Audiology

Conceptualizations of Organizational Change Viewed Through the Lens of Power: A Tutorial for the Speech-Language Pathologist/Audiologist Administrator

by Patrick Walden

Published in Perspectives on Administration and Supervision

Both educational and healthcare organizations are in a constant state of change whether triggered by national,... more Both educational and healthcare organizations are in a constant state of change whether triggered by national, regional, local or organization-level policy. The Speech-Language Pathologist/Audiologist-administrator who aids in the planning and implementation of these changes, however, may not be familiar with the expansive literature on change in organizations. Further, how organizational change is planned and implemented is likely affected by leaders’ and administrators’ personal conceptualizations of social power which may affect how front line clinicians experience organizational change processes. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to introduce the Speech-Language Pathologist/Audiologist-administrator to a research-based classification system for theories of change and to review the concept of power in social systems. Two prominent approaches to change in organizations are reviewed and these two approaches are then discussed as they relate to one another as well as to social conceptualizations of power.

Adaptation of the BKB-SIN Test for Use as a Pediatric Aided Outcome Measure

by Stella Ng

The role of reflection in audiology students' development as professional practitioners: A constructivist grounded theory

by Stella Ng

Dragana Stojanovic - John Cage i sveprozimajuce zvucno telo prostora

by Dragana Stojanovic

published in Nova misao - časopis za savremenu kulturu Vojvodine br. 12, IU „Misao“, Novi Sad, 2011, 42-44.

Learning not to listen: the experiences of musicians with hearing impairments

by Robert Fulford

Fulford, R., Ginsborg, J., & Goldbart, J. (2011). Learning not to listen: the experiences of musicians with hearing impairments. Music Education Research, 13(4), 429-446.

The journey from playful musical exploration in childhood to an adult identity as a skilled musician is likely to be... more The journey from playful musical exploration in childhood to an adult identity as a skilled musician is likely to be problematic for people with hearing impairments. Although a number of subjective accounts have been published, there is a lack of empirical research in the area. In this study, twelve musicians with hearing impairments were interviewed about their musical background, hearing loss and experiences of interactive music making. A thematic network analysis was performed on the verbatim transcripts. Musical families were shown to facilitate positive, early, influential experiences helping individuals to develop musical selfefficacy. These themes were found to operate independently of the challenges posed by a hearing impairment and in spite of negative music-making experiences. Dynamic listening styles were identified, ranging from full reliance on hearing to discriminate and even non-auditory attending. The development of listening styles was found to be crucial in negotiating problems in auditory perception caused by physiological changes in hearing level and the distorting effects of hearing aids.

Benefits of Low-Frequency Attenuation of Baha® in Single-Sided Sensorineural Deafness

by Mark Flynn

The effect of Adaptive Momentum in improving the Accuracy of Gradient Descent Back Propagation Algorithm on classification Problems

by Syed Muhammad Zubair Rehman Gillani

Authors: M. Z. Rehman, N. M. Nawi

Proceedings: The 2nd International Conference on Software
Engineering and Computer Systems (ICSECS) 2011

Published in Journal: Communications in Computer and Information Science. 179 (6) 2011.

Location: Kuantan, Malaysia

Date: 27-06-2011 TO 29-06-2011

The traditional Gradient Descent Back-propagation Neural Network Algorithm is widely used in solving many practical... more The traditional Gradient Descent Back-propagation Neural Network Algorithm is widely used in solving many practical applications around the globe. Despite providing successful solutions, it possesses a problem of slow convergence and sometimes getting stuck at local minima. Several modifications are suggested to improve the convergence rate of Gradient Descent Back-propagation algorithm such as careful selection of initial weights and biases, learning rate, momentum, network topology, activation function and ‘gain’ value in the activation function. In a certain variation, the previous researchers demonstrated that in “feed-forward algorithm”, the slope of activation function is directly influenced by ‘gain’ parameter. This research proposed an algorithm for improving the current working performance of Backpropagation algorithm by adaptively changing the momentum value and at the same time keeping the ‘gain’ parameter fixed for all nodes in the neural network. The performance of the proposed method known as ‘Gradient Descent Method with Adaptive Momentum (GDAM)’is compared with the performances of ‘Gradient Descent Method with Adaptive Gain (GDM-AG)’ and ‘Gradient Descent with Simple Momentum (GDM)’. The learning rate is kept fixed while sigmoid activation function is used throughout the experiments. The efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated by simulations on three classification problems. Results show that GDAM is far better than previous methods with an accuracy ratio of 1.0 for classification problems and can be used as an alternative approach of BPNN.

Review of fish behavior relevant to fish guidance systems

by Blake Feist

Feist, BE & JJ Anderson (1991) University of Washington, School of Fisheries - FRI Report. FRI-UW-9102

Safe and efficient passage of outmigrating juvenile Pacific salmon through fish guidance systems at hydroelectric... more Safe and efficient passage of outmigrating juvenile Pacific salmon through fish guidance systems at hydroelectric projects on the Columbia River is essential if the numbers of returning adults are to be maintained. Fish guidance efficiency (FGE) is variable between dams and between years at any given dam, and the reasons for this variability are not clear. This situation exists, in part, because significant differences between the systems make it difficult to extrapolate from one situation to the other.

There is a large body of literature concerning fish behavior and ecology and this information can be applied to understanding the behavior of fish in response to the stimuli encountered at hydroelectric projects. A set of guidelines or minimum design criteria is necessary. Although it is not possible to design optimal guidance systems, there is sufficient information to establish minimum design criteria below which a system will not work. In the context of the immediate needs of fish guidance research, minimum design criteria can help identify and thus avoid, the development of inadequate fish bypass systems. In a long term context, minimum design criteria will facilitate improved behavioral guidance systems by identifying where additional work is required to develop design criteria to optimize guidance systems.

This literature review examines five key parameters that we feel affect FGE the most: light and vision, sound and hearing, water currents and rheotaxis, turbidity, and temperature. All five of these factors interact simultaneously at times, so it is often difficult to "tease apart" the individual effects. Therefore, the information presented will often overlap and/or combine one or more of the five factors. For each factor we will provide a brief background with definitions and then we will attempt to apply what is known about each factor to fish guidance at dams and minimum design criteria.

Hearing Beyond the Normal Enabled by Therapeutic Devices: The Role of the Recipient and the Hearing Profession

by Gregor Wolbring

open access

The time is near where ‘therapeutic’ bodily assistive devices, developed to mimic species-typical body structures in... more The time is near where ‘therapeutic’ bodily assistive devices, developed to mimic species-typical body structures in order to enable normative body functioning, will allow the wearer to outperform the species-typical body in various functions. Although such devices are developed for people that are seen to exhibit sub species-typical abilities, many ‘therapeutic enhancements’ might also be desired and used by people that exhibit species-typical body abilities. This paper presents the views of members of the World Federation of the Deaf on potential beyond species-typical abilities enabling therapeutic assistive devices (i.e. related to hearing). Survey respondents showed support for the development and uptake of beyond normal hearing enabling devices. The views of survey respondents as clients affect hearing-enabling professions (such as audiologist and speech pathologists). The paper analyzes what guidance code of ethics of hearing enabling professions give in regards to beyond normal hearing enabling devices. This paper suggests that people labeled impaired and the professions that serve them should more involved in the enhancement discourse.

Otitis media and sound localization ability in preschool children

by Aveliny Lima-Gregio

Co-authored with: Lucila Leal Calais; Mariza Ribeiro Feniman.
Published in Revista Cefac. 2010, vol.12, n.6, pp. 1033-1040 in Portuguese.

Purpose: to compare the sound localization ability of 40 preschool children with their parents answers. The... more Purpose: to compare the sound localization ability of 40 preschool children with their parents answers. The questionnaire answered by the parents investigated otitis media (OM) episodes and symptoms that indicate audiological and auditory processing disabilities. Methods: after applying and analyzing the questionnaire answers, two groups were formed: OG (with OM) and CG (control group). Each group with 20 preschool, both genders, was submitted to the sound localization test in five directions (according Pereira, 1993). Results: comparison between OG and CG did not reveal statistically significant difference (p=1.0000). Conclusion: the OM episodes during first infancy did not influence the sound localization ability in this preschool children study. Although both evaluation instruments used (questionnaire and sound localization test) are cheap and easy to apply they are not sufficient to differ both tested group.

Language and Hearing abilities in a post-linguistic hearing impairment due to Meningitis: a single case

by Aveliny Lima-Gregio

Co-authored with Daniele Cristina Sedano; Vera Lúcia Garcia.
Published in "Jornal Brasileiro de Fonoaudiologia". 2004 in Portuguese

This study had the objective of describing linguistic and hearing characteristics of a case in witch the hearing... more This study had the objective of describing linguistic and hearing characteristics of a case in witch the hearing impairment happened after language acquisition, due to bacterial meningitis. For this study, we performed an analysis of the case history, using the clinical records of the child, and a language and hearing sample, using video taping. In this single case study, the subject presents bilateral, symmetric, profound, sensorial hearing loss, with absence of transient otoacoustic emissions and brain stem auditory evoked responses. Analysis of the samples revealed the use of phrases with three elements, a finding which indicates a reduction in the number of linguistics elements during attempts of oral communication, and difficulties with the narrative abilities. The phonological characteristics included the use of process not the expected for subject's age, along with the use of disordered processes, as well as the presence of non-systematic distortion during the production of most of the sounds. These findings suggested the need for systematic and intensive language and hearing intervention, in order to improve this individual's abilities to orally communicative. The need to further evaluation of specific linguistic aspects in warranted.

Measurement of low frequency sound at Bonneville, McNary, and Lower Granite Dams

by Blake Feist

Anderson, JJ, BE Feist, RT Miyamoto, SO & S McConnell (1989) University of Washington, School of Fisheries - FRI Report. FRI-UW-8906

This is the final report of a study that measured low frequency sound generated by four Columbia River hydroelectric... more This is the final report of a study that measured low frequency sound generated by four Columbia River hydroelectric projects. Low frequency sound in the range perceived by downstream migrating fish was measured at: Bonneville Dam First and Second Powerhouses, Lower Granite Dam and McNary Dam. The report describes the characteristics and sources of underwater sound.

Sound is characterized by frequency and sound pressure level, defined as SPL = 20log10 (p/pref), where p and pref are measured and reference sound pressures. The SPL in turbine entrances differed between powerhouses. Bonneville Second had the lowest SPL, while Bonneville First had the highest SPL. Each project had a distinctive acoustic signature that, with the exception of Bonneville Second, was constant between turbines at any given project.

Far field sound measurements indicate that fish approaching the Bonneville project perceive sounds of the dam twice as far from Bonneville First as from the Second Powerhouse. In addition, these same sound pressures occur farther out in the forebay at McNary than they do at Bonneville First.

Sound pressure levels in front of the dams, designated the near field, were about 10 dBs lower than in the fish bypass slots. In addition, bypass slot spectra had a number of acoustic peaks that were absent in the near field. Sound levels increased about 10 dBs from just below the surface to the level of the turbine entrance.

The acoustic signatures in the bypass slots of Bonneville Second were a function of the bypass configurations of the bypass slots. In addition, distinct low frequency peaks appeared to increase in intensity closer to the Submersible Traveling Screen (STS), and it appears that water flow through the gap between the STS and turbine intake ceiling may produce these peaks.

Measurements at a turbine hatch with the airborne microphone (-3 foot elevation) at Bonneville Second showed peaks of energy at 18 Hz and 63 Hz.

Coherence and phase data indicate that the acoustic environment at Bonneville Second is com- plex, and much of the acoustic phenomena is unexplainable. However, sound at 18 Hz and 30 Hz is coherent at almost all locations at the dam suggesting turbines are the primary source for these frequencies.

Fish moving with the flow would experience higher rates of SPL increase in front of the trashrack at Bonneville Second compared to Bonneville First and McNary Dam. In addition, Bonneville Second had a peak of sound energy localized to the bypass slot and STS frame ranging from 120-160 Hz. Water rushing through the gap at the STS may be the cause of this peak. This peak was absent at the trashrack.
This report provides a background for future laboratory studies on the response of fish to sounds at dams. If fish exhibit clear attraction or repulsion responses to sound, further studies may be warranted.

Testing the link between simultaneous suppression of TEOAEs and TEOAE level function nonlinearity

by Ted Killan

Poster presented by a final year undergraduate student at the British Academy of Audiology annual conference, Edinburgh, 2010.

The poster describes a small scale experiment designed to test the hypothesis that simultaneous suppression of TEOAEs is intimately linked to TEOAE level function nonlinearity. A significant correlation between suppression magnitude and level function gradient was observed.

The use of simulated clients to enhance counselling skills of audiologists

by Ted Killan

Co-authored with Ruth Brooke and Jo Gilmartin in May 2010.

Provides reflection and insight for those considering use of simulated clients for enhancing audiology education. Provides reflection and insight for those considering use of simulated clients for enhancing audiology education.

Behavioural audiometry: protocols for measuring hearing thresholds in babies aged 4-18 months

by Ted Killan

Letter to editor of International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology published in 2005 criticising a recently published protocol for assessing infants' hearing.

Simultaneous Suppression of tone burst-evoked otoacoustic emissions - Effect of level and presentation paradigm

by Ted Killan

Co-authored with Sarosh Kapadia and published in Hearing Research, 212 (2006), 65-73

There is conflict in the literature over whether individual frequency components of a transient-evoked otoacoustic... more There is conflict in the literature over whether individual frequency components of a transient-evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) are generated within relatively independent “channels” along the basilar membrane (BM), or whether each component may be generated by widespread areas of the BM. Two previous studies on TEOAE suppression are consistent with generation within largely independent channels, but with a degree of interaction between nearby channels. However, both these studies reported significant suppression only at high stimulus levels, at which the “nonlinear” presentation paradigm was used. The present study clarifies the separate influences of stimulus level and presentation paradigm on this type of suppression. TEOAEs were recorded using stimulus tonebursts at 1, 2 and 3 kHz and a complex stimulus consisting of a digital addition of the three tonebursts, over a range of stimulus levels and both “linear” and “nonlinear” presentation paradigms. Responses to the individual tonebursts were combined offline and compared with responses to the complex stimuli. Results clearly demonstrate that TEOAE suppression under these conditions is dependent upon stimulus level, and not upon presentation paradigm. It is further argued that the data support the “local” rather than “widespread” model of TEOAE generation, subject to nonlinear interactions between nearby generation channels.

Comparison of fit to target and articulation index scores for analogue and Phonak Aero digital hearing aids

by Ted Killan

Small scale clinical trial of DSP hearing aids published in 2004.