title: Boiling point

text: A "saturated liquid" contains as much thermal energy as it can without boiling (or conversely a "saturated vapor" contains as little thermal energy as it can without condensing).


title: Boiling point

text: Saturation temperature means "boiling point". The saturation temperature is the temperature for a corresponding saturation pressure at which a liquid boils into its vapor phase. The liquid can be said to be saturated with thermal energy. Any addition of thermal energy results in a phase transition.


title: Boiling point

text: If the pressure in a system remains constant (isobaric), a vapor at saturation temperature will begin to condense into its liquid phase as thermal energy (heat) is removed. Similarly, a liquid at saturation temperature and pressure will boil into its vapor phase as additional thermal energy is applied.


title: Boiling point

text: The boiling point corresponds to the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the surrounding environmental pressure. Thus, the boiling point is dependent on the pressure. Boiling points may be published with respect to the NIST, USA standard pressure of 101.325 kPa (or 1 atm), or the IUPAC standard pressure of 100.000 kPa. At higher elevations, where the atmospheric pressure is much lower, the boiling point is also lower. The boiling point increases with increased pressure up to the critical point, where the gas and liquid properties become identical. The boiling point cannot be increased beyond the critical point. Likewise, the boiling point decreases with decreasing pressure until the triple point is reached. The boiling point cannot be reduced below the triple point.


title: Boiling point

text: If the heat of vaporization and the vapor pressure of a liquid at a certain temperature are known, the boiling point can be calculated by using the Clausius–Clapeyron equation, thus:


title: Boiling point

text: Saturation pressure is the pressure for a corresponding saturation temperature at which a liquid boils into its vapor phase. Saturation pressure and saturation temperature have a direct relationship: as saturation pressure is increased, so is saturation temperature.


title: Boiling point

text: If the temperature in a system remains constant (an "isothermal" system), vapor at saturation pressure and temperature will begin to condense into its liquid phase as the system pressure is increased. Similarly, a liquid at saturation pressure and temperature will tend to flash into its vapor phase as system pressure is decreased.


title: Boiling point

text: There are two conventions regarding the "standard boiling point of water": The "normal boiling point" is at a pressure of 1 atm (i.e., 101.325 kPa). The IUPAC-recommended "standard boiling point of water" at a standard pressure of 100 kPa (1 bar) is . For comparison, on top of Mount Everest, at elevation, the pressure is about and the boiling point of water is .


title: Boiling point

text: The Celsius temperature scale was defined until 1954 by two points: 0 °C being defined by the water freezing point and 100 °C being defined by the water boiling point at standard atmospheric pressure.


title: Boiling point

text: The higher the vapor pressure of a liquid at a given temperature, the lower the normal boiling point (i.e., the boiling point at atmospheric pressure) of the liquid.


title: Boiling point

text: The vapor pressure chart to the right has graphs of the vapor pressures versus temperatures for a variety of liquids. As can be seen in the chart, the liquids with the highest vapor pressures have the lowest normal boiling points.


title: Boiling point

text: For example, at any given temperature, methyl chloride has the highest vapor pressure of any of the liquids in the chart. It also has the lowest normal boiling point (−24.2 °C), which is where the vapor pressure curve of methyl chloride (the blue line) intersects the horizontal pressure line of one atmosphere (atm) of absolute vapor pressure.


title: Boiling point

text: The element with the lowest boiling point is helium. Both the boiling points of rhenium and tungsten exceed 5000 K at standard pressure; because it is difficult to measure extreme temperatures precisely without bias, both have been cited in the literature as having the higher boiling point.


title: Boiling point

text: As can be seen from the above plot of the logarithm of the vapor pressure vs. the temperature for any given pure chemical compound, its normal boiling point can serve as an indication of that compound's overall volatility. A given pure compound has only one normal boiling point, if any, and a compound's normal boiling point and melting point can serve as characteristic physical properties for that compound, listed in reference books. The higher a compound's normal boiling point, the less volatile that compound is overall, and conversely, the lower a compound's normal boiling point, the more volatile that compound is overall. Some compounds decompose at higher temperatures before reaching their normal boiling point, or sometimes even their melting point. For a stable compound, the boiling point ranges from its triple point to its critical point, depending on the external pressure. Beyond its triple point, a compound's normal boiling point, if any, is higher than its melting point. Beyond the critical point, a compound's liquid and vapor phases merge into one phase, which may be called a superheated gas. At any given temperature, if a compound's normal boiling point is lower, then that compound will generally exist as a gas at atmospheric external pressure. If the compound's normal boiling point is higher, then that compound can exist as a liquid or solid at that given temperature at atmospheric external pressure, and will so exist in equilibrium with its vapor (if volatile) if its vapors are contained. If a compound's vapors are not contained, then some volatile compounds can eventually evaporate away in spite of their higher boiling points.


title: Boiling point

text: In general, compounds with ionic bonds have high normal boiling points, if they do not decompose before reaching such high temperatures. Many metals have high boiling points, but not all. Very generally—with other factors being equal—in compounds with covalently bonded molecules, as the size of the molecule (or molecular mass) increases, the normal boiling point increases. When the molecular size becomes that of a macromolecule, polymer, or otherwise very large, the compound often decomposes at high temperature before the boiling point is reached. Another factor that affects the normal boiling point of a compound is the polarity of its molecules. As the polarity of a compound's molecules increases, its normal boiling point increases, other factors being equal. Closely related is the ability of a molecule to form hydrogen bonds (in the liquid state), which makes it harder for molecules to leave the liquid state and thus increases the normal boiling point of the compound. Simple carboxylic acids dimerize by forming hydrogen bonds between molecules. A minor factor affecting boiling points is the shape of a molecule. Making the shape of a molecule more compact tends to lower the normal boiling point slightly compared to an equivalent molecule with more surface area.


title: Boiling point

text: Most volatile compounds (anywhere near ambient temperatures) go through an intermediate liquid phase while warming up from a solid phase to eventually transform to a vapor phase. By comparison to boiling, a sublimation is a physical transformation in which a solid turns directly into vapor, which happens in a few select cases such as with carbon dioxide at atmospheric pressure. For such compounds, a sublimation point is a temperature at which a solid turning directly into vapor has a vapor pressure equal to the external pressure.


title: Boiling point

text: In the preceding section, boiling points of pure compounds were covered. Vapor pressures and boiling points of substances can be affected by the presence of dissolved impurities (solutes) or other miscible compounds, the degree of effect depending on the concentration of the impurities or other compounds. The presence of non-volatile impurities such as salts or compounds of a volatility far lower than the main component compound decreases its mole fraction and the solution's volatility, and thus raises the normal boiling point in proportion to the concentration of the solutes. This effect is called boiling point elevation. As a common example, salt water boils at a higher temperature than pure water.


title: Boiling point

text: In other mixtures of miscible compounds (components), there may be two or more components of varying volatility, each having its own pure component boiling point at any given pressure. The presence of other volatile components in a mixture affects the vapor pressures and thus boiling points and dew points of all the components in the mixture. The dew point is a temperature at which a vapor condenses into a liquid. Furthermore, at any given temperature, the composition of the vapor is different from the composition of the liquid in most such cases. In order to illustrate these effects between the volatile components in a mixture, a boiling point diagram is commonly used. Distillation is a process of boiling and [usually] condensation which takes advantage of these differences in composition between liquid and vapor phases.


title: This too shall pass

text: "This too shall pass" () is a Persian adage translated and used in several languages. It reflects on the temporary nature, or ephemerality, of the human condition — that neither the bad, nor good, moments in life ever indefinitely last. The general sentiment is often expressed in wisdom literature throughout history and across cultures, but the specific phrase seems to have originated in the writings of the medieval Persian Sufi poets.


title: This too shall pass

text: It is known in the Western world primarily due to a 19th-century retelling of Persian fable by the English poet Edward FitzGerald. It was also notably employed in a speech by Abraham Lincoln before he became the sixteenth President of the United States.


title: This too shall pass

text: It was also used in 1852, in a retelling of the fable entitled "Solomon's Seal" by the English poet Edward FitzGerald. In it, a sultan requests of King Solomon a sentence that would always be true in good times or bad; Solomon responds, "This too will pass away". On September 30, 1859, Abraham Lincoln recounted a similar story:


title: This too shall pass

text: The fable retold by FitzGerald can be traced to the first half of the 19th century, appearing in American papers by at least as early as 1839. It usually involved a nameless "Eastern monarch". Its origin has been traced to the works of Persian Sufi poets, such as Rumi, Sanai and Attar of Nishapur. Attar records the fable of a powerful king who asks assembled wise men to create a ring that will make him happy when he is sad. After deliberation the sages hand him a simple ring with the Persian words "This too shall pass" etched on it, which has the desired effect to make him happy when he is sad.


title: This too shall pass

text: This story also appears in the Jewish folklore. Many versions of the story have been recorded by the Israel Folklore Archive at the University of Haifa. Jewish folklore often casts Solomon as either the king humbled by the adage, or as the one who delivers it to another.


title: This too shall pass

text: In some versions the phrase is simplified even further, appearing as an acronym, only the Hebrew letters gimel, zayin, and yodh, which begin the words "Gam zeh ya'avor" (, "gam zeh yaavor"), "this too shall pass."


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of "The Huffington Post", the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and the author of fifteen books. She has been named to "Time" magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people and the "Forbes" Most Powerful Women list.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington serves on numerous boards, including Onex, and Global Citizen. Her last two books, "Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder" and "The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time", both became instant international bestsellers.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington, the former wife of Republican congressman Michael Huffington, co-founded "The Huffington Post", which is now owned by BuzzFeed. She was a popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, after which, in the late-1990s, she offered liberal points of view in public, while remaining involved in business endeavors. In 2003, she ran as an independent candidate for governor in the California recall election and lost. In 2009, Huffington was in "Forbes" first-ever list of the Most Influential Women In Media. She has also moved up to in "The Guardian"s Top 100 in Media List. As of 2014, she is listed by "Forbes" as the 52nd Most Powerful Woman in the World.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: In 2011, AOL acquired "The Huffington Post" for US$315 million, and made Huffington the president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, which included "The Huffington Post" and then-existing AOL properties including AOL Music, Engadget, Patch Media, and StyleList.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: She stepped down from her role at "The Huffington Post" in August 2016 to focus on a new startup, Thrive Global, centered on health and wellness information.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington was born Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou () in Athens, Greece, in 1950, the daughter of Konstantinos (a journalist and management consultant) and Elli (née Georgiadi) Stasinopoulou, and is the sister of Agapi (an author, speaker, and performer). She moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 16 and studied economics at Girton College, Cambridge, where she was the first foreign, and third female president of the Cambridge Union. She studied abroad in India, and told IANS in an email interview "India has long held a special place in my heart, from the time I went to study comparative religion at Visva-Bharati University".


title: Arianna Huffington

text: In 1971, Huffington appeared in an edition of "Face the Music" along with Bernard Levin. A relationship developed, of which she wrote, after his death: "He wasn't just the big love of my life, he was a mentor as a writer and a role model as a thinker." Huffington began writing books in the 1970s, with editorial help from Levin. The two traveled to music festivals around the world for the BBC. They spent summers patronizing three-star restaurants in France. At the age of 30, she remained deeply in love with him but longed to have children; Levin never wanted to marry or have children. Huffington concluded that she had to break away and moved to New York in 1980.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: From March to April 1980, Huffington joined Bob Langley as the co-host of BBC1's late-night talk and entertainment show "Saturday Night at the Mill", appearing in just 5 editions before being dropped from the program. She was replaced by Jenny Hanley.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: In 1973, Arianna (as Stasinopoúlou) wrote a book titled "The Female Woman", attacking the Women's Liberation movement in general and Germaine Greer's 1970 "The Female Eunuch" in particular. In the book she wrote, "Women's Lib claims that the achievement of total liberation would transform the lives of all women for the better; the truth is that it would transform only the lives of women with strong lesbian tendencies."


title: Arianna Huffington

text: In the late 1980s, Huffington wrote several articles for "National Review". In 1981, she wrote a biography of Maria Callas, "Maria Callas – The Woman Behind the Legend", and in 1989, a biography of Pablo Picasso, "Picasso: Creator and Destroyer".


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington rose to the national U.S. prominence during the unsuccessful Senate bid in 1994 by her then husband, Michael Huffington, a Republican. She became known as a reliable supporter of conservative causes such as Newt Gingrich's "Republican Revolution" and Bob Dole's 1996 candidacy for president. She teamed up with liberal comedian Al Franken as the conservative half of "Strange Bedfellows" during Comedy Central's coverage of the 1996 U.S. presidential election. For her work, she and the writing team of "Politically Incorrect" were nominated for a 1997 Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: As late as 1998, Huffington still aligned herself with Republican Party. During that year, she did a weekly radio show in Los Angeles called "Left, Right & Center", that "match[ed] her, the so-called 'right-winger', against self-described centrist policy wonk Matt Miller, and veteran 'leftist' journalist Robert Scheer." In an April 1998 profile in "The New Yorker", Margaret Talbot wrote, "Most recently, she has cast herself as a kind of Republican Spice Girl – an endearingly ditzy right wing gal-about-town who is a guilty pleasure for people who know better." Huffington described herself by side-stepping the traditional party divide, saying "the right–left divisions are so outdated now. For me, the primary division is between people who are aware of what I call 'the two nations' (rich and poor), and those who are not."


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington, of Greek background, opposed the NATO intervention in Serbia during the Yugoslav Wars and in 2000, she co-convened the "Shadow Conventions", which appeared at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles at Patriotic Hall.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington headed The Detroit Project, a public interest group lobbying automakers to start producing cars running on alternative fuels. The project's 2003 TV ads, which equated driving sport utility vehicles to funding terrorism, proved to be particularly controversial, with some stations refusing to run them.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: In a 2004 appearance on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart, she announced her endorsement of John Kerry by saying, "When your house is burning down, you don't worry about the remodeling." Huffington was a panel speaker during the 2005 California Democratic Party State Convention, held in Los Angeles. She also spoke at the 2004 College Democrats of America Convention in Boston, which was held in conjunction with the 2004 Democratic National Convention. She was also a regular panelist on the nationally syndicated weekend radio program, "Both Sides Now with Huffington & Matalin", hosted by Mark Green.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington serves on the board of directors of the Berggruen Institute, the Center for Public Integrity, Uber, and Onex Corporation.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: She is also a One Young World Counsellor, speaking to delegates at summits in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2013 and Dublin, Ireland, in 2014. She spoke about her "third metric" for success and the value of youth leadership.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: On May 22, 2016, she gave the commencement address and received an honorary degree from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Also in 2016, she was named to Oprah Winfrey's "SuperSoul100" list of visionaries and influential leaders.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: In 2005, Huffington founded "The Huffington Post" (now known as "HuffPost") with Andrew Breitbart, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti. It was launched on May 9, 2005, as a commentary outlet, blog, and an alternative to news aggregators such as the "Drudge Report". The site historically published work from both paid staff writers and reporters and unpaid bloggers. In February 2011, AOL acquired "The Huffington Post" for US$315 million, making Huffington editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group. In 2012, "The Huffington Post" became the first commercially run United States digital media enterprise to win a Pulitzer Prize. In 2016, Huffington officially departed from "The Huffington Post".


title: Arianna Huffington

text: In 2016 Huffington stepped down from her positions at AOL and Huffington Post to launch her new enterprise, Thrive Global, which offers science-based solutions to end stress and burnout.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington was an independent candidate in the 2003 recall election of California Governor Gray Davis. She described her candidacy against frontrunner Arnold Schwarzenegger as "the hybrid versus the Hummer", making reference to her ownership of a hybrid vehicle, the Toyota Prius, and Schwarzenegger's Hummer. The two would proceed to have a high-profile clash during the election's debate.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: She dropped out of the race on September 30, 2003, and endorsed Governor Gray Davis' campaign to vote against the recall. Polls showed that only about 2 percent of California voters planned to vote for her at the time of her withdrawal. In the announcement of her withdrawal, Huffington stated, Though she failed to stop the recall, Huffington's name remained on the ballot and she placed 5th, capturing 47,505 votes – less than 1% of the vote.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington was a panelist on the weekly BBC Radio 4 political discussion programme "Any Questions?", and the BBC television panel games "Call My Bluff" and "Face the Music". She served as co-host of BBC's late-night chat show "Saturday Night at the Mill" for four weeks before viewer complaints caused her to be dropped from the show.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington at one point was the co-host of the weekly, nationally syndicated public radio program "Both Sides Now", along with Mary Matalin, former top aide to the George W. Bush Administration. Every week on "Both Sides Now", Huffington and Matalin discussed the nation's relevant political issues, offering both sides of every issue to listeners. "Both Sides Now" was hosted by former Air America Radio president and "HuffPost" blogger Mark J. Green.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Prior to "The Huffington Post", Huffington hosted a website called AriannaOnline.com. Her first foray onto the internet was a website called Resignation.com, which called for the resignation of President Bill Clinton and was a rallying place for conservatives opposing Clinton. About Clinton resigning, she wrote, "Only some act of sacrifice can begin to restore the image of the President that we are left with from the Starr report – a man of staggering narcissism and self-indulgence, whom nobody dared gainsay, investing his energies first in gratifying his sexual greeds and then in using his staff, his friends, and the Secret Service to cover up the truth."


title: Arianna Huffington

text: In November 2008, Huffington joined the cast of Seth MacFarlane's animated series "The Cleveland Show", where she lent her voice to the wife of Tim the Bear, also named Arianna.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington was spoofed by actress Tracey Ullman in her Showtime comedy series "Tracey Ullman's State of the Union". Huffington spoke glowingly of the impersonation.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington was further impersonated by actresses Michaela Watkins and Nasim Pedrad on "Saturday Night Live".


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington participated in the 24th annual "Distinguished Speaker Series" at the University at Buffalo, New York, on September 16, 2010. She headlined a debate against radio co-host Mary Matalin on current world events, political issues, and the local Buffalo economy. The University at Buffalo "Distinguished Speaker Series" has featured a multitude of world-renowned politicians and celebrities such as Tony Blair, Bill Nye, Jon Stewart, and the Dalai Lama.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington offered to provide as many buses as necessary to transport those who wanted to go to Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on October 30, 2010, from "The Huffington Post" headquarters in New York City. Ultimately, she paid for 150 buses to ferry almost 10,000 people from Citi Field in Queens to RFK Stadium in DC.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington played herself in the "Family Guy" episode "Brian Writes a Bestseller" along with Dana Gould and Bill Maher in a live segment of "Real Time with Bill Maher".


title: Arianna Huffington

text: In 2012, Huffington became a LinkedIn influencer, writing about success and sharing professional insights.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington was accused of plagiarism for copying material for her book "Maria Callas" (1981); the claims were settled out of court in 1981, with Callas' biographer Gerald Fitzgerald being paid "in the low five figures."


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Lydia Gasman, an art history professor at the University of Virginia, has claimed that Huffington's 1988 biography of Pablo Picasso, "Picasso: Creator and Destroyer," included themes similar to those in Gasman's unpublished four-volume Ph.D. thesis. "What she did was steal twenty years of my work," Gasman told Maureen Orth in 1994. Gasman did not file suit. Huffington denied the allegations.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington has had a lifelong interest in spirituality; in her youth, together with Bernard Levin, she explored the Rajneesh movement, later dating Erhard Seminars Training founder Werner Erhard and going on to become affiliated with John-Roger Hinkins' Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness. In 1994, she published a self-help book titled "The Fourth Instinct", outlining her view that people should rise above the three basic instincts of survival, power, and sex to find their higher and better selves.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington was selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50; made up of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists and creators who are over the age of 50.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: Huffington is Greek by birth and became a naturalized American citizen in 1990. She met her husband Michael Huffington in 1985. They were married a year later, on April 12, 1986, and have two daughters, Isabella and Christina.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: The couple later moved to Santa Barbara, California, and, in 1992, Michael ran as a Republican for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, winning the election by a significant margin. In 1994, he narrowly lost the race for the U.S. Senate seat in California to incumbent Dianne Feinstein.


title: Arianna Huffington

text: The couple divorced in 1997. In 1998, Michael Huffington disclosed that he was bisexual, saying, "I know now that my sexuality is part of who I am, I've been through a long process of finding out the truth about me." He stated, "In December 1985, in my Houston townhouse I sat down with [Arianna] and told her that I had dated women and men so that she would be aware of it ... The good news was that it was not an issue for her."


title: Guitar Hero

text: Guitar Hero is a series of music rhythm game video games first released in November 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead, bass guitar, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Players match notes that scroll on-screen to colored fret buttons on the controller, strumming the controller in time to the music in order to score points, and keep the virtual audience excited. The games attempt to mimic many features of playing a real guitar, including the use of fast-fingering hammer-ons and pull-offs and the use of the whammy bar to alter the pitch of notes. Most games support, single player modes, typically a Career mode to play through all the songs in the game, and both competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes. With the introduction of "Guitar Hero World Tour" in 2008, the game includes support for a four-player band including vocals and drums. The series initially used mostly cover versions of songs created by WaveGroup Sound, but most recent titles feature soundtracks that are fully master recordings, and in some cases, special re-recordings, of the songs. Later titles in the series feature support for downloadable content in the form of new songs.


title: Guitar Hero

text: In 2005, RedOctane, a company specializing in the manufacture of unique game controllers, was inspired to create "Guitar Hero" based on RedOctane's experience creating hardware for Konami's "Guitar Freaks" arcade game. They enlisted Harmonix, who previously developed several music video games, for development assistance. The first game in the series was made on a budget of $1 million. The series became extremely successful, leading to the acquisition of RedOctane by Activision in 2007. Harmonix was acquired by MTV Games and went on to create the "Rock Band" series of music games in the same vein as "Guitar Hero". Activision brought Neversoft (primarily known for their "Tony Hawk" series of skateboarding games) on board for future development duties. Additional companies, such as Budcat Creations and Vicarious Visions, have assisted in the adaptation of the games for other systems.


title: Guitar Hero

text: The series has twenty five releases, including the two spin-offs, the "DJ Hero" series and "Band Hero". The "Guitar Hero" franchise was a primary brand during the emergence of the popularity of rhythm games as a cultural phenomenon in North America. Such games have been utilized as a learning and development tool for medical purposes. The first game in the series was considered by several journalists to be one of the most influential video games of the first decade of the 21st century. The series has sold more than 25 million units worldwide, earning US$2 billion at retail. Activision claimed in 2009 that the "Guitar Hero" franchise was the 3rd largest game franchise after the "Mario" and "Madden NFL" franchises. Activision also claimed that the third main title of the series, "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock", is the first single video game title to exceed $1 billion in sales.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Despite early success, the series, along with the overall rhythm game genre, suffered from poor sales starting in 2009. Despite asserting consumer research suggested continued solid demand for the series, Activision later stated that the series was on hiatus for 2011, amid the development of a seventh main installment that was later cancelled as the emerging product was considered to be of poor quality. Activision later shut down sales of the series' downloadable content, although users who purchased material from it previously may still play what they bought.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "Guitar Hero Live", released in October 2015, was the first new title in the series in five years, considered to be a reboot of the series and developed by FreeStyleGames, who had developed the "DJ Hero" games. Following a lukewarm reception and sales, Activision laid off many of the game's developers and sold the studio to Ubisoft, later shutting down the game's streaming DLC service.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "Guitar Hero" was created from a partnership between RedOctane, then their own company that produced specialized video game controllers, and Harmonix, a music video game development company who had previously produced "Frequency", "Amplitude", and "Karaoke Revolution". RedOctane was seeking to bring in a "Guitar Freaks"-like game, highly popular in Japan at the time, into Western markets, and approached Harmonix about helping them to develop a music game involving a guitar controller. Both companies agreed to it, and went on to produce "Guitar Hero" in November 2005. The title was highly successful, leading to the development of its successful sequel, "Guitar Hero II", in 2006. While the original controllers for the first "Guitar Hero" game were designed by Ryan Lesser, Rob Kay, Greg LoPiccolo, and Alex Rigopulous of Harmonix and built by the Honeybee Corporation of China, subsequent iterations and future controllers were developed inhouse at RedOctane, with development led primarily by Jack McCauley.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Both RedOctane and Harmonix experienced changes in 2006. RedOctane was bought by Activision in June — who spent US$100 million to acquire the "Guitar Hero" franchise — while it was announced in October that Harmonix would be purchased by MTV Games. As a result of the two purchases, Harmonix would no longer develop future games in the "Guitar Hero" series. Instead, that responsibility would go to Neversoft, a subsidiary of Activision known for developing the "Tony Hawk's" series of skateboarding games. Neversoft was chosen to helm the "Guitar Hero" series after Neversoft founder, Joel Jewett, admitted to the RedOctane founders, Kai and Charles Huang, that his development team for "Tony Hawk's Project 8" went to work on weekends just to play "Guitar Hero". Activision CEO Bobby Kotick believed that Neversoft would help them bring great games to the series, but on reflection, stated that had Activision explored Harmonix further as a continued developer for the series, things "may have turned out differently". In addition, Activision began seeking other markets for the game; a Nintendo DS version of the series was developed by Vicarious Visions, while a "Guitar Hero Mobile" series was created for mobile phones. The company also began considering the expansion of the series to band-specific titles with "". Later, in November 2008, Activision acquired Budcat Creations, another development studio that had helped with the PlayStation 2 versions of "Guitar Hero III" and "World Tour", announcing that they would be helping to develop another game in the "Guitar Hero" series.


title: Guitar Hero

text: In 2007, Harmonix and MTV Games released a new music title through rival publisher Electronic Arts, called "Rock Band". It expanded upon the gameplay popularized by the "Guitar Hero" series by adding drum and microphone instruments, allowing players to simulate playing songs as bands. Activision followed suit with the release of "Guitar Hero World Tour" in 2008, which supported multiple instruments. In 2009, Activision tripled its "Guitar Hero" offerings, and in addition to further continuation of the existing main series with "Guitar Hero 5" and expansions, they introduced the titles "Band Hero", geared towards more family-friendly pop music, and "DJ Hero", a game based on turntablism and featuring a number of mixes. With the release of "Guitar Hero 5", Activision considered the series to have moved away from its heavy metal basis into a broader selection of music. "Guitar Hero 5" is the first game in the series to use a new version of the series' logo; previous games used a logo in a font with sharper "points" on the letters, which was considered "idiosyncratic with a vengeance" to match the games' emphasis on heavy metal music. Activision used the services of the Pentagram design studio to refashion the game's logo. Pentagram developed a new font, removing some of the "aggressive odd" features to make the typeface more suitable and amendable to design feature incorporation to other games such as "Band Hero" and "DJ Hero".


title: Guitar Hero

text: The results of the expanded offerings did not contribute well to the series, alongside the late-2000s recession; sales of most rhythm games including "Guitar Hero" and "DJ Hero" did not meet expectations, falling about 50% short of projected targets. Activision announced it would be cutting back to only 10 SKUs within 2010 instead of the 25 in 2009. Though RedOctane and Neversoft continued to develop the 6th main game, "", until its completion, both studios were later shuttered by Activision, moving key personnel into Activision directly for future game development, and in the case of Neversoft, closing its "Guitar Hero" division, while transferring future development duties for the series to Vicarious Visions, another Activision studio which had been fundamental in building the Wii and Nintendo DS versions of the games. In November 2010, Activision also closed Budcat Creations, the arm of the publisher that was primarily responsible for porting the "Guitar Hero" games to the PlayStation 2.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Ahead of Activision's 2010 fourth quarter financial report in February 2011, Activision disbanded its "Guitar Hero" business unit and announced that it would cease development of the planned 2011 "Guitar Hero" game. Activision cited "continued declines in the music genre" to explain its decision. The closure also affected the "DJ Hero" series, as Activision stated that there were no plans to publish a music game during 2011. Activision's vice president Dan Winters later clarified that the company was "just putting "Guitar Hero" on hiatus" and that they were "just not making a new game for next year, that's all".


title: Guitar Hero

text: In a July 2011 interview with "Forbes", Kotick stated that while the publisher was "going to stop selling Guitar Hero altogether", they were "going to go back to the studios and we’re going to use new studios and reinvent" the series, but a former teammember of Vicarious Visions stated that as of 2012, all development of "Guitar Hero" had come to an end within Activision. Another source close to Vicarious Visions had reported to "Kotaku" that while "Guitar Hero 7" was in development under an Activision studio, the game was considered a "disaster". The cancelled game omitted the additional instruments and used only a guitar peripheral, redesigning the unit to include a 6-button mechanism replacing the strum bar; the resulting unit was considered too expensive to manufacture and purchase. The developers had also started the game development from scratch to try to create new characters and venues that would be more reactive to the actual songs being played to give the feel of a music video, but ultimately this proved too much of a challenge and had to be scrapped. Further, with a limited budget, the song selection was limited to "low-budget" hits of the 1990s, or at times reusing songs that had previously been included in "Guitar Hero" games. Though the team had a two-year development cycle, it was closed down after Activision president Eric Hirshber had seen the current state of the project at the one-year point.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Another potential "Guitar Hero" project was discovered by the archival site Unseen64 for a game titled "Hero World", a massively multiplayer online game that would link the "Guitar Hero" and "DJ Hero" games. The game had been developed by FreeStyleGames, sometime after the release of "DJ Hero 2", with the main development duties passed to Virtual Fairground, using their platform The Ride, an Adobe Flash-based platform that would let the game be played in a web browser. The game was cancelled in 2011 along with other pending "Guitar Hero" projects.


title: Guitar Hero

text: No further downloadable content for either "Guitar Hero" or "DJ Hero" was made after February 2011, though Activision committed to releasing content that was already in development by that time due to fan response; later, in a move described by "Game Informer" as "the final nail in [the series'] coffins", Activision announced it would discontinue all DLC sales for the series without revoking access to tracks already bought as of March 31, 2014. Though Activision had moved away from the "Guitar Hero" series, the lessons learned helped them and developer Toys for Bob to handle the manufacturing and outsourcing issues that came with the highly successful "Skylanders" toy and video game franchise.


title: Guitar Hero

text: In April 2015, Activision announced a new entry in the series, titled "Guitar Hero Live". The title was developed by Activision's internal studio FreeStyleGames, who previously had worked on the "DJ Hero" spinoff titles. FreeStyleGames were given free rein to reboot the "Guitar Hero" series for next-generation consoles. One of their first innovations was to drop the standard five-button guitar controller, ultimately designing a six-button guitar controller, with two rows of three buttons each, allowing them to mimic actual guitar fingering. "Guitar Hero Live" was released with both a career and an online mode. The career mode used full-motion video taken from the perspective of a lead guitarist underneath the note highway, to create an immersive experience to the player. The online mode, called "GHTV", discarded the previous downloadable content approach and used a music video channel approach to stream playable songs to players, adding new songs to the catalog on a weekly basis. The game was released in October 2015.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Though the game was praised as a reinvention of the "Guitar Hero" series, the game did not sell as well as Activision expected; due to lowered forecasts, Activision let go of about half of FreeStyleGames' developers. In January 2017, Ubisoft acquired FreeStyleGames from Activision, with unclear consequences for the game. Activision shut down "GHTV" on December 1, 2018, reducing the available songs from almost 500 to the 42 present on-disc.


title: Guitar Hero

text: In 2020 online servers for all "Guitar Hero" games were shut down on PS3. Between this and the closure of Wii online servers for all games, they are now only playable online on Xbox 360.


title: Guitar Hero

text: The original "Guitar Hero" was released on the PlayStation 2 in November 2005. "Guitar Hero" is notable because it comes packaged with a controller peripheral modeled after a black Gibson SG guitar. Rather than a typical gamepad, this guitar controller is the primary input for the game. Playing the game with the guitar controller simulates playing an actual guitar, except it uses five colored "fret buttons" and a "strum bar" instead of frets and strings. The development of "Guitar Hero" was inspired by Konami's "Guitar Freaks" video game, which at the time, had not seen much exposure in the North American market; RedOctane, already selling guitar-shaped controllers for imported copies of GuitarFreaks, approached Harmonix about creating a game to use an entirely new Guitar controller. The concept was to have the gameplay of "Amplitude" with the visuals of "Karaoke Revolution", both of which had been developed by Harmonix. The game was met with critical acclaim and received numerous awards for its innovative guitar peripheral and its soundtrack, which comprised 47 playable rock songs (most of which were cover versions of popular songs from artists and bands from the 1960s through modern rock). "Guitar Hero" has sold nearly 1.5 million copies to date.


title: Guitar Hero

text: The popularity of the series increased dramatically with the release of "Guitar Hero II" for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. Featuring improved multiplayer gameplay, an improved note-recognizing system, and 64 songs, it became the fifth best-selling video game of 2006. The PlayStation 2 version of the game was offered both separately and in a bundle with a cherry red Gibson SG guitar controller. "Guitar Hero II" was later released for the Xbox 360 in April 2007 with an exclusive Gibson Explorer guitar controller and an additional 10 songs, among other features. About 3 million units of "Guitar Hero II" have sold on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "" was released in late 2007 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS X platforms. The title is the first installment of the series to include wireless guitars bundled with the game and also the first to release a special bundle with two guitars. The game includes Slash and Tom Morello as playable characters in addition to the existing fictional avatars; both guitarists performed motion capture to be used for their characters' animation in the game.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "Guitar Hero World Tour", previously named "Guitar Hero IV", is the fourth full game in the series and was released on October 26, 2008 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii. Analysts had expected that future "Guitar Hero" games in 2008 would include additional instrument peripherals to compete against "Rock Band"; "Guitar Hero World Tour" was confirmed as in development following the announcement of the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games in December 2007. Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick announced on April 21, 2008 that "Guitar Hero World Tour" will branch out into other instruments including vocals. "Guitar Hero World Tour" includes drums and vocals, and can be bought packaged with a new drum set controller, a microphone, and the standard guitar controller. A larger number of real-world musicians appear as playable characters, including Jimi Hendrix, Billy Corgan, Hayley Williams, Zakk Wylde, Ted Nugent, Travis Barker, Sting, and Ozzy Osbourne. "Guitar Hero World Tour" also features custom song creation that can be shared with others.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "Guitar Hero 5", the fifth main entry in the series, was confirmed in December 2008. It was released on September 1, 2009, and includes 85 songs from 83 different artists. The game includes new game modes and features, including its 'Party Mode,' which gives players the ability to drop-in and out and change difficulties in the middle of a song. Artists including Johnny Cash, Matt Bellamy, Carlos Santana, Kurt Cobain and Shirley Manson appear as playable characters in the game.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "", the sixth main console game in the series, was released on September 28, 2010. It is the last game in the series developed by Neversoft's "Guitar Hero" division prior to its dissolution, with Vicarious Visions assisting on the Wii version with added Nintendo DS functionality. The game has been described as returning to the roots of the "Guitar Hero" series; while it still allows for full band play, the soundtrack's focus is on rock and roll music and an emphasis on guitar "shredding". The game introduced a career-based "Quest Mode", narrated by Gene Simmons, that guides the players to complete songs to unlock "warriors of rock" to join them in saving "demigod of rock" and his guitar from his imprisonment by "the Beast".


title: Guitar Hero

text: Following a five-year hiatus, as described below, Activision announced "Guitar Hero Live" for release in late 2015 on most seventh-generation and eighth-generation consoles. "Live" was developed to rebuild the game from the ground up, and while the gameplay remains similar to the earlier titles, focusing primarily on the lead guitar, it uses a 3-button guitar controller with each button having "up" and "down" positions, making for more complex tabulators. The game uses live footage of a rock concert, taken from the perspective of the lead guitarist, to provide a more immersive experience.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "" for the PlayStation 2, which was released in July 2007, was the final game Harmonix developed for the series. Though it was produced after Harmonix was purchased by MTV Games, they were contractually obligated to finish the game, which as suggested by its name primarily features songs from the 1980s. The game was criticized for its small selection of songs, and in one case compared unfavorably to Lou Reed's album "Metal Machine Music" for allegedly being a mere contractual obligation project.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "" was the first "Guitar Hero" game to center on one specific artist. On September 4, 2007, "Billboard" announced that Aerosmith was "working closely with the makers of "Guitar Hero IV"", which would be "dedicated to the group's music". On February 15, 2008, Activision announced that "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" would be released on June 29, 2008. "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" was developed by Neversoft for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, by Vicarious Visions for the Wii, and by Budcat Creations for the PlayStation 2. The game's setlist is mostly Aerosmith songs, with other songs from Joe Perrys solo work or artists that have inspired or performed with Aerosmith, including Run-DMC.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "", the next entry in the series to center on one artist, was released on March 29, 2009. It is based on the full band experience of "World Tour", and educates players on Metallica's history and music in the same manner as "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" did for Aerosmith. The game also debuted a new difficulty for drums, called Expert+ (read "expert-plus"), intended to incorporate a second bass drum pedal for songs that would otherwise be too difficult to play on drums.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "Guitar Hero Smash Hits" (titled "Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits" in Europe and Australia) was released in June 2009. It features full-band versions of 48 songs from earlier "Guitar Hero" games that only used the guitar controller. Unlike the previous versions, each of the songs is based on a master recording that includes some live tracks. The game follows a similar model as "Guitar Hero: Metallica", and was developed by Neversoft and Beenox Studios for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and Wii.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "" was released on December 22, 2009, though customers that purchased "Guitar Hero 5" under a special promotion received a copy of the game early. Like the other games oriented around a specific artist, "Guitar Hero: Van Halen" mainly uses songs by the band Van Halen, including three guitar solos by Eddie Van Halen, in addition to guest acts such as Queen, Weezer, Blink-182, Foo Fighters, The Offspring, and Queens of the Stone Age.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "Band Hero" was announced in May 2009 and features "Top 40" hits aimed at family audiences, using the full band play style of "Guitar Hero 5". The game was also developed for the Nintendo DS, using the "Guitar Hero On Tour" Guitar Grip, a new "drum skin" to fit the DS Lite, and the DS's microphone to support the full band experience. Musician Taylor Swift appears as a playable character in the game, as do the members of No Doubt.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "DJ Hero" was announced by Activision in May 2009. Prior to the announcement, the company had purchased FreeStyleGames, a small developer of music games, to help produce localized downloadable content for "Guitar Hero" games and a then-unannounced music game, later revealed to be "DJ Hero". "DJ Hero" uses a special turntable-based controller for players to perform with on various song mixes in the game. The game also incorporates the use of a "Guitar Hero" controller on ten specially arranged tracks; Bright suggested that future "Guitar Hero" games after "Guitar Hero 5" could include the use of the turntable control.


title: Guitar Hero

text: A sequel, "DJ Hero 2", was officially announced in June 2010 for release in the last quarter of 2010, featuring more than 70 mashups from over 85 artists. The game includes several new gameplay modes, including an "Empire" career mode, head-to-head DJ battles, social multiplayer modes, and a jump-in and out Party Play mode similar to "Guitar Hero 5". The game also includes more vocal options for singing and rapping to songs, and a freestyle mode for players.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "" was released on the Nintendo DS hand-held system on June 22, 2008. The game includes a peripheral, dubbed the "Guitar Grip", a rectangular device that fits into the second slot of the Nintendo DS or DS Lite. The peripheral only features the first four fret buttons and a strap so the Nintendo DS can be held sideways comfortably for play. The game also includes a guitar pick shaped stylus for use with strumming in the game, which players move across the touchscreen. "Guitar Hero: On Tour" was developed by Vicarious Visions, who also ported the "Guitar Hero" games to Nintendo's Wii console.


title: Guitar Hero

text: A sequel, "", was released in November 2008, featuring music spanning four decades. A third title in the series, "", was announced following various rumors of its existence, and was released in June 2009, featuring songs recorded since the year 2000. Both games use the "Guitar Grip" controller, and allow two players to compete against each other using any version of the "On Tour" series, with songs being shared between versions.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "Band Hero" was also ported to the Nintendo DS by Vicarious Visions, expanding the play to include vocals (through the DS microphone) and drumming. The drumming uses a special "drum skin" adapter designed for the Nintendo DS Lite to map the unit's face buttons to four drum pads. However, the peripheral is not compatible with the original Nintendo DS model or the Nintendo DSi. However, since the drum skin is not electronic but a rubber cover switch that duplicates certain buttons on the DS Lite, a player can simply press the buttons in time to play the drums. The game includes four-player local wireless play in a similar manner as "Guitar Hero 5" allowing any combination of instruments to be used. The game has a set of 30 songs; some are from "Band Hero" and others are from several "Guitar Hero" games' set lists.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "Guitar Hero: On Tour" does not work on the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo 3DS because unlike the Nintendo DS, they do not have Game Boy Advance slots. "Band Hero" is limited to vocals and drums on the two consoles for the same reason.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "Guitar Hero III Mobile" was released for mobile phones in 2007 and 2008, and was developed by MachineWorks Northwest LLC. The base version of the game includes 15 songs from both "Guitar Hero II" and "Guitar Hero III", and has released a three-song add-on pack every month since January 2008. The title has been downloaded by users one million times, with both Verizon and Hands-On Mobile claiming that over 250,000 songs are played a day on the platform.


title: Guitar Hero

text: The two companies produced two other mobile-based "Guitar Hero" games; "Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass", released in July 2008, adds role-playing elements to manage the band's success in addition to the core rhythm game, while the mobile version of "Guitar Hero World Tour", released in December 2008, expands each included track for play on both lead guitar and drums, mimicking the expansion of the console series to the full band.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Activision and RedOctane also worked with Basic Fun, Inc. to produce "Guitar Hero Carabiner", a handheld electronic game that features excerpts of several songs taken from the first two games.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Activision and Konami, who had previously worked together to make sure that the "Guitar Hero" series meets with Konami's patents on music games, in conjunction with Raw Thrills, developed an arcade console version of the game, titled "Guitar Hero Arcade", distributed to arcades in early 2009. The game is completely based on the "Guitar Hero III" gameplay, but reducing some of the features such as the use of the Whammy bar, Star Power Button (Star Power may only be activated by lifting the Guitar) and Practice Modes, but keeping the ability to download new songs for the cabinet from the Internet. The arcade game has come under some scrutiny by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), who believe the use of the game in arcades is equivalent to "public performances" and seek additional fees to be paid by operators of the game.


title: Guitar Hero

text: The double release of "Guitar Hero 5" and "Band Hero" in 2009 were the last of the series' games to be released on PlayStation 2. It was expected that the 2010 entry for "Guitar Hero", "Warriors of Rock", would be the final entry developed by Neversoft, based on claims that Neversoft would be letting go of its "Guitar Hero" division, with Vicarious Visions likely poised to take over future development. Further industry rumors pointed at the closure of RedOctane Studios and Underground Development (the development studio for "Guitar Hero: Van Halen") as further results from the scaling-back; Activision moved the controller hardware development within their own division to continue to support the series, with RedOctane founders Kai and Charles Huang remaining with Activision. A week prior to these announcements, the "Guitar Hero" division CEO at Activision, Dan Rosensweig, left the company, leading to some speculation on whether Rosensweig's departure influenced these changes. Activision and RedOctane had trademarked the titles ""Guitar Villain"", ""Drum Villain"", ""Keyboard Hero"" and ""Sing Hero"". RedOctane originally trademarked the titles ""Drum Hero"" and ""Band Hero"", but the work performed towards the "Drum Hero" title was eventually folded into the gameplay for "Guitar Hero World Tour", and "Band Hero" became its own game. Later, as of October 2009, Activision reapplied for a "Drum Hero" trademark. Pi Studios, which had previously helped to port "Rock Band" to the Wii, had started work on the karaoke title "Sing Hero" before Activision cancelled its development. "Dance Hero" was also said to have been in development as of 2011.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Dave Mustaine, frontman for Megadeth, stated he had been in talks with Activision and Neversoft for a "Guitar Hero"-related product. It was later revealed that Mustaine was working with Activision for music in "", including an original track ("Sudden Death") recorded specifically for the game.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Two "Guitar Hero" products that were announced but never released were a Red Hot Chili Peppers-themed title and a PlayStation Portable title that would have featured a drum component.


title: Guitar Hero

text: The core gameplay of the "Guitar Hero" games is a rhythm video game similar to Konami's "Guitar Freaks" and to a lesser extent Harmonix's previous music games such as "Frequency" and "Amplitude". The guitar controller is recommended for play, although a standard console controller can be used instead. However, the guitar controller has been required for play ever since the inclusion of drum and vocal parts in the series. The game supports toggling the handedness of the guitar, allowing both left-handed and right-handed players to utilize the guitar controller.


title: Guitar Hero

text: While playing the game, an extended guitar neck is shown vertically on the screen (the frets horizontal), often called the "note highway", and as the song progresses, colored markers or "gems" indicating notes travel down the screen in time with the music; the note colors and positions match those of the five fret keys on the guitar controller. Once the note(s) reach the bottom, the player must play the indicated note(s) by holding down the correct fret button(s) and hitting the strumming bar in order to score points. Success or failure will cause the on-screen Rock Meter to change, gauging the current health of the performance (denoted by red, yellow, and green sections). Should the Rock Meter drop below the red section, the song will automatically end, with the player booed off the stage by the audience. Successful note hits will add to the player's score, and by hitting a long series of consecutive successful note hits, the player can increase their score multiplier. There is a window of time for hitting each note, similar to other rhythm games such as "Dance Dance Revolution", but unlike these games, scoring in "Guitar Hero" is not affected by accuracy; as long as the note is hit within that window, the player receives the same number of points.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Selected special segments of the song will have glowing notes outlined by stars: successfully hitting all notes in this series will fill the "Star Power Meter". The Star Power Meter can also be filled by using the whammy bar during sustained notes within these segments. Once the Star Power Meter is at least half full, the player can activate "Star Power" by pressing the select button or momentarily lifting the guitar into a vertical position. When Star Power is activated, the scoring multiplier is doubled until Star Power is depleted. The Rock Meter also increases more dramatically when Star Power is activated, making it easier for the player to make the Rock Meter stay at a high level. Thus, Star Power can be used strategically to play difficult sections of a song that otherwise might cause the player to fail. In the earlier entries of the series (up until "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith"), activating Star Power meant that players could not accrue more Star Power until the Star Power meter was fully drained and the effect ended. Starting with "Guitar Hero: World Tour", more Star Power can be collected even if the effect is active by completing more Star Power phrases, extending the Star Power's duration by doing so. When playing in cooperative play (with a bassist/rhythm guitarist in "Guitar Hero II" through "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" or as a band in "Guitar Hero: World Tour"), Star Power is shared between all the players and activation of Star Power is dependent on all players simultaneously activating it.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Notes can be a single note, or composed of two to five notes that make a chord. Both single notes and chords can also be sustained, indicated by a colored line following the note marker; the player can hold the sustained note(s) keys down for the entire length for additional points. During a sustained note, a player may use the whammy bar on the guitar to alter the tone of the note. Also, regardless of whether sustains are hit early or late, if the fret is held for the full duration of the hold, the game will always award the same amount of score increase for the note. In addition, the games support virtual implementations of "hammer-ons" and "pull-offs", guitar-playing techniques that are used to successfully play a fast series of notes by only changing the fingering on the fret buttons without having to strum each note. Sequences where strumming is not required are indicated on-screen by notes with a white outline at the top of the marker instead of the usual black one, with "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" adding a white-glowing effect to make these notes clearer. "Guitar Hero World Tour" features transparent notes that are connected by a purple outline; players may either simply tap the correct fret for these notes without strumming or utilize a touchpad on "World Tour"s guitar controller to mimic the slide technique. In addition, notes can now be played while a sustained note is being played. "World Tour" also adds an open string note for bass players, represented by a line across the fret instead of any note gems, that is played by strumming without holding down any fret buttons (the sixth installment, "", features an open note sustain for bass instruments as well).


title: Guitar Hero

text: "Guitar Hero World Tour" introduced drums and vocal tracks in addition to lead and bass guitar. Drum tracks are played similar to guitar tracks; the player must strike the appropriate drum head or step down on the bass drum pedal on the controller when the note gems pass the indicated line. Certain note gems, when using a drum controller that is velocity-sensitive, are "armored", requiring the player to hit the indicated drum pad harder to score more points. Vocal tracks are played similar to games such as "Karaoke Revolution" where the player must match the pitch and the pacing of the lyrics to score points. "Guitar Hero 5" allows players to create a band of up to four players using any combination of instruments.


title: Guitar Hero

text: While the song is playing, the background visuals feature the players' chosen avatar, along with the rest of the band performing in one of several real and fictional venues. The reaction of the audience is based on the performance of the player judged by the Rock Meter. "Guitar Hero II" added special lighting and other stage effects that were synchronized to the music to provide a more complete concert experience. The games developed by Neversoft feature a simple storyline, usually about a band's quest for fame, which is told through animations played throughout the game. These animations were created by Chris Prynoski and his studio, Titmouse, Inc., who have also done animations for the animated show "Metalocalypse".


title: Guitar Hero

text: The main mode of play in the "Guitar Hero" games is Career Mode, where the player and in-game band travel between various fictional performance arenas and perform sets of four to six songs. It is by completing songs in this mode that the songs are unlocked for play across the rest of the game. Players can choose their on-stage character, their guitar of choice, and the venue in which they wish to play. In this mode, the player can earn money from his/her performances that is redeemable at the in-game store, where bonus songs, additional guitars and finishes, your characters clothing and bonus content can be unlocked. Quick Play mode is a quicker method of playing songs, as it allows the player to select a track and difficulty, selecting the character, venue, and guitar and guitar skin for the player based on the song chosen. After successfully completing a song, the player is given a score, a percentage of how many notes they hit and a rating from three to five stars, and two in rare cases depending on his/her final score on the song, with money being awarded in "Guitar Hero World Tour".


title: Guitar Hero

text: The games have also added multiplayer modes. Cooperative modes allow two players to play lead and either bass or rhythm guitar on the same song, working together towards the same score. A competitive Face-Off mode allows two players to play against each other at different difficulty levels, each attempting to earn the best score on a song. Each player plays different portions of the song. There is also a Pro Face-Off mode, where two players battle at the same difficulty level. Unlike standard Face-off, each player attempts to play all of the notes in a song, while still trying to earn the highest score. In "Guitar Hero World Tour" this was advanced on, as players could play a Pro Face-Off game against each other on any difficulty level, the lower your difficulty, the more points were awarded so a player on a low difficulty could potentially beat a player on a more challenging difficulty. "Guitar Hero III" introduced Boss Battles, in which two players face off against each other, attempt to collect "distractions" to throw at their opponent, trying to make them fail. With "Guitar Hero World Tour", up to four players can play cooperatively on lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals, while a total of eight players can compete in a Battle of the Bands. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii versions of the games support multiplayer modes over their respective network services.


title: Guitar Hero

text: The four difficulty levels for each song afford the player a learning curve in order to help him/her progress in skill. The first difficulty level, Easy, only focuses on the first three fret buttons while displaying a significantly reduced number of notes for the player to play. Medium introduces the fourth (blue) fret button, and Hard includes the final fret button while adding additional notes. The addition of the orange fret button forces players to move their fingers up and down the neck. Expert does not introduce any other frets to learn, but adds more notes in a manner designed to challenge the player and to simulate the player's hands to move in a sequence similar to a real guitar. A difficulty added in "World Tour" is Beginner, which only requires the player to strum to the basic rhythm; holding the fret buttons becomes unnecessary. Another new difficulty only for drums was added to "Metallica" known as Expert+, which uses the double bass pedal.


title: Guitar Hero

text: "Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock" is the sixth installment in the franchise and introduced a new take on the Career mode of previous games. Rather than being a quest for fame and glory with the band travelling through different venues, "Warriors of Rock" features the "Quest Mode" as the primary campaign mode. Quest Mode tells the story of an ancient warrior who was defeated by a powerful monster and his mystical guitar was lost. The player must amass a team of rockers to help recover this guitar and defeat the monster (called "The Beast"). As the player progresses through the mode, the rockers joining them will transform based on the number of stars earned from songs played. These transformations will empower the player with extra abilities in a song such as constant score multipliers or Star Power bonuses. These abilities are each unique to the individual rockers and by using them effectively, it is possible now to earn up to forty stars for a single song.


title: Guitar Hero

text: When playing through Career mode or in other parts of the "Guitar Hero" games, the player has the option to select one of several pre-created avatar characters, who will be shown performing on stage as the player attempts a song, but otherwise has no effect on the gameplay. A certain number of characters are available at the start of the game, but the player must spend in-game money earned by successful performances to unlock other characters. Many of the characters reappear throughout the series, with the character roster changing as new characters are added or removed. Standby characters that have appeared in nearly all the games include the metalhead Axel Steel, extreme/Viking/thrash metalhead Lars Ümlaut, punk rocker Johnny Napalm, alternative rocker Judy Nails, and hard rocker Casey Lynch. The developers utilized these characters in more detail within "Warriors of Rock", where each was given a unique setlist and venue based on their musical style, as well as a unique power within the game's Quest mode.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Several games in the series feature caricatures of celebrity artists, such as Slash, Tom Morello and Bret Michaels in "Guitar Hero III", Ozzy Osbourne and Jimi Hendrix in "World Tour", Kurt Cobain in "Guitar Hero 5", and Taylor Swift and the band No Doubt in "Band Hero". The band-specific games, "Aerosmith", "Metallica", and "Van Halen" also feature the members of the respective bands. However, in late 2009, both Courtney Love and the members of No Doubt sought legal action against Activision for the misuse of their in-game characters singing or performing songs by other artists, which the musicians believe fell outside of their contract.


title: Guitar Hero

text: The ability for the players to create their own avatars was added in "Guitar Hero World Tour", and was based on Neversoft's existing character creation tools from the "Tony Hawk" series. Later games on the Xbox 360 and Wii allowed players to use the respective console's avatars as members of the band. In addition to unlocking characters, in-game money can be used to buy clothing, accessories and instruments that they are seen playing with. The guitars can also be customized with special finishes purchasable through the in-game store. "Guitar Hero World Tour" includes the ability to fully customize any component of the guitar. The in-game store in the series is also used to unlock bonus songs or special videos with interviews about the game or with the artists involved.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Most of the games in the "Guitar Hero" series feature a selection of songs ranging from the 1960s to present day rock music from both highly successful artists and bands and independent groups. "Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s" features songs primarily from the 1980s, while "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith," "Metallica," and "Van Halen" feature music from the respective bands and groups that inspired or worked with the bands. Songs with profanities have been censored.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Many of the "Guitar Hero" games developed for the recent generation of consoles (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii) support downloadable content, allowing players to purchase new songs to play in the respective titles. Songs each cost approximately $2 through the various online stores for the console's platform. Prior to "Guitar Hero 5", downloadable content for earlier games will not work in other games in the series, save for songs from Metallica's "Death Magnetic", which were available for "Guitar Hero III", "World Tour", and "Metallica". Existing "World Tour" downloadable content for "World Tour" will be forward-compatible with "Guitar Hero 5", "Band Hero" and "Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock", and for a small fee, some songs from both "Guitar Hero World Tour" and "Guitar Hero Smash Hits" can be exported to both "Guitar Hero 5" and "Band Hero", limited by music licensing. Activision has also stated that they are considering a monthly subscription service to deliver downloadable content to user for future games. "Guitar Hero World Tour" introduced a music creation mode that will allow players to create and share songs (excluding vocals) via the "GHTunes" service, which was also used in all other "Guitar Hero" games and "Band Hero" since its inclusion. The creation tools were improved with "Guitar Hero 5" and "Band Hero" to allow longer songs and other means of generating songs in real-time.


title: Guitar Hero

text: In the first two games and the 2007 expansion "", the majority of the songs on the main career mode set lists are covers of the original song; for example, a song may be presented as ""Free Bird as made famous by Lynyrd Skynyrd"". "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" introduces a much larger range of original recordings, and "World Tour" featured a setlist that contained all master recordings. The covers throughout the games are mostly recreated by WaveGroup Sound who has worked before to create songs for "Beatmania", "Dance Dance Revolution", and "Karaoke Revolution", making small changes to the guitar portions to make them more adaptable for gameplay. Almost all of the unlockable bonus songs are songs performed by the original artist for the game (the only exception is the song "She Bangs the Drums" by The Stone Roses, which is featured in "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock").


title: Guitar Hero

text: Prior to the release of "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock", Activision worked with the iTunes Store to provide more than 1300 tracks of "Guitar Hero"-related music across more than 20 compilations, including most of the tracks from the games in the series, called ""Guitar Hero Essentials"". These compilations, such as ""Killer Guitar Solos"" and ""Guitar Anthems of the <nowiki>'</nowiki>80s"", include songs related to but not contained within the "Guitar Hero" series. Dusty Welch of RedOctane stated, "Where there's music, there's "Guitar Hero", and with iTunes, we are able to provide fans with a central location for downloading their favorite rock anthems." Following the merger of Activision and Blizzard, the new company announced plans to create an alternative to iTunes based on the "Guitar Hero" brand that would allow for downloading songs and their associated note tracks for the "Guitar Hero" games.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Games in the "Guitar Hero" series have been generally well received by critics. The initial games were highly praised by reviewers. Neversoft's first entry to the series, "Guitar Hero III", was considered to be too difficult, with many difficult songs presenting players with "walls of notes"; the developers later acknowledged this. Subsequent efforts in "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" and "Guitar Hero World Tour" were seen to have some improvements, with "Guitar Hero: Metallica" considered to be a well-polished title and, at that time, the best "Guitar Hero" title Neversoft has produced. "Guitar Hero 5"s improvements toward social gameplay were complemented by reviewers and considered a further improvement upon the series. "Entertainment Weekly" put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "An addictive videogame provides the illusion of musical mastery for even the least gifted:. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Tap, tap, tap."


title: Guitar Hero

text: Upon release, the first game was seen as an unexpected hit, earning over US$45 million with about 1.5 million copies sold. "Guitar Hero II" was significantly more financially successful, with over 1.3 million copies sold and sales over US$200 million. "Guitar Hero III", according to Activision, was the first single video game to sell more than US$1 billion at retail, with nearly 3.5 million copies sold during the first seven months of 2008. "World Tour" continued the series' high sales records with 3.4 million units sold in the United States during 2008. More than 60 million downloadable tracks have been purchased across the series as of February 2010. Both "Guitar Hero III" and "World Tour" were listed on a March 2011 list from the NPD Group of top-grossing games in unadjusted sales in the United States since 1995; "Guitar Hero III" tops the list with total sales of $830.9 million.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Overall, the "Guitar Hero" series has sold more than 25 million units worldwide, earning US$2 billion at retail. Activision claimed the series to be the 3rd largest game franchise in 2009 after the "Mario" and "Madden NFL" franchises.


title: Guitar Hero

text: The "Guitar Hero" series has made a significant cultural impact, becoming a "cultural phenomenon". The series has helped to rekindle music education in children, influenced changes in both the video game and music industry, has found use in health and treatment of recovering patients, and has become part of the popular culture vernacular. Several journalists, including 1UP.com, "Wired", G4TV, the "San Jose Mercury News", "Inc.", "The Guardian", and "Advertising Age", considered "Guitar Hero" to be one of the most influential products of the first decade of the 21st century, attributing it as the spark leading to the growth of the rhythm game market, for boosting music sales for both new and old artists, for introducing more social gaming concepts to the video game market, and, in conjunction with the Wii, for improving interactivity with gaming consoles. "Guitar Hero" has seen a revitalization in the form of a software clone called "Clone Hero", as observed in 2020.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Sony's PlayStation 3 console has no compatibility with the PlayStation 2 "Guitar Hero" controller on the system. While "Guitar Hero" and "Guitar Hero II" are fully backward-compatible through the hardware PlayStation 2 emulation in the initial North American release of the console, it was impossible at launch to use the guitar controller to play either game. Kai Huang, of RedOctane, states that they are "working on that with Sony right now – looking at how we can get all the PlayStation 2 guitars that are out there, and all the owners of them, to use them on the PlayStation 3." Nyko, an accessories company, was poised to make a special PlayStation 2 controller adapter for the PlayStation 3, but put the product on hold due to technical difficulties. Tac, another accessories company, also made a PlayStation 2 controller adapter for a PlayStation 3 game console so players could use their "Guitar Hero" guitar controllers that were made for the PlayStation 2 with a PlayStation 3. However, the May 2007 PlayStation 3 V1.80 system update has made the guitar controller compatible with generic PlayStation 2 controller to USB adapters when playing "Guitar Hero" and "Guitar Hero II". In addition, Pelican Accessories has released a special controller adapter that supports both games, including the ability to switch the handedness of the guitar.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Gibson Guitar Corporation, whose guitar likenesses have appeared in the "Guitar Hero" series from the first game to "Guitar Hero Aerosmith", informed Activision on January 7, 2008, that it believed the games infringe its . Gibson claimed that this covers technology that simulates a concert performance via pre-recorded audio and a musical instrument. In response, Activision filed a suit seeking a declaration that it was not in violation of the Gibson patent; Activision also asserted that Gibson had given an implied license by waiting to assert the patent and that the patent was invalid. On March 17, 2008, Gibson sued six retailers (GameStop, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, Target, Toys "R" Us and Kmart) for selling "Guitar Hero" products. Subsequently, on March 21, 2008, Gibson also filed a lawsuit against EA, MTV, and Harmonix over their game "Rock Band" also for violation of its patent, to which a Harmonix spokesperson stated that Gibson's claims are "completely without merit". Activision lawyer Mary Tuck stated in their legal filings that they believe that Gibson initiated the lawsuit due to the fact that "Activision was not <nowiki>[</nowiki>interested<nowiki>]</nowiki> in renewing the License and Marketing Support Agreement" with Gibson Guitars.


title: Guitar Hero

text: In February 2009, the United States District Court for the Central District of California ruled against Gibson in their case against Activision, stating that the controllers are not musical instruments but "toys that represent other items", and that Gibson's patent only covers instruments that send out analog signals. Activision and Gibson settled the suit following this ruling.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Activision, through John Devecka, owns all of Devecka Enterprises' US and international patents that deal with music games. All patents issued by the USPTO are presumed valid.


title: Guitar Hero

text: In February 2010, Activision was sued by the Patent Compliance Group (PCG) for releasing "Guitar Hero" products with false patent claims, with the PCG asserting that games like "Guitar Hero 5" and "Band Hero" were marked with up to 10 patents that are not used within the games along with several other improper patent pending claims. PCG claimed that "Acts of false marketing deter innovation and stifle competition in the marketplace." PCG's "qui tam" lawsuit was seeking up to $500 per unit sold if Activision was found liable. However, by June 2010, PCG had withdrawn the case without prejudice.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Aside from being a defendant, Activision has also acted as a plaintiff. In 2007, the company issued a cease and desist letter to Nicholas Piegdon, the developer of an open source piano teaching program called "Piano Hero", demanding he change the name to something less similar to that of the "Guitar Hero" series. He complied and renamed the software "Synthesia".


title: Guitar Hero

text: Many critics believed that the number of releases of "Guitar Hero" games was "milking" the brand name and oversaturating the market. "PaRappa the Rapper" creator Masaya Matsuura stated that the video game market was growing stale and needed to move beyond games that simply challenge the player to mimic the playing of licensed music. Ryan Geddes of IGN stated that he "hit the wall with play-along music games", and challenged the game makers to explore other ways to combine music and video games. Analysts stated that such games must continue to innovate instead of just providing more songs in order to prevent "genre fatigue". Jesse Divnich of Electronic Entertainment and Design Research commented that, much like "Dance Dance Revolution", "Guitar Hero" and other music games explosively grew initially due to significant new features from other games but have become stagnant due to focusing on content over features, and suggested that for the genre to continue to grow, they must look to incremental changes as done with the first-person shooter genre. Former CEO for RedOctane, Kelly Sumner, believed that Activision "abused" the series, as "they tried to get too much out of the franchise too quickly".


title: Guitar Hero

text: The series has also been criticized for its release model in contrast to the "Rock Band" series, causing some players to hold contempt towards Activision. Harmonix considered the "Rock Band" series as a "music platform", and supported it with downloadable content and the ability to import songs from its games and expansions into most other games of the series. Critics argued that "Guitar Hero" should have been doing the same, either through releasing expansions that could be incorporated into the main games of the series, or by issuing the songs as downloadable content. The release of "Guitar Hero: Smash Hits", reworking older songs from the series to full four-instrument band support but otherwise adding no additional material, was called "the definition of 'milking'" by reviewers, with no observable technical limitation as to why the songs could not be added as downloadable content. Ars Technica recognized that licensing issues might have limited when songs from one single game could be played in others of the series (such as the case for ""), but that such cross-compatibility should have been a high priority for rhythm games. Furthermore, some expansions were praised for the additional content beyond the note-matching gameplay; "Guitar Hero: Metallica" is considered to be one of the series' best works to be developed by Neversoft in part due to the care that the developers took with imaging the band and the available extras for the game. Activision later revealed that both "Guitar Hero 5" and "Band Hero" would support playing songs from both "Guitar Hero World Tour" (both on-disc and downloadable content) and "Guitar Hero Smash Hits", with music licensing being the only limiting factor on which songs could be made forward-compatible.


title: Guitar Hero

text: The large number of "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" titles on the market is considered to be partially responsible for the sharp decline of music game sales in the latter half of 2009, along with the effects of the late-2000s recession. The market for rhythm games was $1.4 billion in 2008, but dropped to $700 million (a 50% decrease) in 2009 even though more titles were available that year. Former Neversoft project director Brian Bright noted that at one point in 2009, they were responsible for the release of three games that year ("Guitar Hero 5", "Metallica", and "Band Hero") and supporting other studios for the development of two additional games, causing the studio to lose focus both in development and marketing efforts. According to Bright, sales of all the "Guitar Hero" games released in 2009 totaled the number of sales of the 2008 title "World Tour", demonstrating the dilution of the marketing. Though Activision had originally planned on tripling the offerings of the "Guitar Hero" series in 2010, the company readjusted their plans, reducing the number of offerings and focusing more on selling digital downloadable content for the series. Only two titles, "Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock" and "DJ Hero 2" were released in 2010, both scheduled for the "back half of 2010". Analysts predicted that the market would evolve to support a smaller number of titles each year, averaging at a "healthy" value in the range of $500–600 million in revenues annually. Kotick believed that part of the downfall of "Guitar Hero" was due to Activision's introduction of "DJ Hero", which they gave too much focus and left the core "Guitar Hero" games without the "nourishment and care" needed to continue to innovate in the series.


title: Guitar Hero

text: Activision Publishing chief executive Mike Griffith, in response to questions about Activision's approach to the "Guitar Hero" market, noted that "Guitar Hero" continues to outsell the "Rock Band" series in both number of sales and revenue, with consumers continuing to buy the separate games on the market, and considered the market acceptance of the multiple games as validation for their model. Activision also claimed to have conducted research that showed there was solid consumer interest in products such as "DJ Hero" and "Band Hero", each of which had a markedly different focus than the main installments of the series; series spokesperson Eric Hollreiser suggested the experimental approach would attract players who wanted different styles of music or a different peripheral with which to relate to the music. Regardless, after releasing 25 different SKUs (between games and bundle packages) in 2009, Activision opted to reduce that number to 10 in 2010, recognizing the music game genre was not as profitable as it once was. Activision later opted to suspend future development of the series in early 2011 citing weak sales in the rhythm game genre, a move that many journalists attributed to Activision's earlier oversaturation.


title: Laryngitis

text: Laryngitis is inflammation of the larynx (voice box). Symptoms often include a hoarse voice and may include fever, cough, pain in the front of the neck, and trouble swallowing. Typically, these last under two weeks.


title: Laryngitis

text: Laryngitis is categorised as acute if it lasts less than three weeks and chronic if symptoms last more than three weeks. Acute cases usually occur as part of a viral upper respiratory tract infection, other infections and trauma such as from coughing are other causes. Chronic cases may occur due to smoking, tuberculosis, allergies, acid reflux, rheumatoid arthritis, or sarcoidosis. The underlying mechanism involves irritation of the vocal cords.


title: Laryngitis

text: Concerning signs that may require further investigation include stridor, history of radiation therapy to the neck, trouble swallowing, duration of more than three weeks, and a history of smoking. If concerning signs are present the vocal cords should be examined via laryngoscopy. Other conditions that can produce similar symptoms include epiglottitis, croup, inhaling a foreign body, and laryngeal cancer.


title: Laryngitis

text: The acute form generally resolves without specific treatment. Resting the voice and sufficient fluids may help. Antibiotics generally do not appear to be useful in the acute form. The acute form is common while the chronic form is not. The chronic form occurs most often in middle age and is more common in men than women.


title: Laryngitis

text: The primary symptom of laryngitis is a hoarse voice. Because laryngitis can have various causes, other signs and symptoms may vary. They can include


title: Laryngitis

text: Aside from a hoarse-sounding voice, changes to pitch and volume may occur with laryngitis. Speakers may experience a lower or higher pitch than normal, depending on whether their vocal folds are swollen or stiff. They may also have breathier voices, as more air flows through the space between the vocal folds (the glottis), quieter volume and a reduced range.


title: Laryngitis

text: Laryngitis can be infectious as well as noninfectious in origin. The resulting inflammation of the vocal folds results in a distortion of the sound produced there. It normally develops in response to either an infection, trauma to the vocal folds, or allergies. Chronic laryngitis may also be caused by more severe problems, such as nerve damage, sores, polyps, or hard and thick lumps (nodules) on the vocal cords.


title: Laryngitis

text: The larynx itself will often show erythema (reddening) and edema (swelling). This can be seen with laryngoscopy or stroboscopy (method depends on the type of laryngitis). Stroboscopy may be relatively normal or may reveal asymmetry, aperiodicity, and reduced mucosal wave patterns.


title: Laryngitis

text: Treatment is often supportive in nature, and depends on the severity and type of laryngitis (acute or chronic). General measures to relieve symptoms of laryngitis include behaviour modification, hydration and humidification.


title: Laryngitis

text: Vocal hygiene (care of the voice) is very important to relieve symptoms of laryngitis. Vocal hygiene involves measures such as: resting the voice, drinking sufficient water, reducing caffeine and alcohol intake, stopping smoking and limiting throat clearing.


title: Laryngitis

text: In general, acute laryngitis treatment involves vocal hygiene, painkillers (analgesics), humidification, and antibiotics.


title: Laryngitis

text: The suggested treatment for viral laryngitis involves vocal rest, pain medication, and mucolytics for frequent coughing. Home remedies such as tea and honey may also be helpful. Antibiotics are not used for treatment of viral laryngitis.


title: Laryngitis

text: Antibiotics may be prescribed for bacterial laryngitis, especially when symptoms of upper respiratory infection are present. However, the use of antibiotics is highly debated for acute laryngitis. This relates to issues of effectiveness, side effects, cost, and possibility of antibiotic resistance patterns. Overall, antibiotics do not appear to be very effective in the treatment of acute laryngitis.


title: Laryngitis

text: In severe cases of bacterial laryngitis, such as supraglottitis or epiglottitis, there is a higher risk of the airway becoming blocked. An urgent referral should be made to manage the airway. Treatment may involve humidification, corticosteroids, intravenous antibiotics, and nebulised adrenaline.


title: Laryngitis

text: Fungal laryngitis can be treated with oral antifungal tablets and antifungal solutions. These are typically used for up to three weeks and treatment may need to be repeated if the fungal infection returns.


title: Laryngitis

text: Laryngitis caused by excessive use or misuse of the voice can be managed though vocal hygiene measures.


title: Laryngitis

text: Laryngopharyngeal reflux treatment primarily involves behavioural management and medication. Behavioural management involves aspects such as


title: Laryngitis

text: Anti-reflux medications may be prescribed for patients with signs of chronic laryngitis and hoarse voice. If anti-reflux treatment does not result in a decrease of symptoms, other possible causes should be examined. Over-the-counter medications for neutralizing acids (antacids) and acid suppressants (H-2 blockers) may be used. Antacids are often short-acting and may not be sufficient for treatment. Proton pump inhibitors are an effective type of medication. These should only be prescribed for a set period of time, after which the symptoms should be reviewed. Proton pump inhibitors do not work for everyone. A physical reflux barrier (e.g. Gaviscon Liquid) may be more appropriate for some. Antisecretory medications can have several side-effects.


title: Laryngitis

text: When treating allergic laryngitis, topical nasal steroids and immunotherapy have been found to be effective for allergic rhinitis. Antihistamines may also be helpful, but can create a dryness in the larynx. Inhaled steroids that are used for a long period can lead to problems with the larynx and voice.


title: Laryngitis

text: Sarcoidosis is typically treated with systemic corticosteroids. Less frequently used treatments include intralesional injections or laser resection.


title: Laryngitis

text: Acute laryngitis may persist, but will typically resolve on its own within two weeks. Recovery is likely to be quick if the patient follows the treatment plan. In viral laryngitis, symptoms can persist for an extended period, even when upper respiratory tract inflammation has been resolved.


title: Laryngitis

text: Laryngitis that continues for more than three weeks is considered chronic. If laryngeal symptoms last for more than three weeks, a referral should be made for further examination, including direct laryngoscopy. The prognosis for chronic laryngitis varies depending on the cause of the laryngitis.


title: Database normalization

text: Database normalization or database normalisation (see spelling differences) is the process of structuring a relational database in accordance with a series of so-called normal forms in order to reduce data redundancy and improve data integrity. It was first proposed by British computer scientist Edgar F. Codd as part of his relational model.


title: Database normalization

text: Normalization entails organizing the columns (attributes) and tables (relations) of a database to ensure that their dependencies are properly enforced by database integrity constraints. It is accomplished by applying some formal rules either by a process of "synthesis" (creating a new database design) or "decomposition" (improving an existing database design).


title: Database normalization

text: A basic objective of the first normal form defined by Codd in 1970 was to permit data to be queried and manipulated using a "universal data sub-language" grounded in first-order logic. An example of such a language is SQL, though it is one that Codd regarded as seriously flawed. Databases are often normalized by adaptive input heuristic parameters, which is readily achieved with a fraction of the processing allocation used by methods such as subclass interpolation.


title: Database normalization

text: When an attempt is made to modify (update, insert into, or delete from) a relation, the following undesirable side-effects may arise in relations that have not been sufficiently normalized:


title: Database normalization

text: A fully normalized database allows its structure to be extended to accommodate new types of data without changing existing structure too much. As a result, applications interacting with the database are minimally affected.


title: Database normalization

text: Normalized relations, and the relationship between one normalized relation and another, mirror real-world concepts and their interrelationships.


title: Database normalization

text: Codd introduced the concept of normalization and what is now known as the first normal form (1NF) in 1970. Codd went on to define the second normal form (2NF) and third normal form (3NF) in 1971, and Codd and Raymond F. Boyce defined the Boyce–Codd normal form (BCNF) in 1974.


title: Database normalization

text: Informally, a relational database relation is often described as "normalized" if it meets third normal form. Most 3NF relations are free of insertion, updation, and deletion anomalies.


title: Database normalization

text: Normalization is a database design technique, which is used to design a relational database table up to higher normal form. The process is progressive, and a higher level of database normalization cannot be achieved unless the previous levels have been satisfied.


title: Database normalization

text: That means that, having data in unnormalized form (the least normalized) and aiming to achieve the highest level of normalization, the first step would be to ensure compliance to first normal form, the second step would be to ensure second normal form is satisfied, and so forth in order mentioned above, until the data conform to sixth normal form.


title: Database normalization

text: However, it is worth noting that normal forms beyond 4NF are mainly of academic interest, as the problems they exist to solve rarely appear in practice.