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Biomedical subjects

D A Fabry

Publications and source records attributed to D A Fabry.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Vowel identification and vowel masking patterns of hearing-impaired subjects.

Confusion matrices for seven synthetic steady-state vowels were obtained from ten normal and three hearing-impaired subjects. The vowels were identified at greater than 96% accuracy by the normals, and less accurately by the impaired subjects. Shortened versions of selected vowels then were used as maskers, and vowel masking patterns (VMPs) consisting of forward-masked threshold for sinusoidal probes at all vowel masker harmonics were obtained from the impaired subjects and from one normal subject. Vowel-masked probe thresholds were transformed using growth-of-masking functions obtained with flat-spectrum noise. VMPs of the impaired subjects, relative to those of the normal, were characterized by smaller dynamic range, poorer peak resolution, and poorer preservation of the vowel formant structure. These VMP characteristics, however, did not necessarily coincide with inaccurate vowel recognition. Vowel identification appeared to be related primarily to VMP peak frequencies rather than to the levels at the peaks or to between-peak characteristics of the patterns.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1986

Masked and filtered simulation of hearing loss: effects on consonant recognition.

Hearing threshold configuration of the impaired ear was simulated via two different methods in the normal ear of each of 6 subjects with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss. The two hearing loss simulation methods were frequency-specific attenuation (filtering), and masking by shaped masking noise. Identification responses to 20 consonant-vowel nonsense syllables were obtained from the normal ear of each subject in the two hearing loss simulation conditions, as well as from the impaired ear. Speech data were scored both for overall percent correct consonant recognition and for error patterns on a set of eight consonant features. The computed correlation between gross error difference scores and a similarity metric for feature error pattern was essentially zero, indicating that these may be relatively independent measures of speech recognition, and thus may reflect different aspects of subjects' behavior. For 3 subjects, both masking and filtering successfully simulated the effects of sensorineural hearing loss on consonant feature error patterns. For 1 subject, only filtering produced feature error patterns similar to those of the impaired ear. For the remaining subjects, neither simulation was successful.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Individual data from the 3M/Vienna extracochlear implant.

Five patients who received the 3M/Vienna extracochlear implant were given a standard battery of tests before and after implantation. Pure-tone audiograms, hearing aid evaluation, and promontory threshold and dynamic range stimulation were conducted to evaluate implant candidacy and to determine whether a particular patient met the criteria for inclusion in the study. Speech reading tests were also given before implantation. Postimplantation testing consisted of thresholds and tolerance levels for pure tones and speech reading with and without acoustic stimulation. Tests on environmental sounds, speech discrimination, and word discrimination were scored. Minimal Auditory Capabilities (MAC) Battery scores were determined on MAC, I, II, IV, V, VII, VIII, and XII subtests over several time intervals (sessions). The hearing results varied greatly among patients. All five patients expressed satisfaction and are presently wearing their units.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Hearing loss as occupational hazard.

Is the technology any better today than it has been? Without question, there have been improvements in the past five years that enable hearing aids to better fit noise-induced hearing losses. The bottom line, however, is that hearing aids are still a prosthesis, not a solution to the problem of hearing loss. The final decision of whether to purchase a hearing aid or not is dependent upon many factors that should be discussed with your health care professional. Hearing aids have improved a lot in recent years, but their function still boils down to two important tasks: selectively amplifying sounds not heard by the individual, and preventing loud sounds from reaching uncomfortable levels.

Dental Equipment↗