biofeedback to conventional audiovisual biofeedback for regulating patients' respiration during four-dimensional radiotherapy, limiting damage to healthy surrounding tissues caused by organ movement. Materials and Methods Six healthy volunteers were assisted by audiovisual or audio-only biofeedback systems to regulate their respirations. Volunteers breathed through a mask developed for this study by following computer-generated guiding curves displayed on a screen, combined with instructional sounds. They then performed breathing following instructional sounds only. The guiding signals and the volunteers' respiratory signals were logged at 20 samples per second. Results The standard deviations between the guiding and respiratory curves for the audiovisual and audio-only biofeedback systems were 21.55% and 23.19%, respectively; the average correlation coefficients were 0.9778 and 0.9756, respectively. The regularities between audiovisual and audio-only biofeedback for six volunteers' respirations were same statistically from the paired t-test. Conclusion The difference between the audiovisual and audio-only biofeedback methods was not significant. Audio-only biofeedback has many advantages, as patients do not require a mask and can quickly adapt to this method in the clinic. PMID:26484309

A Dynamic Compressive Gammachirp Auditory Filterbank

PubMed Central

Irino, Toshio; Patterson, Roy D.

2008-01-01

It is now common to use knowledge about human auditory processing in the development of audio signal processors. Until recently, however, such systems were limited by their linearity. The auditory filter system is known to be level-dependent as evidenced by psychophysical data on masking, compression, and two-tone suppression. However, there were no analysis/synthesis schemes with nonlinear filterbanks. This paper describe18300060s such a scheme based on the compressive gammachirp (cGC) auditory filter. It was developed to extend the gammatone filter concept to accommodate the changes in psychophysical filter shape that are observed to occur with changes in stimulus level in simultaneous, tone-in-noise masking. In models of simultaneous noise masking, the temporal dynamics of the filtering can be ignored. Analysis/synthesis systems, however, are intended for use with speech sounds where the glottal cycle can be long with respect to auditory time constants, and so they require specification of the temporal dynamics of auditory filter. In this paper, we describe a fast-acting level control circuit for the cGC filter and show how psychophysical data involving two-tone suppression and compression can be used to estimate the parameter values for this dynamic version of the cGC filter (referred to as the “dcGC” filter). One important advantage of analysis/synthesis systems with a dcGC filterbank is that they can inherit previously refined signal processing algorithms developed with conventional short-time Fourier transforms (STFTs) and linear filterbanks. PMID:19330044

47 CFR 10.520 - Common audio attention signal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Common audio attention signal. 10.520 Section 10.520 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL COMMERCIAL MOBILE ALERT SYSTEM Equipment Requirements § 10.520 Common audio attention signal. A Participating CMS Provider and equipment...

7 CFR 1.144 - Judges.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... hearing to be conducted by telephone or audio-visual telecommunication; (10) Require each party to provide... prior to any deposition to be conducted by telephone or audio-visual telecommunication; (11) Require that any hearing to be conducted by telephone or audio-visual telecommunication be conducted at...

22 CFR 61.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND EXCHANGES WORLD-WIDE FREE FLOW OF AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS... certification of United States produced audio-visual materials under the provisions of the Beirut Agreement... staff with authority to issue Certificates or Importation Documents. Audio-visual materials—means: (1...

22 CFR 61.3 - Certification and authentication criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS § 61.3 Certification and authentication criteria. (a) The Department shall certify or authenticate audio-visual materials submitted for review as educational, scientific and... of the material. (b) The Department will not certify or authenticate any audio-visual material...

22 CFR 61.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND EXCHANGES WORLD-WIDE FREE FLOW OF AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS... certification of United States produced audio-visual materials under the provisions of the Beirut Agreement... staff with authority to issue Certificates or Importation Documents. Audio-visual materials—means: (1...

22 CFR 61.3 - Certification and authentication criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS § 61.3 Certification and authentication criteria. (a) The Department shall certify or authenticate audio-visual materials submitted for review as educational, scientific and... of the material. (b) The Department will not certify or authenticate any audio-visual material...

9 CFR 202.110 - Rule 10: Prehearing conference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... conference by audio-visual telecommunication: (i) Is necessary to prevent prejudice to a party; (ii) Is... presiding officer determines that a prehearing conference conducted by audio-visual telecommunication would... conducted by audio-visual telecommunication unless the presiding officer determines that conducting the...

9 CFR 202.110 - Rule 10: Prehearing conference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... conference by audio-visual telecommunication: (i) Is necessary to prevent prejudice to a party; (ii) Is... presiding officer determines that a prehearing conference conducted by audio-visual telecommunication would... conducted by audio-visual telecommunication unless the presiding officer determines that conducting the...

22 CFR 61.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND EXCHANGES WORLD-WIDE FREE FLOW OF AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS... certification of United States produced audio-visual materials under the provisions of the Beirut Agreement... staff with authority to issue Certificates or Importation Documents. Audio-visual materials—means: (1...

7 CFR 1.144 - Judges.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... hearing to be conducted by telephone or audio-visual telecommunication; (10) Require each party to provide... prior to any deposition to be conducted by telephone or audio-visual telecommunication; (11) Require that any hearing to be conducted by telephone or audio-visual telecommunication be conducted at...

22 CFR 61.3 - Certification and authentication criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS § 61.3 Certification and authentication criteria. (a) The Department shall certify or authenticate audio-visual materials submitted for review as educational, scientific and... of the material. (b) The Department will not certify or authenticate any audio-visual material...

Audio-Tutorial Instruction in Medicine.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyle, Gloria J.; Herrick, Merlyn C.

This progress report concerns an audio-tutorial approach used at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine. Instructional techniques such as slide-tape presentations, compressed speech audio tapes, computer-assisted instruction (CAI), motion pictures, television, microfiche, and graphic and printed materials have been implemented,…

Spatial Audio on the Web: Or Why Can't I hear Anything Over There?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wenzel, Elizabeth M.; Schlickenmaier, Herbert (Technical Monitor); Johnson, Gerald (Technical Monitor); Frey, Mary Anne (Technical Monitor); Schneider, Victor S. (Technical Monitor); Ahunada, Albert J. (Technical Monitor)

1997-01-01

Auditory complexity, freedom of movement and interactivity is not always possible in a "true" virtual environment, much less in web-based audio. However, a lot of the perceptual and engineering constraints (and frustrations) that researchers, engineers and listeners have experienced in virtual audio are relevant to spatial audio on the web. My talk will discuss some of these engineering constraints and their perceptual consequences, and attempt to relate these issues to implementation on the web.

Channel Compensation for Speaker Recognition using MAP Adapted PLDA and Denoising DNNs

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-21

improvement has been the availability of large quantities of speaker-labeled data from telephone recordings. For new data applications, such as audio from...mi- crophone channels to the telephone channel. Audio files were rejected if the alignment process failed. At the end of the pro- cess a total of 873...Microphone 01 AT3035 ( Audio Technica Studio Mic) 02 MX418S (Shure Gooseneck Mic) 03 Crown PZM Soundgrabber II 04 AT Pro45 ( Audio Technica Hanging Mic

A review of lossless audio compression standards and algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muin, Fathiah Abdul; Gunawan, Teddy Surya; Kartiwi, Mira; Elsheikh, Elsheikh M. A.

2017-09-01

Over the years, lossless audio compression has gained popularity as researchers and businesses has become more aware of the need for better quality and higher storage demand. This paper will analyse various lossless audio coding algorithm and standards that are used and available in the market focusing on Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) specifically due to its popularity and robustness in audio compression, nevertheless other prediction methods are compared to verify this. Advanced representation of LPC such as LSP decomposition techniques are also discussed within this paper.

Authenticity examination of compressed audio recordings using detection of multiple compression and encoders' identification.

PubMed

Korycki, Rafal

2014-05-01

Since the appearance of digital audio recordings, audio authentication has been becoming increasingly difficult. The currently available technologies and free editing software allow a forger to cut or paste any single word without audible artifacts. Nowadays, the only method referring to digital audio files commonly approved by forensic experts is the ENF criterion. It consists in fluctuation analysis of the mains frequency induced in electronic circuits of recording devices. Therefore, its effectiveness is strictly dependent on the presence of mains signal in the recording, which is a rare occurrence. Recently, much attention has been paid to authenticity analysis of compressed multimedia files and several solutions were proposed for detection of double compression in both digital video and digital audio. This paper addresses the problem of tampering detection in compressed audio files and discusses new methods that can be used for authenticity analysis of digital recordings. Presented approaches consist in evaluation of statistical features extracted from the MDCT coefficients as well as other parameters that may be obtained from compressed audio files. Calculated feature vectors are used for training selected machine learning algorithms. The detection of multiple compression covers up tampering activities as well as identification of traces of montage in digital audio recordings. To enhance the methods' robustness an encoder identification algorithm was developed and applied based on analysis of inherent parameters of compression. The effectiveness of tampering detection algorithms is tested on a predefined large music database consisting of nearly one million of compressed audio files. The influence of compression algorithms' parameters on the classification performance is discussed, based on the results of the current study. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Catamnesis results of an inpatient neuro-otologic and psychosomatic tinnitus therapy 1-5 years after discharge.

PubMed

Schaaf, H; Weiß, S; Hesse, G

2017-02-01

Treating tinnitus with the resources offered in hospitals can become necessary for patients suffering from complex tinnitus if a high symptom severity, usually accompanied by a corresponding psychosomatic comorbidity, is present. For such costly therapies, for example, the neuro-otologic psychosomatic tinnitus therapy (NPT) examined here, the long-term effect is particularly important; however, reliable catamnesis studies for inpatient treatments are not yet available. Data from 169 (from a total of 327 contacted) inpatients suffering from complex tinnitus were analysed here. To assess the tinnitus stress, the Mini-Tinnitus Questionnaire (Mini-TF12-In German language) according to Hiller and Goebel [1], and for the assessment of the anxiety and depression element, the German version of the Hospitality Anxiety and Depression Score (HADS) [2] were analysed at the start of the therapy, at the end of the therapy and at the earliest 1 year (up to 5 years) after discharge from inpatient treatment. The data were correlated with the current hearing status. In addition, the subjectively perceived effect factors of the therapy as well as the therapies continued outside of hospital were queried. On average, the therapy lasted 39.3 days (SD 13.6) = 5.6 weeks, and the mean of the follow-up time was 38.5 months (12-70 months) (SD 18). The therapy focused on daily neuro-otologic counselling, the improvement of the concrete hearing ability, an audio-therapy as well as frequent individual and group psychotherapy based on neuro-otology. 53.8 % of patients experienced relevant hearing loss (according to WHO criteria) which needed to be treated in addition to tinnitus. Both at the end of the therapy and the follow-up consultation, a significant improvement of the tinnitus stress and a continuing significant improvement of the depression and anxiety element could be achieved in the HADS with high effect levels ranging from 1 to 2.5. Patients who did not improve (n = 7) or even deteriorated (n = 2) demonstrated increased hearing impairment, requiring hearing aids. During the therapy, particularly, the neuro-otologic counselling, the psychotherapy, and the audio-therapy were experienced as effective. After discharge from hospital, especially, the progressive muscle relaxation according to Jacobsen was continued, as well as psychotherapy. With the corresponding symptomatic suffering, an inpatient hospitalisation and tinnitus therapy with neuro-otologic and psychosomatic alignment can achieve medium-to-high-grade therapeutic effects. This requires a disorder-specific approach, which also includes the elements of neuro-otologic counselling, psychotherapy as well as audio-therapy, and the possibility of providing hearing aids and an approach which aims at the continuation of the therapies experienced as helpful.

Social emotional information processing in adults: Development and psychometrics of a computerized video assessment in healthy controls and aggressive individuals.

PubMed

Coccaro, Emil F; Fanning, Jennifer R; Fisher, Eliana; Couture, Laurel; Lee, Royce J

2017-02-01

A computerized version of an assessment of Social-Emotional Information Processing (SEIP) using audio-video film stimuli instead of written narrative vignettes was developed for use in adult participants. This task allows for an assessment of encoding or relevant/irrelevant social-emotional information, attribution bias, and endorsement of appropriate, physically aggressive, and relationally aggressive responses to aversive social-emotional stimuli. The psychometric properties of this Video-SEIP (V-SEIP) assessment were examined in 75 healthy controls (HC) and in 75 individuals with DSM-5 Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) and were also compared with the original questionnaire (SEIP-Q) version of the task (HC=26; IED=26). Internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and test-retest properties of the V-SEIP were good to excellent. In addition, IED participants displayed reduced encoding of relevant information from the film clips, elevated hostile attribution bias, elevated negative emotional response, and elevated endorsement of physically aggressive and relationally aggressive responses to the ambiguous social-emotional stimuli presented in the V-SEIP. These data indicate that the V-SEIP represents a valid and comprehensive alternative to the paper-and-pencil assessment of social-emotional information processing biases in adults. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Development and Technical Validation of the Mobile Based Assistive Listening System: A Smartphone-Based Remote Microphone.

PubMed

Lopez, Esteban Alejandro; Costa, Orozimbo Alves; Ferrari, Deborah Viviane

2016-10-01

The purpose of this research note is to describe the development and technical validation of the Mobile Based Assistive Listening System (MoBALS), a free-of-charge smartphone-based remote microphone application. MoBALS Version 1.0 was developed for Android (Version 2.1 or higher) and was coded with Java using Eclipse Indigo with the Android Software Development Kit. A Wi-Fi router with background traffic and 2 affordable smartphones were used for debugging and technical validation comprising, among other things, multicasting capability, data packet loss, and battery consumption. MoBALS requires at least 2 smartphones connected to the same Wi-Fi router for signal transmission and reception. Subscriber identity module cards or Internet connections are not needed. MoBALS can be used alone or connected to a hearing aid or cochlear implant via direct audio input. Maximum data packet loss was 99.28%, and minimum battery life was 5 hr. Other relevant design specifications and their implementation are described. MoBALS performed as a remote microphone with enhanced accessibility features and avoids overhead expenses by using already-available and affordable technology. The further development and technical revalidation of MoBALS will be followed by clinical evaluation with persons with hearing impairment.

Audio-Visual Stimulation in Conjunction with Functional Electrical Stimulation to Address Upper Limb and Lower Limb Movement Disorder.

PubMed

Kumar, Deepesh; Verma, Sunny; Bhattacharya, Sutapa; Lahiri, Uttama

2016-06-13

Neurological disorders often manifest themselves in the form of movement deficit on the part of the patient. Conventional rehabilitation often used to address these deficits, though powerful are often monotonous in nature. Adequate audio-visual stimulation can prove to be motivational. In the research presented here we indicate the applicability of audio-visual stimulation to rehabilitation exercises to address at least some of the movement deficits for upper and lower limbs. Added to the audio-visual stimulation, we also use Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES). In our presented research we also show the applicability of FES in conjunction with audio-visual stimulation delivered through VR-based platform for grasping skills of patients with movement disorder.

Improvements of ModalMax High-Fidelity Piezoelectric Audio Device

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woodard, Stanley E.

2005-01-01

ModalMax audio speakers have been enhanced by innovative means of tailoring the vibration response of thin piezoelectric plates to produce a high-fidelity audio response. The ModalMax audio speakers are 1 mm in thickness. The device completely supplants the need to have a separate driver and speaker cone. ModalMax speakers can perform the same applications of cone speakers, but unlike cone speakers, ModalMax speakers can function in harsh environments such as high humidity or extreme wetness. New design features allow the speakers to be completely submersed in salt water, making them well suited for maritime applications. The sound produced from the ModalMax audio speakers has sound spatial resolution that is readily discernable for headset users.

News video story segmentation method using fusion of audio-visual features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wen, Jun; Wu, Ling-da; Zeng, Pu; Luan, Xi-dao; Xie, Yu-xiang

2007-11-01

News story segmentation is an important aspect for news video analysis. This paper presents a method for news video story segmentation. Different form prior works, which base on visual features transform, the proposed technique uses audio features as baseline and fuses visual features with it to refine the results. At first, it selects silence clips as audio features candidate points, and selects shot boundaries and anchor shots as two kinds of visual features candidate points. Then this paper selects audio feature candidates as cues and develops different fusion method, which effectively using diverse type visual candidates to refine audio candidates, to get story boundaries. Experiment results show that this method has high efficiency and adaptability to different kinds of news video.

Patients' use of digital audio recordings in four different outpatient clinics.

PubMed

Wolderslund, Maiken; Kofoed, Poul-Erik; Holst, René; Ammentorp, Jette

2015-12-01

To investigate a new technology of digital audio recording (DAR) of health consultations to provide knowledge about patients' use and evaluation of this recording method. A cross-sectional feasibility analysis of the intervention using log data from the recording platform and data from a patient-administered questionnaire. Four different outpatient clinics at a Danish hospital: Paediatrics, Orthopaedics, Internal Medicine and Urology. Two thousand seven hundred and eighty-four outpatients having their consultation audio recorded by one of 49 participating health professionals. DAR of outpatient consultations provided to patients permitting replay of their consultation either alone or together with their relatives. Replay of the consultation within 90 days from the consultation. In the adult outpatient clinics, one in every three consultations was replayed; however, the rates were significantly lower in the paediatric clinic where one in five consultations was replayed. The usage of the audio recordings was positively associated with increasing patient age and first time visits to the clinic. Patient gender influenced replays in different ways; for instance, relatives to male patients replayed recordings more often than relatives to female patients did. Approval of future recordings was high among the patients who replayed the consultation. Patients found that recording health consultations was an important information aid, and the digital recording technology was found to be feasible in routine practice. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care; all rights reserved.

Audio-visual feedback improves the BCI performance in the navigational control of a humanoid robot

PubMed Central

Tidoni, Emmanuele; Gergondet, Pierre; Kheddar, Abderrahmane; Aglioti, Salvatore M.

2014-01-01

Advancement in brain computer interfaces (BCI) technology allows people to actively interact in the world through surrogates. Controlling real humanoid robots using BCI as intuitively as we control our body represents a challenge for current research in robotics and neuroscience. In order to successfully interact with the environment the brain integrates multiple sensory cues to form a coherent representation of the world. Cognitive neuroscience studies demonstrate that multisensory integration may imply a gain with respect to a single modality and ultimately improve the overall sensorimotor performance. For example, reactivity to simultaneous visual and auditory stimuli may be higher than to the sum of the same stimuli delivered in isolation or in temporal sequence. Yet, knowledge about whether audio-visual integration may improve the control of a surrogate is meager. To explore this issue, we provided human footstep sounds as audio feedback to BCI users while controlling a humanoid robot. Participants were asked to steer their robot surrogate and perform a pick-and-place task through BCI-SSVEPs. We found that audio-visual synchrony between footsteps sound and actual humanoid's walk reduces the time required for steering the robot. Thus, auditory feedback congruent with the humanoid actions may improve motor decisions of the BCI's user and help in the feeling of control over it. Our results shed light on the possibility to increase robot's control through the combination of multisensory feedback to a BCI user. PMID:24987350

Sounding Out Science: Incorporating Audio Technology to Assist Students with Learning Differences in Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gomes, Clement V.

With the current focus to have all students reach scientific literacy in the U.S, there exists a need to support marginalized students, such as those with Learning Disabilities/Differences (LD), to reach the same educational goals as their mainstream counterparts. This dissertation examines the benefits of using audio assistive technology on the iPad to support LD students to achieve comprehension of science vocabulary and semantics. This dissertation is composed of two papers, both of which include qualitative information supported by quantified data. The first paper, titled Using Technology to Overcome Fundamental Literacy Constraints for Students with Learning Differences to Achieve Scientific Literacy, provides quantified evidence from pretest and posttest analysis that audio technology can be beneficial for seventh grade LD students when learning new and unfamiliar science content. Analysis of observations and student interviews support the findings. The second paper, titled Time, Energy, and Motivation: Utilizing Technology to Ease Science Understanding for Students with Learning Differences, supports the importance of creating technology that is clear, audible, and easy for students to use so they benefit and desire to utilize the learning tool. Multiple correlation of Likert Survey analysis was used to identify four major items and was supported with analysis from observations of and interviews with students, parents, and educators. This study provides useful information to support the rising number of identified LD students and their parents and teachers by presenting the benefits of using audio assistive technology to learn science.

Digital Audio: A Sound Design Element.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barron, Ann; Varnadoe, Susan

1992-01-01

Discussion of incorporating audio into videodiscs for multimedia educational applications highlights a project developed for the Navy that used digital audio in an interactive video delivery system (IVDS) for training sonar operators. Storage constraints with videodiscs are explained, design requirements for the IVDS are described, and production…

22 CFR 61.1 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND EXCHANGES WORLD-WIDE FREE FLOW OF AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS § 61.1... educational, scientific and cultural audio-visual materials between nations by providing favorable import... issuance or authentication of a certificate that the audio-visual material for which favorable treatment is...

78 FR 36683 - Radio Broadcasting Services; Summit, Mississippi

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-19

.... SUMMARY: In this document, the Audio Division, at the request of Bowen Broadcasting, allots FM Channel... Audio Division reclassifies Station WQUE-FM, New Orleans, Louisiana, to specify operation on FM Channel... Communications Commission. Nazifa Sawez, Assistant Chief, Audio Division, Media Bureau. For the reasons discussed...

22 CFR 61.1 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND EXCHANGES WORLD-WIDE FREE FLOW OF AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS § 61.1... educational, scientific and cultural audio-visual materials between nations by providing favorable import... issuance or authentication of a certificate that the audio-visual material for which favorable treatment is...

22 CFR 61.1 - Purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND EXCHANGES WORLD-WIDE FREE FLOW OF AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS § 61.1... educational, scientific and cultural audio-visual materials between nations by providing favorable import... issuance or authentication of a certificate that the audio-visual material for which favorable treatment is...

The Audio-Visual Equipment Directory. Seventeenth Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herickes, Sally, Ed.

The following types of audiovisual equipment are catalogued: 8 mm. and 16 mm. motion picture projectors, filmstrip and sound filmstrip projectors, slide projectors, random access projection equipment, opaque, overhead, and micro-projectors, record players, special purpose projection equipment, audio tape recorders and players, audio tape…

7 CFR 47.15 - Oral hearing before the examiner.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... whether the hearing will be conducted by telephone, audio-visual telecommunication, or personal attendance... audio-visual telecommunication. Any motion that the hearing be conducted by telephone or personal... conducted other than by audio-visual telecommunication. (ii) Within 10 days after the examiner issues a...

7 CFR 47.15 - Oral hearing before the examiner.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... whether the hearing will be conducted by telephone, audio-visual telecommunication, or personal attendance... audio-visual telecommunication. Any motion that the hearing be conducted by telephone or personal... conducted other than by audio-visual telecommunication. (ii) Within 10 days after the examiner issues a...

37 CFR 383.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 383.2 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RATES AND TERMS... make digital audio transmissions as part of a Service (as defined in paragraph (h) of this section...) The audio channels are delivered by digital audio transmissions through a technology that is incapable...

37 CFR 383.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 383.2 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RATES AND TERMS... make digital audio transmissions as part of a Service (as defined in paragraph (h) of this section...) The audio channels are delivered by digital audio transmissions through a technology that is incapable...

37 CFR 383.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 383.2 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RATES AND TERMS... make digital audio transmissions as part of a Service (as defined in paragraph (h) of this section...) The audio channels are delivered by digital audio transmissions through a technology that is incapable...

37 CFR 383.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 383.2 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS RATES AND TERMS... make digital audio transmissions as part of a Service (as defined in paragraph (h) of this section...) The audio channels are delivered by digital audio transmissions through a technology that is incapable...

Stress Reduction through Audio Distraction in Anxious Pediatric Dental Patients: An Adjunctive Clinical Study.

PubMed

Singh, Divya; Samadi, Firoza; Jaiswal, Jn; Tripathi, Abhay Mani

2014-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the eff-cacy of 'audio distraction' in anxious pediatric dental patients. Sixty children were randomly selected and equally divided into two groups of thirty each. The first group was control group (group A) and the second group was music group (group B). The dental procedure employed was extraction for both the groups. The children included in music group were allowed to hear audio presentation throughout the treatment procedure. Anxiety was measured by using Venham's picture test, pulse rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation. 'Audio distraction' was found efficacious in alleviating anxiety of pediatric dental patients. 'Audio distraction' did decrease the anxiety in pediatric patients to a significant extent. How to cite this article: Singh D, Samadi F, Jaiswal JN, Tripathi AM. Stress Reduction through Audio Distraction in Anxious Pediatric Dental Patients: An Adjunctive Clinical Study. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2014;7(3):149-152.

Audio-based queries for video retrieval over Java enabled mobile devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Iftikhar; Cheikh, Faouzi Alaya; Kiranyaz, Serkan; Gabbouj, Moncef

2006-02-01

In this paper we propose a generic framework for efficient retrieval of audiovisual media based on its audio content. This framework is implemented in a client-server architecture where the client application is developed in Java to be platform independent whereas the server application is implemented for the PC platform. The client application adapts to the characteristics of the mobile device where it runs such as screen size and commands. The entire framework is designed to take advantage of the high-level segmentation and classification of audio content to improve speed and accuracy of audio-based media retrieval. Therefore, the primary objective of this framework is to provide an adaptive basis for performing efficient video retrieval operations based on the audio content and types (i.e. speech, music, fuzzy and silence). Experimental results approve that such an audio based video retrieval scheme can be used from mobile devices to search and retrieve video clips efficiently over wireless networks.

The Benefit of Remote Microphones Using Four Wireless Protocols.

PubMed

Rodemerk, Krishna S; Galster, Jason A

2015-09-01

Many studies have reported the speech recognition benefits of a personal remote microphone system when used by adult listeners with hearing loss. The advance of wireless technology has allowed for many wireless audio transmission protocols. Some of these protocols interface with commercially available hearing aids. As a result, commercial remote microphone systems use a variety of different protocols for wireless audio transmission. It is not known how these systems compare, with regard to adult speech recognition in noise. The primary goal of this investigation was to determine the speech recognition benefits of four different commercially available remote microphone systems, each with a different wireless audio transmission protocol. A repeated-measures design was used in this study. Sixteen adults, ages 52 to 81 yr, with mild to severe sensorineural hearing loss participated in this study. Participants were fit with three different sets of bilateral hearing aids and four commercially available remote microphone systems (FM, 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and Bluetooth(®) paired with near-field magnetic induction). Speech recognition scores were measured by an adaptive version of the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT). The participants were seated both 6 and 12' away from the talker loudspeaker. Participants repeated HINT sentences with and without hearing aids and with four commercially available remote microphone systems in both seated positions with and without contributions from the hearing aid or environmental microphone (24 total conditions). The HINT SNR-50, or the signal-to-noise ratio required for correct repetition of 50% of the sentences, was recorded for all conditions. A one-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used to determine statistical significance of microphone condition. The results of this study revealed that use of the remote microphone systems statistically improved speech recognition in noise relative to unaided and hearing aid-only conditions across all four wireless transmission protocols at 6 and 12' away from the talker. Participants showed a significant improvement in speech recognition in noise when comparing four remote microphone systems with different wireless transmission methods to hearing aids alone. American Academy of Audiology.

Interface Design Implications for Recalling the Spatial Configuration of Virtual Auditory Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McMullen, Kyla A.

Although the concept of virtual spatial audio has existed for almost twenty-five years, only in the past fifteen years has modern computing technology enabled the real-time processing needed to deliver high-precision spatial audio. Furthermore, the concept of virtually walking through an auditory environment did not exist. The applications of such an interface have numerous potential uses. Spatial audio has the potential to be used in various manners ranging from enhancing sounds delivered in virtual gaming worlds to conveying spatial locations in real-time emergency response systems. To incorporate this technology in real-world systems, various concerns should be addressed. First, to widely incorporate spatial audio into real-world systems, head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) must be inexpensively created for each user. The present study further investigated an HRTF subjective selection procedure previously developed within our research group. Users discriminated auditory cues to subjectively select their preferred HRTF from a publicly available database. Next, the issue of training to find virtual sources was addressed. Listeners participated in a localization training experiment using their selected HRTFs. The training procedure was created from the characterization of successful search strategies in prior auditory search experiments. Search accuracy significantly improved after listeners performed the training procedure. Next, in the investigation of auditory spatial memory, listeners completed three search and recall tasks with differing recall methods. Recall accuracy significantly decreased in tasks that required the storage of sound source configurations in memory. To assess the impacts of practical scenarios, the present work assessed the performance effects of: signal uncertainty, visual augmentation, and different attenuation modeling. Fortunately, source uncertainty did not affect listeners' ability to recall or identify sound sources. The present study also found that the presence of visual reference frames significantly increased recall accuracy. Additionally, the incorporation of drastic attenuation significantly improved environment recall accuracy. Through investigating the aforementioned concerns, the present study made initial footsteps guiding the design of virtual auditory environments that support spatial configuration recall.

47 CFR 14.50 - Status conference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... all attending parties at least three business days prior to the status conference, an audio recording... conference, the parties may make an audio recording of, or use a stenographer to transcribe, the oral... oral rulings. A complete transcript of any audio recording or stenographic transcription shall be filed...

7 CFR 8.8 - Use by public informational services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... services. (a) In any advertisement, display, exhibit, visual and audio-visual material, news release..., news releases, publications in any form, visuals and audio-visuals, or displays in any form must not... agency, organization or individual, for production of films, visual and audio-visual materials, books...

7 CFR 8.8 - Use by public informational services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... services. (a) In any advertisement, display, exhibit, visual and audio-visual material, news release..., news releases, publications in any form, visuals and audio-visuals, or displays in any form must not... agency, organization or individual, for production of films, visual and audio-visual materials, books...

7 CFR 8.8 - Use by public informational services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... services. (a) In any advertisement, display, exhibit, visual and audio-visual material, news release..., news releases, publications in any form, visuals and audio-visuals, or displays in any form must not... agency, organization or individual, for production of films, visual and audio-visual materials, books...

47 CFR 14.50 - Status conference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... all attending parties at least three business days prior to the status conference, an audio recording... conference, the parties may make an audio recording of, or use a stenographer to transcribe, the oral... oral rulings. A complete transcript of any audio recording or stenographic transcription shall be filed...

7 CFR 8.8 - Use by public informational services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... services. (a) In any advertisement, display, exhibit, visual and audio-visual material, news release..., news releases, publications in any form, visuals and audio-visuals, or displays in any form must not... agency, organization or individual, for production of films, visual and audio-visual materials, books...

7 CFR 8.8 - Use by public informational services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... services. (a) In any advertisement, display, exhibit, visual and audio-visual material, news release..., news releases, publications in any form, visuals and audio-visuals, or displays in any form must not... agency, organization or individual, for production of films, visual and audio-visual materials, books...

LiveDescribe: Can Amateur Describers Create High-Quality Audio Description?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Branje, Carmen J.; Fels, Deborah I.

2012-01-01

Introduction: The study presented here evaluated the usability of the audio description software LiveDescribe and explored the acceptance rates of audio description created by amateur describers who used LiveDescribe to facilitate the creation of their descriptions. Methods: Twelve amateur describers with little or no previous experience with…

Let Their Voices Be Heard! Building a Multicultural Audio Collection.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tucker, Judith Cook

1992-01-01

Discusses building a multicultural audio collection for a library. Gives some guidelines about selecting materials that really represent different cultures. Audio materials that are considered fall roughly into the categories of children's stories, didactic materials, oral histories, poetry and folktales, and music. The goal is an authentic…

Effective Use of Audio Media in Multimedia Presentations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerr, Brenda

This paper emphasizes research-based reasons for adding audio to multimedia presentations. The first section summarizes suggestions from a review of research on the effectiveness of audio media when accompanied by other forms of media; types of research studies (e.g., evaluation, intra-medium, and aptitude treatment interaction studies) are also…

Tune in the Net with RealAudio.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buchanan, Larry

1997-01-01

Describes how to connect to the RealAudio Web site to download a player that provides sound from Web pages to the computer through streaming technology. Explains hardware and software requirements and provides addresses for other RealAudio Web sites are provided, including weather information and current news. (LRW)

47 CFR 73.4275 - Tone clusters; audio attention-getting devices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Tone clusters; audio attention-getting devices. 73.4275 Section 73.4275 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) BROADCAST... clusters; audio attention-getting devices. See Public Notice, FCC 76-610, dated July 2, 1976. 60 FCC 2d 920...

7 CFR 1.168 - Procedure for hearing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... file with the Hearing Clerk a notice stating whether the hearing will be conducted by telephone, audio... personal attendance of any individual expected to attend the hearing rather than by audio-visual... basis for the motion and the circumstances that require the hearing to be conducted other than by audio...

47 CFR 73.4275 - Tone clusters; audio attention-getting devices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Tone clusters; audio attention-getting devices. 73.4275 Section 73.4275 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) BROADCAST... clusters; audio attention-getting devices. See Public Notice, FCC 76-610, dated July 2, 1976. 60 FCC 2d 920...

47 CFR 95.637 - Modulation standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... frequency deviation of plus or minus 2.5 kHz, and the audio frequency response must not exceed 3.125 kHz..., must automatically prevent a greater than normal audio level from causing overmodulation. The transmitter also must include audio frequency low pass filtering, unless it complies with the applicable...

47 CFR 73.4275 - Tone clusters; audio attention-getting devices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Tone clusters; audio attention-getting devices. 73.4275 Section 73.4275 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) BROADCAST... clusters; audio attention-getting devices. See Public Notice, FCC 76-610, dated July 2, 1976. 60 FCC 2d 920...