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  • Hensley Mose posted an update 2 days, 22 hours ago

    The new findings, taken together with earlier investigations by the authors (which included data obtained from dozens of listeners), provide evidence that such listeners have greater levels of both stimulus-dependent and stimulus-independent, additive internal noise.Noise from a tactical aircraft can impact operations due to concerns regarding military personnel noise exposure and community annoyance and disturbance. EPZ005687 The efficacy of mission planning can increase when the distinct, complex acoustic source mechanisms creating the noise are better understood. For each type of noise, equivalent acoustic source distributions are obtained from a tied-down F-35B operating at various engine conditions using the hybrid method for acoustic source imaging of Padois, Gauthier, and Berry [J. Sound Vib. 333, 6858-6868 (2014)]. The source distributions for the distinct noise types are obtained using different sections of a 71 element, ground-based linear array. Using a subarray close to the nozzle exit plane, source distributions are obtained for fine-scale turbulent mixing noise and broadband shock-associated noise, although grating lobes complicate interpretations at higher frequencies. Results for a subarray spanning the maximum sound region show that the multiple frequency peaks in tactical aircraft noise appear to originate from overlapping source regions. The observation of overlapping spatial extent of competing noise sources is supported by the coherence properties of the source distributions for the different subarrays.When compared with cochlear implant (CI) users utilizing electric-only (E-Only) stimulation, CI users utilizing electric-acoustic stimulation (EAS) in the implanted ear show improved speech recognition in modulated noise relative to steady-state noise (i.e., speech masking release). It has been hypothesized, but not shown, that masking release is attributed to spectral resolution and temporal fine structure (TFS) provided by acoustic hearing. To address this question, speech masking release, spectral ripple density discrimination thresholds, and fundamental frequency difference limens (f0DLs) were evaluated in the acoustic-only (A-Only), E-Only, and EAS listening modes in EAS CI users. The spectral ripple and f0DL tasks are thought to reflect access to spectral and TFS cues, which could impact speech masking release. Performance in all three measures was poorest when EAS CI users were tested using the E-Only listening mode, with significant improvements in A-Only and EAS listening modes. f0DLs, but not spectral ripple density discrimination thresholds, significantly correlated with speech masking release when assessed in the EAS listening mode. Additionally, speech masking release correlated with AzBio sentence recognition in noise. The correlation between speech masking release and f0DLs likely indicates that TFS cues provided by residual hearing were used to obtain speech masking release, which aided sentence recognition in noise.This paper addresses time-domain frequency-invariant beampattern synthesis under multiple constraints. Mainlobe spatial response variation is introduced to characterize the frequency invariance. Peak constraints and norm constraints are imposed to control the sidelobe response and robustness of the beamformer, respectively. Such constraints are separated with the help of the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), and an iterative solution is derived. Unlike the traditional interior-point approach with cubic complexity, the proposed algorithm shows quadratic complexity in a single iteration. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can achieve satisfactory performance in less time.This study investigated the effects of cochlear implant (CI) electrode array type and scalar location on the number of channels available to CI recipients for maximum speech understanding and sound quality. Eighteen post-lingually deafened adult CI recipients participated, including 11 recipients with straight electrode arrays entirely in scala tympani and 7 recipients with translocated precurved electrode arrays. Computerized tomography was used to determine electrode placement and scalar location. In each condition, the number of channels varied from 4 to 22 with equal spatial distribution across the array. Speech recognition (monosyllables, sentences in quiet and in noise), subjective speech sound quality, and closed-set auditory tasks (vowels, consonants, and spectral modulation detection) were measured acutely. Recipients with well-placed straight electrode arrays and translocated precurved electrode arrays performed similarly, demonstrating asymptotic speech recognition scores with 8-10 channels, consistent with the classic literature. This finding contrasts with recent work [Berg, Noble, Dawant, Dwyer, Labadie, and Gifford. (2019). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 145, 1556-1564] that found precurved electrode arrays well-placed in scala tympani demonstrate continuous performance gains beyond 8-10 channels. Given these results, straight and translocated precurved electrode arrays are theorized to have less channel independence secondary to their placement farther away from neural targets.This study introduces the in vivo application of a Bayesian framework to estimate subglottal pressure, laryngeal muscle activation, and vocal fold contact pressure from calibrated transnasal high-speed videoendoscopy and oral airflow data. A subject-specific, lumped-element vocal fold model is estimated using an extended Kalman filter and two observation models involving glottal area and glottal airflow. Model-based inferences using data from a vocally healthy male individual are compared with empirical estimates of subglottal pressure and reference values for muscle activation and contact pressure in the literature, thus providing baseline error metrics for future clinical investigations.A slowdown in global trade activity due to COVID-19 has led to a reduction in commercial shipping traffic into the Port of Vancouver. The Ocean Networks Canada observatory system provides researchers real-time access to oceanographic data from a wide range of instruments including hydrophones located along the offshore and inshore approaches to Vancouver. Measurements of power spectral density at 100 Hz from four of these bottom mounted hydrophones are presented, along with AIS data and shipping and trade statistics to assess to what extent the economic impact of COVID-19 can be observed acoustically and in near real-time. The quarterly trend in median weekly noise power in the shipping band of frequencies shows that a reduction in noise commensurate with the economic slowdown has been observed at three of the four hydrophone stations.