Difference in Voice Problems and Noise Reports Between Teachers of Public and Private Schools in Upper Egypt

Publication date: Available online 14 November 2016
Source:Journal of Voice
Author(s): Ahmed Abo-Hasseba, Teija Waaramaa, Paavo Alku, Ahmed Geneid
ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess teachers' voice symptoms and noise in schools in Upper Egypt and to study possible differences between teachers in public and private schools.Study DesignA cross-sectional analysis via questionnaire was carried out.MethodsFour schools were chosen randomly to represent primary and preparatory schools as well as public and private ones. In these schools, a total of 140 teachers participated in the study. They answered a questionnaire on vocal and throat symptoms and their effects on working and social activities, as well as levels and effects of experienced noise.ResultsOf all teachers, 47.9% reported moderate or severe dysphonia within the last 6 months, and 21.4% reported daily dysphonia. All teachers reported frequent feelings of being in noise, with 82.2% feeling it sometimes or always during the working day, resulting in a need to raise their voice. Teachers in public schools experienced more noise from nearby classes.ConclusionThe working conditions and vocal health of teachers in Upper Egypt, especially in public schools, are alarming.



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Tinnitus Composer

Have you ever been to an extremely loud live musical performance? How about a shooting range without ear protection, or to a small dance club with a blaring sound system in dire need of equalization?

If you are familiar with the experiences above, you know about that ringing feeling in your ears that seems to take a long time to dissipate. Imagine having to endure that sensation all your life, with the ringing only pausing when you are dutifully asleep or when other sounds cancel it. Such is the life of people who suffer from tinnitus, a condition that is often related to hearing loss.
Understanding Tinnitus in History

Tinnitus is not technically a disease; it is a condition that may accompany other ailments such as Ménière’s disease, a type of vertigo, chronic hearing loss, depression, recurring infections, and others.

Famous tinnitus sufferers throughout history include Charles Darwin, who methodically recorded what he thought would be approximate frequency range of the ringing in his ears. There was also Michelangelo, who used to get upset but eventually ignored the ringing. Interestingly, many musicians who learned to deal with this condition would become famous tinnitus composers.

How a Tinnitus Composer Works With Music

Ludwig van Beethoven is a classic case of tinnitus associated with depression and chronic hearing loss. Some historians believe that Beethoven may have rushed to create his most magnificent symphonies and other musical pieces before going completely deaf.

Another famous tinnitus composer is Ignaz Holzbauer who composed a magnificent opera while on the verge of total hearing loss. A young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was impressed with that particular opera. Neil Young is a tinnitus composer who famously experimented with very loud rock creations and paid the price with diminished hearing.

Daniel Fishkin is a contemporary tinnitus composer who created the Tinnitus Suites as he succumbed to the condition in 2008. Fishkin approaches music and hearing damage in a manner that recalls Aristotle’s pondering of tinnitus: he notices how some notes and sounds can actually cut through the ringing, albeit temporarily.

In 2016, the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage supported “Composing the Tinnitus Suites: 2016,” an intriguing concert and sound installation that actually borrows elements of tinnitus to create a sound experience. The idea is to use sound and its ensuing vibrations to cut through the isolation that tinnitus and hearing loss creates.

Neuroscience researchers believe that there is a social element that can alleviate the plight of tinnitus sufferers, and Fishkin’s sound installation is living proof of this theory.

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Stem cells provide sound in vitro models for deafness

A collaboration, including researchers from Juntendo University, demonstrate differentiation from stem cells into specialised cells thought to be the most important therapeutic target for the...

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Stem cells provide sound in vitro models for deafness

A collaboration, including researchers from Juntendo University, demonstrate differentiation from stem cells into specialised cells thought to be the most important therapeutic target for the...

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Stem cells provide sound in vitro models for deafness

A collaboration, including researchers from Juntendo University, demonstrate differentiation from stem cells into specialised cells thought to be the most important therapeutic target for the...

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An upper bound for the directivity index of superdirective acoustic vector sensor arrays

Approximate analytical expressions of the white noise gain (WNG) for two superdirective acoustic vector sensor arrays are provided, which disclose the strong dependence of the tradeoff between the WNG and the directivity index (DI) on the highest order of the modes for the pattern synthesis. The considered arrays are a uniform linear array and a uniform circular array. A condition on the WNG that ensures a high array gain in the two-dimensional homogeneous and isotropic noise field is deduced. Using this condition, an upper bound on the highest order of the modes for the pattern synthesis can be derived, and hence the maximum DI can be determined. The presented results are not strictly limited to the two array geometries considered herein, and can be extended to other superdirective acoustic array designs.

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Design of arbitrary shaped pentamode acoustic cloak based on quasi-symmetric mapping gradient algorithm

Due to solid and broadband nature, pentamode acoustic cloak is more promising for engineering applications. A simple algorithm based on an elasticity equation is proposed to obtain quasi-symmetric mapping gradient and in turn the characteristic stress for arbitrary shape cloaks. A high degree of symmetry of the obtained mapping gradient and nearly perfect cloaking effect of the designed pentamode cloaks are confirmed by numerical examples. The proposed method paves the way to design more complicated transformation devices with pentamode materials.

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Cetacean acoustic detections from free-floating vertical hydrophone arrays in the southern California Current

Drifting acoustic recorders were deployed in the southern California Current during Fall 2014. Two hydrophones configured as a 2-m vertical array at 100 m depth recorded using a 192 kHz sample rate on a 10% duty cycle (2 min/20 min). Beaked whales were detected in 33 of 8618 two-minute recordings. Sperm whales were detected in 185 recordings, and dolphins in 2291 recordings. Many beaked whales detected were over an abyssal plain and not associated with slope or seamount features. Results show the feasibility of using free-floating recording systems to detect a variety of cetacean species over periods of several months.

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Lateralization of interaural timing differences with multi-electrode stimulation in bilateral cochlear-implant users

Bilateral cochlear implant (BiCI) users have shown variability in interaural time difference (ITD) sensitivity at different places along the cochlea. This paper investigates perception of multi-electrode binaural stimulation to determine if auditory object formation (AOF) and lateralization are affected by variability in ITD sensitivity when a complex sound is encoded with multi-channel processing. AOF and ITD lateralization were compared between single- and multi-electrode configurations. Most (7/8) BiCI users perceived a single auditory object with multi-electrode stimulation, and the range of lateralization was comparable to single-electrode stimulation, suggesting that variability in single-electrode ITD sensitivity does not compromise AOF with multi-electrode stimulation.

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A Is lower peripheral information weighted differently as a function of step number during step climbing?

Publication date: Available online 13 November 2016
Source:Gait & Posture
Author(s): Valentina Graci, Marco Rabuffetti, Carlo Frigo, Maurizio Ferrarin
The importance of peripheral visual information during stair climbing and how peripheral visual information is weighted as a function of step number during step climbing is unclear. Previous authors postulated that the knowledge of predictable characteristics of the steps may decrease reliance on foveal vision and transfer the online visual guidance of stair climbing to peripheral vision. Hence the aim of this study was to investigate if and how the occlusion of the lower peripheral visual field influenced stair climbing and if peripheral visual information was weighted differently between steps.Ten young adult male participants ascended a 5-step staircase under 2 visual conditions: full vision (FV) and lower visual occlusion (LO). Kinematic data (100Hz) were collected. The effect of Vision and Step condition on vertical forefoot clearance was examined with a Repeated Measures 2-way ANOVA. Tukey’s HSD test was used for post-hoc comparisons. A significant main effect of Step and interaction Vision x Step were found (p=0.04): vertical forefoot clearance was greater on the last step compared to the other steps (p<0.01) and in LO compared to FV condition only on the 1st and the 2nd steps (p<0.013).These findings suggest that online peripheral visual information is more relevant when negotiating the first two steps, rather than the end of a staircase and that the steps subsequent the first few ones may require different information likely based on proprioception or working memory of the step height.



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A Is lower peripheral information weighted differently as a function of step number during step climbing?

Publication date: Available online 13 November 2016
Source:Gait & Posture
Author(s): Valentina Graci, Marco Rabuffetti, Carlo Frigo, Maurizio Ferrarin
The importance of peripheral visual information during stair climbing and how peripheral visual information is weighted as a function of step number during step climbing is unclear. Previous authors postulated that the knowledge of predictable characteristics of the steps may decrease reliance on foveal vision and transfer the online visual guidance of stair climbing to peripheral vision. Hence the aim of this study was to investigate if and how the occlusion of the lower peripheral visual field influenced stair climbing and if peripheral visual information was weighted differently between steps.Ten young adult male participants ascended a 5-step staircase under 2 visual conditions: full vision (FV) and lower visual occlusion (LO). Kinematic data (100Hz) were collected. The effect of Vision and Step condition on vertical forefoot clearance was examined with a Repeated Measures 2-way ANOVA. Tukey’s HSD test was used for post-hoc comparisons. A significant main effect of Step and interaction Vision x Step were found (p=0.04): vertical forefoot clearance was greater on the last step compared to the other steps (p<0.01) and in LO compared to FV condition only on the 1st and the 2nd steps (p<0.013).These findings suggest that online peripheral visual information is more relevant when negotiating the first two steps, rather than the end of a staircase and that the steps subsequent the first few ones may require different information likely based on proprioception or working memory of the step height.



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A Is lower peripheral information weighted differently as a function of step number during step climbing?

Publication date: Available online 13 November 2016
Source:Gait & Posture
Author(s): Valentina Graci, Marco Rabuffetti, Carlo Frigo, Maurizio Ferrarin
The importance of peripheral visual information during stair climbing and how peripheral visual information is weighted as a function of step number during step climbing is unclear. Previous authors postulated that the knowledge of predictable characteristics of the steps may decrease reliance on foveal vision and transfer the online visual guidance of stair climbing to peripheral vision. Hence the aim of this study was to investigate if and how the occlusion of the lower peripheral visual field influenced stair climbing and if peripheral visual information was weighted differently between steps.Ten young adult male participants ascended a 5-step staircase under 2 visual conditions: full vision (FV) and lower visual occlusion (LO). Kinematic data (100Hz) were collected. The effect of Vision and Step condition on vertical forefoot clearance was examined with a Repeated Measures 2-way ANOVA. Tukey’s HSD test was used for post-hoc comparisons. A significant main effect of Step and interaction Vision x Step were found (p=0.04): vertical forefoot clearance was greater on the last step compared to the other steps (p<0.01) and in LO compared to FV condition only on the 1st and the 2nd steps (p<0.013).These findings suggest that online peripheral visual information is more relevant when negotiating the first two steps, rather than the end of a staircase and that the steps subsequent the first few ones may require different information likely based on proprioception or working memory of the step height.



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A common variant in CLDN14 causes precipitous, prelingual sensorineural hearing loss in multiple families due to founder effect.

A common variant in CLDN14 causes precipitous, prelingual sensorineural hearing loss in multiple families due to founder effect.

Hum Genet. 2016 Nov 12;

Authors: Pater JA, Benteau T, Griffin A, Penney C, Stanton SG, Predham S, Kielley B, Squires J, Zhou J, Li Q, Abdelfatah N, O'Rielly DD, Young TL

Abstract
Genetic isolates provide unprecedented opportunities to identify pathogenic mutations and explore the full natural history of clinically heterogeneous phenotypes such as hearing loss. We noticed a unique audioprofile, characterized by prelingual and rapid deterioration of hearing thresholds at frequencies >0.5 kHz in several adults from unrelated families from the island population of Newfoundland. Targeted serial Sanger sequencing of probands for deafness alleles (n = 23) that we previously identified in this founder population was negative. Whole exome sequencing in four members of the largest family (R2010) identified a CLDN14 (DFNB29) variant [c.488C>T; p. (Ala163Val)], likely pathogenic, sensorineural hearing loss, autosomal recessive. Although not associated with deafness or disease, CLDN14 p.(Ala163Val) has been previously reported as a variant of uncertain significance (VUS). Targeted sequencing of 169 deafness probands identified one homozygote and one heterozygous carrier. Genealogical studies, cascade sequencing and haplotype analysis across four unrelated families showed all subjects with the unique audioprofile (n = 12) were also homozygous for p.(Ala163Val) and shared a 1.4 Mb DFNB29-associated haplotype on chromosome 21. Most significantly, sequencing 175 population controls revealed 1% of the population are heterozygous for CLDN14 p.(Ala163Val), consistent with a major founder effect in Newfoundland. The youngest CLDN14 [c.488C>T; p.(Ala163Val)] homozygote passed newborn screening and had normal hearing thresholds up to 3 years of age, which then deteriorated to a precipitous loss >1 kHz during the first decade. Our study suggests that genetic testing may be necessary to identify at-risk children in time to prevent speech, language and developmental delay.

PMID: 27838790 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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