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PubMed2005

A model predicting the effect of speech of varying intelligibility on work performance.

UNLABELLED: Speech is the most distracting sound in (open-plan) offices. Several laboratory studies have shown that speech impairs the performance of, for example, reading and short-term memory. It is not the sound level of speech that determines its distracting power but its intelligibility, which can be physically determined by measuring the Speech Transmission Index (STI). The aim of this study was to develop a mathematical model that predicts how much the performance is reduced due to speech of varying intelligibility. The model was based on the literature according to which performance decrements have been 4-45% depending on the task. The best performance occurs when speech is absent (STI=0.0), and the strongest performance decrement occurs when speech is perfectly heard (STI=1.0). The shape of the performance vs. STI between 0.0 and 1.0 was adopted from the general speech intelligibility theory. The performance starts to decrease when STI exceeds 0.2. Highest performance decrease is reached already when STI exceeds 0.60. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The prediction model can be exploited in the evaluation of work performance in different acoustical conditions in open-plan offices when STI is known. It can be utilized to promote actions aiming at better acoustical conditions.

Forecasting↗
PubMed2001

Extraterrestrial intelligence? Not likely.

The possibility that there exist extraterrestrial creatures with advanced intelligence is considered by examining major events in mammalian, primate, and human evolution on earth. The overwhelming evidence is that the evolution of intelligence in creatures elsewhere who have the capability to communicate with us is vanishingly small. The history of the evolution of advanced forms of life on this planet is so beset by adventitious, unpredictable events and multiple contingencies that the evolution of human-level intelligence is highly unlikely on any planet, including earth.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Improvements in intelligibility of noisy reverberant speech using a binaural subband adaptive noise-cancellation processing scheme.

This article reports on the performance of an adaptive subband noise cancellation scheme, which performs binaural preprocessing of speech signals for a hearing-aid application. The multi-microphone subband adaptive (MMSBA) signal processing scheme uses the least mean squares (LMS) algorithm in frequency-limited subbands. The use of subbands enables a diverse processing mechanism to be employed, splitting the two-channel wide-band signal into smaller frequency-limited subbands, which can be processed according to their individual signal characteristics. The frequency delimiting used a linear- or cochlear-spaced subband distribution. The effect of the processing scheme on speech intelligibility was assessed in a trial involving 15 hearing-impaired volunteers with moderate sensorineural hearing loss. The acoustic material consisted of speech and speech-shaped noise signals, generated using simulated and real-room acoustic environments, at signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) in the range -6 to +3 dB. The results show that the MMSBA scheme delivered average speech intelligibility improvements of 11.5%, with a maximum of 37.25%, in noisy reverberant conditions. There was no significant reduction in mean speech intelligibility due to processing, in any of the test conditions.

Acoustics↗
PubMed2002

Vowel intelligibility in clear and conversational speech for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners.

Several studies have demonstrated that when talkers are instructed to speak clearly, the resulting speech is significantly more intelligible than speech produced in ordinary conversation. These speech intelligibility improvements are accompanied by a wide variety of acoustic changes. The current study explored the relationship between acoustic properties of vowels and their identification in clear and conversational speech, for young normal-hearing (YNH) and elderly hearing-impaired (EHI) listeners. Monosyllabic words excised from sentences spoken either clearly or conversationally by a male talker were presented in 12-talker babble for vowel identification. While vowel intelligibility was significantly higher in clear speech than in conversational speech for the YNH listeners, no clear speech advantage was found for the EHI group. Regression analyses were used to assess the relative importance of spectral target, dynamic formant movement, and duration information for perception of individual vowels. For both listener groups, all three types of information emerged as primary cues to vowel identity. However, the relative importance of the three cues for individual vowels differed greatly for the YNH and EHI listeners. This suggests that hearing loss alters the way acoustic cues are used for identifying vowels.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The effect of multichannel dynamic compression on speech intelligibility.

In the recent literature on dynamic compression in hearing aids, a controversial discussion about the benefit of multichannel compression with short time constants has been raised. In this paper, some experimental results are contributed to the discussion: For low signal-to-noise ratios, a detrimental effect of fast multichannel compression on speech intelligibility in normal hearing listeners is found. However, a distinct degradation in speech quality and virtually no decrease in speech intelligibility is observed for comparatively high signal-to-noise ratios and compression ratios of up to 3. Since the predictions of the Speech Transmission Index deviate substantially from these results, its applications as an objective measure of intelligibility may not be extended to compressed speech.

Hearing Aids↗
PubMed1997

Development and evaluation of a German sentence test for objective and subjective speech intelligibility assessment.

A German sentence test was developed which is comprised of 20 test lists of ten sentences each. The test corpus is a selection from sentences for speech quality evaluation recorded with a male unschooled speaker. Performance-intensity curves were measured for each individual sentence in a speech-simulating babble noise with a total of 40 normal-hearing listeners. Based on these data and the phonemic transcription of the 200 sentences selected from the underlying speech corpus, 20 test lists were composed using a numerical optimization process. These 20 test lists are highly equivalent with respect to their performance-intensity curves, the number of words within each test list, the number of phonemes within each test list, and approximately the frequency distribution of the phonemes which approximates the phoneme frequency distribution of the German language. The equivalence of the respective performance-intensity curves was demonstrated in an independent experiment with 20 normal-hearing listeners. In addition, a comparison was performed between the "objective" intelligibility measurements and two "subjective" speech intelligibility rating methods employing the same materials. As a result, both subjective assessment procedures correlate highly with each other and with the "objective" procedure across sentences. This underlines the applicability and validity of the test in combination with time-saving subjective assessment methods. Moreover, the variability in performance across different sentences correlates inversely with the RMS level of the respective sentence. This indicates that an adjustment of sentence material with respect to RMS level already yield reasonably homogeneous test material with respect to intelligibility.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Speech intelligibility enhancement using hearing-aid array processing.

Microphone arrays can improve speech recognition in the noise for hearing-impaired listeners by suppressing interference coming from other than desired signal direction. In a previous paper [J. M. Kates and M. R. Weiss, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 99, 3138-3148 (1996)], several array-processing techniques were evaluated in two rooms using the AI-weighted array gain as the performance metric. The array consisted of five omnidirectional microphones having uniform 2.5-cm spacing, oriented in the endfire direction. In this paper, the speech intelligibility for two of the array processing techniques, delay-and-sum beamforming and superdirective processing, is evaluated for a group of hearing-impaired subjects. Speech intelligibility was measured using the speech reception threshold (SRT) for spondees and speech intelligibility rating (SIR) for sentence materials. The array performance is compared with that for a single omnidirectional microphone and a single directional microphone having a cardioid response pattern. The SRT and SIR results show that the superdirective array processing was the most effective, followed by the cardioid microphone, the array using delay-and-sum beamforming, and the single omnidirectional microphone. The relative processing ratings do not appear to be strongly affected by the size of the room, and the SRT values determined using isolated spondees are similar to the SIR values produced from continuous discourse.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

Syllable intelligibility for temporally filtered LPC cepstral trajectories.

The intelligibility of syllables whose cepstral trajectories were temporally filtered was measured. The speech signals were transformed to their LPC cepstral coefficients, and these coefficients were passed through different filters. These filtered trajectories were recombined with the residuals and the speech signal reconstructed. The intelligibility of the reconstructed speech segments was then measured in two perceptual experiments for Japanese syllables. The effect of various low-pass, high-pass, and bandpass filtering is reported, and the results summarized using a theoretical approach based on the independence of the contributions in different modulation bands. The overall results suggest that speech intelligibility is not severely impaired as long as the filtered spectral components have a rate of change between 1 and 16 Hz.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Intelligibility of 1/3-octave speech: greater contribution of frequencies outside than inside the nominal passband.

We reported previously that "everyday" sentences were highly intelligible when limited to a 1/3-octave passband centered at 1,500 Hz and having transition-band slopes of approximately 100 dB/octave. The present study determined the relative contributions to intelligibility made by the passband (PB) and the transition bands (TBs) by partitioning the same bandpass sentences using 2,000-order FIR filtering. Intelligibility scores were: PB with both TBs, 92%; deletion of both TBs (leaving only the 1/3-octave PB with nearly vertical slopes), 24%; deletion of the PB (leaving both TBs separated by a 1/3-octave gap), 83%. These and other results indicate a remarkable ability to compensate for severe spectral tilt and the consequent importance of considering frequencies outside the nominal passband in interpreting studies using filtered speech.

Humans↗
PubMed1999

On the combined effects of signal-to-noise ratio and room acoustics on speech intelligibility.

Speech intelligibility in rooms is influenced by room acoustics effects and by the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the speech and ambient noise. Several measures such as useful-to-detrimental sound ratios and the speech transmission index predict the combined effects of both types of factors. These measures were evaluated relative to speech intelligibility test results obtained in simulated sound fields. The use of simulated sound fields made it possible to create the full range of combinations of room acoustics and S/N effects likely to be found in rooms for speech. The S/N aspect is shown to be much more important than room acoustics effects and new broadband useful-to-detrimental ratios were validated. Useful-to-detrimental ratios, speech transmission index measures, and values of the articulation loss for consonants were all reasonably accurate predictors of speech intelligibility. Further improvements to these combined measures are suggested.

Environment↗
PubMed1992

Testing intelligent wound dressings.

While occlusive wound dressings help provide patients with moist wound healing to reduce pain and increase reepithelialization rate, the moisture vapor transmission rate (MVTR) of these dressings remains constant even though wound exudate levels may vary with time and from wound to wound. The clinician is therefore faced with exudate buildup in heavily exuding wounds and desiccation in lightly exuding wounds-a situation requiring frequent patient monitoring and dressing changes. Am "intelligent" wound dressing would have the ability to automatically respond to a wound's exudate level by self-adjusting its MVTR to maintain a constant moist wound environment. Such a dressing could help ensure that exudate buildup or wound desiccation is reduced or avoided. Three commercial wound dressings (hydrocolloid, thin film, and membrane laminate) were studied for their ability to alter their MVTR in response to varying moisture level. An efficient test methodology and experimental design was developed, which involved direct and indirect fluid contact with the dressings using two temperatures and two test methods. One dressing, a membrane laminate, was found to exhibit intelligent MVTR behavior. Data is presented which shows this dressing's ability to adjust its MVTR nearly eight-fold as a function of hydration level. Information regarding the mechanism of action of this intelligent dressing is also presented.

Biocompatible Materials↗
PubMed2003

[An encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence].

It is much easier to find extraterrestrial intelligence than to detect simple organisms living on other planets. However, it is hard to communicate with such intelligence without the mutual understanding of inter-stellar communication protocol. The radio SETI (The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) was initiated with the pioneering work of F. Drake in 1960, one year after the historical SETI paper by Cocconi and Morrison. This talk explains that SETI evolves with two bases of science; the understanding of our universe and the development of technology. Since SETI has had strong connection with radio astronomy from its early beginning, the impacts of radio astronomical findings and technological breakthrough can be seen in many aspects of the SETI history. Topics of this talk include the detection of microwave 3 K background radiation in the universe. Interstellar atomic and molecular lines found in radio-wave spectra provide the evidence of pre-biotic chemical evolution in such region. Radio telescope imaging and spectral technique are closely associated with methodology of SETI. Topics of the talk extend to new Allen Telescope Array and projected Square Kilometer Array. Recent optical SETI and the discoveries of extra solar planets are also explained. In the end, the recent understanding of our universe is briefly introduced in terms of matter, dark matter and dark energy. Even our understanding of the universe has been evolutionarily revolved and accumulated after 1960, we must recognize that our universe is still poorly understood and that astronomy and SETI are required to proceed hand in hand.

Astronomy↗
PubMed1999

Chronological age and performance of persons with mental retardation on verbal subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised, French Version.

The Influence of chronological age on verbal intelligence of persons with metal retardation was studied using the French version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised. Participants were 1,101 children and adolescents divided into two groups according to the severity of metal retardation. The first group included 551 participants with moderate mental retardation, the second 550 participants with mild mental retardation. Analyses indicated a significant association between chronological age and raw scores on the four Verbal Comprehension subtests, even with performance on Perceptual Organization and Freedom from Distractibility subtests held constant. This finding suggests the relationship between chronological age and verbal intelligence is valid for persons with moderate mental retardation as well as for those with mild metal retardation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Audiometric analysis as a predictor of speech intelligibility.

This study examines the usefulness of the audiogram as a predictive instrument in speech intelligibility. Much of the early work on the audiogram centred on speech reception (e.g. Harris, Haines and Myers, 1956) but Montgomery (1967) made a case for the application to speech production especially when profoundly deaf children are involved. Speech intelligibility was measured by playing back to groups of listeners, tapes consisting of sentences read by 15-16-year-old schoolchildren. Listeners had to fill in two missing words in the sentences. Analyses of the pattern of hearing loss, of the loss at individual frequencies and finally, of combinations of the loss at different frequencies were made. The results indicate that in most circumstances, subjects may be placed in four distinguishable groups, separated at 65dB, and 105dB. When the simple mean of five frequency losses, centred on 1,000Hz is taken, five groups have significantly different levels of speech intelligibility.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Emotional intelligence skills for maintaining social networks in healthcare organizations.

For healthcare organizations to survive in these increasingly challenging times, leadership and management must face mounting interpersonal concerns. The authors present the boundaries of internal and external social networks with respect to leadership and managerial functions: Social networks within the organization are stretched by reductions in available resources and structural ambiguity, whereas external social networks are stressed by interorganizational competitive pressures. The authors present the development of emotional intelligence skills in employees as a strategic training objective that can strengthen the internal and external social networks of healthcare organizations. The authors delineate the unique functions of leadership and management with respect to the application of emotional intelligence skills and discuss training and future research implications for emotional intelligence skill sets and social networks.

Emotions↗
PubMed2000

A comparison of patients admitted to two medium secure units, one for those of normal intelligence and one for those with learning disability.

Differences between patients being treated in two different medium secure units, one for those of normal intelligence and one for those with learning disability, were investigated. Sociodemographic, psychiatric, medical and medicolegal data were recorded for all inpatients in both secure units. Patients in the medium secure unit for those of normal intelligence were older at the time of the study and at conviction for the index offence, more likely to have been admitted from the penal system, and more likely to suffer from a psychotic disorder, particularly schizophrenia or a mood disorder. Their index offence was more likely to be homicide, attempted murder, manslaughter or grievous bodily harm, while that of the patients with learning disability was more likely to be a sexual offence. A need for separate medium secure unit facilities for those of normal intelligence and those with learning disability is supported by differing psychiatric and behavioural requirements.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Intelligent aids for parallel experiment planning and macromolecular crystallization.

This paper presents a framework called Parallel Experiment Planning (PEP) that is based on an abstraction of how experiments are performed in the domain of macromolecular crystallization. The goal in this domain is to obtain a good quality crystal of a protein or other macromolecule that can be X-ray diffracted to determine three-dimensional structure. This domain presents problems encountered in real-world situations, such as a parallel and dynamic environment, insufficient resources and expensive tasks. The PEP framework comprises of two types of components: (1) an information management system for keeping track of sets of experiments, resources and costs; and (2) knowledge-based methods for providing intelligent assistance to decision-making. The significance of the developed PEP framework is three-fold--(a) the framework can be used for PEP even without one of its major intelligent aids that simulates experiments, simply by collecting real experimental data; (b) the framework with a simulator can provide intelligent assistance for experiment design by utilizing existing domain theories; and (c) the framework can help provide strategic assessment of different types of parallel experimentation plans that involve different tradeoffs.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Swarm intelligence. A whole new way to think about business.

What do ants and bees have to do with business? A great deal, it turns out. Individually, social insects are only minimally intelligent, and their work together is largely self-organized and unsupervised. Yet collectively they're capable of finding highly efficient solutions to difficult problems and can adapt automatically to changing environments. Over the past 20 years, the authors and other researchers have developed rigorous mathematical models to describe this phenomenon, which has been dubbed "swarm intelligence," and they are now applying them to business. Their research has already helped several companies develop more efficient ways to schedule factory equipment, divide tasks among workers, organize people, and even plot strategy. Emulating the way ants find the shortest path to a new food supply, for example, has led researchers at Hewlett-Packard to develop software programs that can find the most efficient way to route phone traffic over a telecommunications network. South-west Airlines has used a similar model to efficiently route cargo. To allocate labor, honeybees appear to follow one simple but powerful rule--they seem to specialize in a particular activity unless they perceive an important need to perform another function. Using that model, researchers at Northwestern University have devised a system for painting trucks that can automatically adapt to changing conditions. In the future, the authors speculate, a company might structure its entire business using the principles of swarm intelligence. The result, they believe, would be the ultimate self-organizing enterprise--one that could adapt quickly and instinctively to fast-changing markets.

Commerce↗