bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Characterize brain tumor genetic signatures with focused ultrasound-enabled liquid biopsy
Authors: Pacia Christopher P. , Zhu Lifei , Yuan Jinyun , Yue Yimei , Chen Hong
Published: December 2020

Although blood-based liquid biopsy is a promising noninvasive diagnostic technique, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) hinders the efficient transport of brain tumor biomarkers into the bloodstream. In our previous studies, we demonstrated the feasibility for focused ultrasound-enabled liquid biopsy (FUS-LBx) to increase BBB permeability and enhance the transport of glioblastoma (GBM)-specific biomarkers into the bloodstream of mice using mRNA as a model biomarker. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the clinical translatability of FUS-LBx by evaluating the enhanced transport of the GBM-specific gene mutation, epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII). Rats were randomly assigned to the treated (n = 10) or control groups (n = 6) 10 days after F98-EGFRvIII tumor cell implantation. MRI scans guided the combined FUS and microbubble sonication to the tumor center and verified successful BBB disruption. Blood was collected after FUS sonication or sham treatment. Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze the EGFRvIII complementary DNA. Rat brains were collected for histological analysis of potential FUS-induced tissue damage. MRI scans confirmed successful FUS-induced BBB opening. The EGFRvIII mutation that was undetectable by conventional LBx (no FUS), was detected by FUS-LBx. Histological analysis showed no significant tissue damage caused by FUS. This study demonstrated that FUS-LBx has the clinical translational potential for the noninvasive characterization of the GBM genetic profiles.
Testing and optimization of 3D-printed volumetric diffusor arrays for attenuation of blast noise
Authors: Ochi Gordon M. , Dunn Kyle , Muhlestein Michael B. , Wood Tanner , Kreiger Megan , Swearingen Michelle E.
Published: December 2020

3D-printed volumetric diffusing array structures, composed of many arbitrarily shaped pillars in an optimized pattern, have previously been shown to be very effective for blast noise attenuation in a scale model experiment (Ochi et al., 2019). This work expands upon previous progress by investigating innovative optimization schemes for the array designs, and further testing these optimized arrays in scale model experiments with a spark gap generator operating as a surrogate blast noise source. Properties of the propagated signal, including directivity, duration, and spectral characteristics, are discussed, as well as how these properties depend on the choice of volumetric diffusor. Finally, the propagated waveform, spectra, and effective attenuation predicted using 2D-FDTD simulations are compared with the results of the experiment as a method of testing the validity of the simulations.
Additive manufacturing in musical acoustics
Authors: Granzow John
Published: December 2020

Additive Manufacturing (AM) affords the production of complex geometries for acoustic research. The rapid materialization of parametric models facilitates the practical comparison of related sounding or sound-filtering objects. This accelerated fabrication cycle continues our field's tradition of establishing and demonstrating results through making, with applications in structural acoustics (metamaterials), architectural acoustics (diffuser design) and musical acoustics (instrument design). This talk focuses on applications of AM in musical acoustics: the replication of known instrument geometries, the precise transformation of those geometries in order to test predictions, and explorations of the musicality of neighboring forms. Results, limitations and future prospects are considered.
The inventiveness of Richard H. Lyon
Authors: Busch-Vishniac Ilene J.
Published: December 2020

In the course of his career, Dick Lyon considered a large number of noise topics, including transportation noise, noise propagation in urban environments, statistical energy analysis, machinery diagnostics, product sound quality, and the importance of phase in acoustic transfer functions. What ties the body of Dick's work in these areas together are two features: the sheer inventiveness displayed both in theoretical and experimental approaches, and the focus on applied acoustics problems. For instance, Dick and collaborator Richard Cann designed a novel spark sound source to use for scale modeling. Dick's work on SEA similarly reflected a willingness to plow new ground in order to find the tools able to provide answers to vexing acoustical challenges. The majority of Dick's work can be traced to his desire to improve products by modifying the sound produced or to use the sound to identify functioning issues within the product. Dick leaves behind a legacy of accomplishments in the product acoustics arena. On a personal note, Dick was fond of pushing himself to the limit, whether in academic endeavors or in personal accomplishments, such as his rowing. He loved cars and was a great mentor to a large number of accomplished acousticians.
Progress in product sound quality
Authors: Davies Patricia
Published: December 2020

R.H. Lyon was a pioneer in several areas of acoustics, vibrations and noise control. His development of sound quality as an integral part of noise control engineering and product sound design is just one of many examples of his significant contributions to areas of importance in noise control engineering. In this presentation an overview of the Product Sound Quality workshops he organized in 1997 and 2002 will be given together with a summary of how the field has developed over the last 20 years, due, in no small part, to his leadership. The presentation will conclude with some personal memories of working with him.
The role of dissonance in the sound quality perception for electric vehicles
Authors: Oetjen Arne , Rieger Anna , Rabl Hans-Peter , van de Par Steven
Published: December 2020

Tonal components can be regarded as one of the most relevant components for interior sound quality of electric vehicles, especially at low speeds. Sources for these tones are for example the vehicles' drivetrains but also other technical components. Depending on the driving conditions, due to the interaction of various dominant sources, audible tone complexes can occur. Similar to musical intervals, the different frequency ratios within these complexes can result in consonant or dissonant sensations. The strength of this sensation does not only depend on the frequency relation of the tones but also on their relative levels. In this study, different musical intervals were subjectively rated in terms of their specific consonant or dissonant character. Using an adaptive procedure, sound pairs, each consisting of a two-tone signal, where adjusted to equal dissonance by varying the level of the second tone of one of the two-tone signals. Using the same paradigm, also pairs of equal vehicle sound quality were obtained. With these results, it is possible to quantify dissonance, and theinfluence of dissonance on sound quality expressed in terms of level differences of two-tone signals. These results can help to make the concept of dissonance more useful for sound-engineering applications.
Elastic properties of additively manufactured alloys
Authors: Petculescu Gabriela , Dada Damilola , Deoli Naresh , Raush Jonathan , Guo Shengmin
Published: December 2020

With the advent of metal Additive Manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, the focus on evaluating and fine-tuning the fabrication process has become crucial. High-resolution volumetric mapping of elastic properties throughout an AM built sample can be done, “biopsy” style, with the highly adaptable Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS) technique. We report results of elastic constants measurements on AM-fabricated Ti64 and CL 80CU bronze (i.e., Cu0.9Sn0.1) alloy with RUS. Despite an easily observable pore distribution, surprisingly sharp spectra and good RUS fits were obtained for both. The average E and G moduli obtained for AM Ti64 at room temperature are ≈104 and ≈39.4 GPa, respectively. The values are only a few percent lower than those of the traditionally manufactured alloy. Moreover, stress-strain measurements on dog-bone samples of Ti64 from the sample batch lead to a value of 101 GPa for E. Heat-treatment of as-manufactured Ti64 samples lead to a slight increase in both moduli. For the investigated bronze, an ≈10% variation of elastic properties within a cross section of a printed sample was observed. The average E and G moduli obtained for AMCL 80CU bronze at room temperature are ≈111 and ≈40.9 GPa, respectively.
New measurements of the frequency weighting for localising speech in noise
Authors: Akeroyd Michael A. , Firth Jennifer
Published: December 2020

It is generally noted that for the purposes of locating sounds, low-frequency ITDs are dominant. Much of the data for this come from HRTF experiments with noise signals. Here, we apply the “revcorr” technique to determine which frequencies are dominant for localising freefield speech. We filtered brief signals (either the start of, end of, or complete single words) into 10 channels using a gammatone filterbank (3-ERB spacing from 153 to 6780 Hz). We randomly divided the filtered signals into two groups (e.g., channels 1-2-6-7 + 3-4-5-8-9-10; or 4-6-8-9-10 + 1-2-3-5-7, etc.) then played, simultaneously, one group from a loudspeaker at −30 deg and the other from +30 deg. A spectrally shaped diffuse masking noise was mixed at a per-channel signal-to-noise ratio of +20 dB. The task was to decide where the perceived speech signal was. By running thousands of trials per listener, randomly choosing the +30/−30 grouping of channels each time, we were able to determine which frequencies were weighted most in determining the location of the speech signal. Nine listeners have completed the task so far. We found that, contrary to most previous results, high frequencies are weighted more than low frequencies.
Accent familiarity and adverse listening conditions
Authors: Sen Christina M. , Babel Molly
Published: December 2020

Our ability to understand spoken language depends on both the speaker and listening environment. Speech intelligibility is higher in more favorable listening environments. Accent familiarity also plays a major role, with familiar accents being more intelligible than unfamiliar accents. Previous research [S. Gittleman and K. J. Van Engen, “Effects of noise and talker intelligibility on judgments of accentedness,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 143(5), 3138–3145 (2018)] found a significant relationship between the level of noise and perceived “foreignness” of an accent for Mandarin-accented English and locally accented English speakers. Their results show that when participants listened to Mandarin-accented speakers they rated them as less accented in lower signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). However, when participants listened to local English speakers, they rated the speakers as more accented in lower SNRs. The current study replicates these procedures using locally accented English (n = 5) and Hawaiian Pidgin English (n = 5). In a within-listener design, listeners complete an intelligibility task and an accentedness rating task. In the accent rating task, listeners are presented with sentences in four conditions: clear, + 4 db SNR, 0 db SNR, and −4 db SNR. These results will contribute to our understanding of familiarity in speech processing.
Using high-order derivatives of articulatory trajectories to identify gesture onsets
Authors: Burgdorf Dan Cameron
Published: December 2020

Articulatory trajectories are useful for measuring speech properties, but come with complications: a given trajectory may be influenced by multiple articulators and/or multiple overlapping gestures. Standard procedure is to identify landmarks from the trajectory and its velocity. I present a new procedure: higher order derivatives can be used to identify gesture onsets. High-order derivatives are generally associated with signal noise, and therefore not considered to be meaningful. More broadly, however, they reflect the jaggedness or un-smoothness of a signal, which can derive from sources other than random noise. I demonstrate that such jaggedness at gesture onsets is both predicted by the task dynamic model of speech production (Saltzman & Munhall 1989) and observed in real EMA data. Articulator trajectories generated with the Task Dynamics Application (TADA) Matlab implementation of this model (Nam & Goldstein 2004) show a pattern of increasing activity around changes in gestural activation and decreasing activity elsewhere as successive derivatives are taken. This was confirmed in EMA data on glides, demonstrating not only that the effect is real, but that it can be measurable above other noise. Activation noise can be isolated with targeted filtering, and may yield new insights into speech motor control.
A three-dimensional ultrasound investigation of the uvular rhotic: German /R/ in six prevocalic contexts
Authors: Kniess Tyler B.
Published: December 2020

The German rhotic is classified in the standard variety as a uvular trill, but has been shown to demonstrate considerable variation as a result of phonetic reduction processes. Most previous work on the German /R/ has focused on its acoustic properties or its phonological patterning in particular prosodic positions, rarely addressing vowel quality and having limited means to investigate articulation. This paper presents data from a 3D/4D ultrasound investigation of word-initial /R/ in six prevocalic contexts from two L1 German speakers. The vowel space was found to be consistent with Pouplier et al. (2004). The findings indicate that a groove along the posterior dorsum accompanies trilling and that /R/ may be susceptible to coarticulatory effects from a following vowel. Specifically, tongue body height during /R/ articulation can pattern with a following vowel, inhibiting trilling and thus resulting in a fricative, complementing the EMA findings of Schiller & Mooshammer (1995). This study therefore contributes to the body of literature concerning the diversity of rhotics as a class and the variability of the German rhotic in particular.
Voice quality and f0 correlates of Burmese tone in the standard and southern varieties
Authors: Dellwo Volker , Jenny Mathias
Published: December 2020

Tones can be realized through fundamental frequency of oscillation (fo) or voice quality correlates (open-quotient, jitter and shimmer). Here we investigated the acoustic correlates of tones across two varieties of Burmese (a) standard Burmese (STB) and (b) southern Burmese (SBM). Historically, Burmese likely had voice-quality contrasts, as suggested by the orthography of Old Burmese (12th century), while Modern Burmese has been described as tonal language. We were interested whether there are acoustic differences in the realisation of tone between the two variants. 20 speakers (10 STB, 10 SBM) produced the three phonological tone categories (neutral, creaky and heavy) either in carrier sentences in which the tones were in contrast (N = 72) or in sentences where the tones occurred without contrast (N = 72). Acoustic and electroglottographic signals were recorded of which acoustic correlates of pitch and voice quality (fo, open-quotient, jitter, duration) were obtained. Results showed that STB predominantly used contrasts through voice quality correlates, and SBM used fo. However, while SBM had more tone height differences, STB showed stronger slopes for two different tones. The variability of the tonal correlates between the two varieties may be relatet to possible external (contact, climatic) influences on tone systems.
The durational modulation of repeated words in second language discourse by language experience
Authors: Silpachai Alif , Rehman Ivana , Levis John
Published: December 2020

Previous research suggests that repeated words in discourse are durationally shortened in comparison to the first mention, particularly when the words describe the same scene in a story. However, previous methods often relied on reading passages, which may be challenging to second language (L2) speakers or films, which require significant cultural comprehension. These methods may provide different findings from the accessibility of discourse referents in spontaneous speech using a picture narrative. This pilot study used a multi-scene picture narrative to elicit word reduction in spontaneous discourse. L2 English speakers with Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, or Spanish as a first language narrated a story using a sequence of eight pictures/scenes about two strangers who collide and accidentally pick up each other's suitcase. Productions, when compared to native speakers of English, showed similar patterns of repeated word reduction. The results suggest that durations typically reset to full duration when words are repeated in different scenes, but they reduce within scenes. Results also suggest that the degree of second mention reductions vary modestly by first language. The results also show that a picture narrative was a promising method to elicit 2nd mention reductions in spontaneous speech and demonstrated durational sensitivity to scene changes.
Bilingual language processing: Interactions between lexical retrieval and vowel production
Authors: Gavino Maria F. , Goldrick Matthew
Published: December 2020

What is the relationship between lexical retrieval and phonetic production in bilingual language processing? Various factors related to bilingual language processing affect bilingual's selection of context-appropriate words and speech sounds. One factor is whether bilinguals are using one (single context) or both (mixed context) languages. Increased language selection difficulty in mixed contexts (especially when the previous word is in a different language than the target word; i.e., switch context) slow down retrieval and increase accentedness. Another factor is whether a word has two highly distinct forms (non-cognates) or highly similar forms (cognates) for a concept in both languages. Increased cross language activation for cognates facilitate retrieval, but increase accentedness. In this project, 18 Spanish-English bilinguals named pictures of cognate and non-cognate words in single and mixed contexts in Spanish and English. Reaction time and vowel formants were analyzed. Results show that there are cognate facilitation effects, mixing, and switching costs for retrieval, but only consistent mixing costs for accentedness. The dissociation between these effects during lexical retrieval and phonetic production suggests continuing interactions between them after the initiation of the response.
Voicing contrasts in the stops of Indian English produced by Assamese speakers
Authors: Wiltshire Caroline , Sarmah Priyankoo
Published: December 2020

Speakers of most American and British varieties of English contrast word-initial stops using aspiration, with long-lag Voice Onset Time (VOT) for /ptk/ and short-lag or lead voicing for /bdg/ (Docherty 1992, Chodroff & Wilson 2017, etc.). However, Indian English (IndE) speakers of Hindi and Telugu backgrounds living in the US produce a short-lag versus lead voicing contrast instead (Davis & Beckman 1983, Sirsa & Redford 2013). We recorded 10 L1 Assamese speakers residing in India reading English wordlists, all bilinguals who attended English-medium schools starting at age 4.3 (±1.3), young enough to acquire the target English of their community (Flege 1991). We are measuring the VOT of ten tokens each of /ptkbdg/ in word-initial position. Results thus far support the interpretation of the contrast in IndE as voicing not aspiration, as unaspirated voiceless stops versus pre-voiced stops. We also measure two expected consequences of using [voice] for the contrast: full voicing of sonorant consonants after voiceless obstruents in onset clusters and full (>75% of closure), rather than passive, intervocalic voicing. Though neither occurs in aspirating languages (Beckman et al. 2013), we find both in the IndE of Assamese speakers, suggesting IndE has developed a distinct contrast from AmE/BrE.
Silver Medal in Noise 2020: Scott D. Sommerfeldt
Authors: Sommerfeldt Scott D.
Published: December 2020

The Silver Medal is presented to individuals, without age limitation, for contributions to the advancement of science, engineering, or human welfare through the application of acoustic principles, or through research accomplishment in acoustics.
Speech privacy, yesterday and where we are today
Authors: Good Kenneth W.
Published: December 2020

Speech privacy is one of the pillars contributing to Bill Cavanaugh's outstanding legacy. His early research in the 1950 and 1960s set a trajectory that continues to this day. This paper will discuss where we are today while honoring the roots of the topic and include an update from the TCAA Subcommittee on Speech Privacy in the Built Environment.
Effects of vessels and their sounds on the foraging behavior of endangered killer whales (Orcinus orca)
Authors: Holt Marla M. , Tennessen Jennifer , Hanson M. Bradley M. , Emmons Candice , Giles Deborah , Hogan Jeffrey
Published: December 2020

Anthropogenic activities that have negative consequences on foraging outcomes warrant special concern in endangered species. Prey availability and vessel disturbance are identified risk factors of endangered Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW) as vessels and associated sounds can mask echolocation signals used for foraging and/or disrupt foraging behavior with implications for energy acquisition. To investigate vessel effects on foraging behavior, we utilized multi-sensor, digital acoustic recording tags (Dtags) that were suction cup-attached to SRKW. We tested a number of explanatory variables related to nearby vessels and associated sounds on the probability of prey capture and prey capture dive parameters. Tested variables included echosounder presence/absence, vessel counts, vessel distance, and vessel speed, and several competing received noise level measurements (absence of flow noise). Although noise level was not a significant explanatory variable on the probability of prey capture, flow noise limited available sample size. Furthermore, the probability of prey capture decreased as vessel speed increased which correlates with vessel noise. We also found a significant effect of echosounder presence on the duration and rate of descent of prey capture dives, indicating further consequences on foraging behavior. These results inform conservation and management efforts to preserve SRKW foraging opportunities and mitigate vessel disturbance.
Classification of dispersive calls using a convolutional neural network
Authors: Goldwater Mark , Bonnel Julien , Zitterbart Daniel P.
Published: December 2020

Low-frequency acoustic signals in shallow water are highly impacted by interactions with the sea surface and seabed. The acoustic field is then conveniently described by modal theory, and the received signal can be modeled by a set of modes that propagate dispersively. It is now well established that the time-frequency dispersion of normal modes, as measured with a single hydrophone, can be used to localize the source and/or estimate the propagation environment. This method has notably been used to range vocalizations from baleen whales in shallow water. However, this method requires at least two modes to be present in the recorded call. Here, we use a convolutional neural network (CNN) to detect and classify dispersed gunshots (impulse calls) from Southern right whales, using a dataset recorded in Baja de San Antonio, Argentina. The CNN outputs the confidence of an input belonging to the following three classes: at least two modes, less than two modes, and no call present. We show that the CNN can isolate multi-modal dispersive gunshots from large audio data with high precision. Such signals can then be further processed to localize the source and/or characterize the environment. [Work supported by the Office of Naval Research.]
Statistical analysis and modeling of wind-generated ocean noise in the northeast Pacific Ocean
Authors: Schwock Felix , Abadi Shima
Published: December 2020

In the absence of any dominant ocean noise sources, such as rain or shipping events, wind-generated noise sets the baseline for the underwater acoustic environment. In this study, we have evaluated approximately 3.5 years of acoustical and meteorological data recorded at the northeast Pacific Ocean continental shelf and slope. The acoustic data are recorded continuously at a sample rate of 64 kHz at 81 m depth and 581 m depth at the continental shelf and slope, respectively. The wind speeds are provided by a surface buoy located in the vicinity of each hydrophone. The wind speed values vary between 0 and 18 m/s with a precision of 2%. Power spectral levels are calculated to characterize the wind-generated ocean noise. A linear regression is applied to the average power spectra for different wind speeds. Our results show that wind-generated noise is in good agreement with previous studies for wind speeds less than 10 m/s. However, for wind speeds greater than 10 m/s, the spectral levels decrease significantly faster than what is reported in the literature.
Introduction of lung ultrasound surface wave elastography
Authors: Zhang Xiaoming
Published: December 2020

Ultrasonography is not widely used for lung assessment because ultrasound cannot image deep lung tissue. Many lung diseases including interstitial lung disease (ILD) are associated with changes in lung's elastic properties. ILD includes multiple serious lung disorders associated with lung fibrosis and can lead to respiratory failure and pulmonary hypertension. High-resolution CT (HRCT) is the clinical standard for diagnosing lung fibrosis, but it results in increased radiation exposure for patients. Lung fibrosis is associated with stiffened lung parenchyma. Current clinical techniques including HRCT cannot measure lung elastic properties. Most ILDs are typically distributed in the lung's peripheral and subpleural regions. We developed noninvasive lung ultrasound surface wave elastography (LUSWE) to measure lung surface wave speed safely and quickly. In this abstract, we will present some basics for LUSWE. We will also present its clinic application for assessing ILD. We studied 30 healthy controls, 16 mild ILD patients, 45 moderate ILD patients, and 27 severe ILD patients. Lung surface wave speed has good sensitivity and specificity for separating ILD patients from healthy subjects as well as for separating mild ILD patients from healthy subjects. LUSWE is useful for other lung disorders such as pulmonary edema.
On the necessary paradigm-shift from qualitative to quantitative lung ultrasound
Authors: Demi Libertario
Published: December 2020

Lung ultrasound (LUS) is spread in the medical world since the nineties. In fact, despite ultrasound imaging is not designed for the lungs, there exists a clear difference between images of healthy and diseased lung tissue. This difference relies on specific imaging artifacts, which have been studied and classified in the literature. However, this differentiation is performed by visual inspection of clinical experts. Moreover, standardization of imaging protocols is lacking. As a result, three strong limitations affect LUS: (1) only qualitative analyses are performed, which are influenced by intra and inter operator variability; (2) intra and inter ultrasound-scanner variability is not taken into account; (3) although the sensitivity is reported to be high, specificity remains low. To tackle these problems, a paradigm shift from qualitative to quantitative LUS is needed. In this talk, current efforts in this direction will be reviewed. A standardized image acquisition protocol and scoring system developed for COVID-19 patients will be presented, together with dedicated algorithms able to automatically score and segment LUS images. Data from a multicenter study involving 200 patients will be discussed. Moreover, the results from a recent study on quantitative lung ultrasound spectroscopy applied to the diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis will be introduced.
An arbitrary-order immersed finite-difference method for wave propagation through fluid/solid interfaces
Authors: Sabatini Roberto , Pailhas Yan , Cristini Paul , Xenaki Angeliki
Published: December 2020

The immersed interface method (IIM) has recently gained popularity for the resolution of the linearized equations of continuum mechanics (LECM) that model the propagation of acoustic and elastic waves in complex ocean environments. In the IIM, the boundaries between media, e.g., the interface between the ocean and the seabed, are considered immersed in a regular Cartesian grid. Far from the interfaces, classical finite differences are employed. Conversely, at points near the boundaries, the standard schemes are modified for the solution to satisfy both the LECM and the required interface conditions. Current implementations of the IIM are generally second-order accurate. However, high-quality simulations require a better resolution in terms of points-per-wavelength, especially when the number of grid points in the computational domain is limited (e.g., by the GPU memory). In this presentation, an arbitrary-order immersed finite-difference method is proposed. The improvement of the solution accuracy when increasing the order of the numerical scheme is more particularly demonstrated on scattering problems relevant to the mine-countermeasures community. Finally, the proposed IIM is compared with the widely employed spectral-element method.
Flexible electrostatic transducer with tuned acoustic impedance for improved sensing of body-and water-borne sounds
Authors: McLane Ian M. , Rennoll Valerie , Eisape Adebayo , Elhilali Mounya , West James
Published: December 2020

Acoustic transducers that are designed for airborne sound suffer from impedance mismatches when used in different media. These mismatches result in lowered energy density at the transducer and increased corruption by external noises. Coupling layers can mitigate mismatches, but restrict real-world applicability through limited bandwidth, thickness- dependent sensitivity, and bonding issues. We introduce a self-powered, flexible, electrostatic transducer with a highly tunable acoustic impedance and wide frequency bandwidth, without matching layers. The transducer can be precisely tuned to impedance values in the range of 1 to 2.5 MRayls, which includes skin, fresh and saltwater, and most plastics. Metal-coated microstructures on the surface of an elastomer create small gaps with the charged polymer electret film that are compressed by mechanical vibrations in the elastomer and induce a change in the voltage output. The transducer exhibits a sensitivity greater than 2V/N and an SNR improvement of 35 dB in highly noisy environments. Major factors that affect the output of the transducer are analyzed, including the dimensions of the microstructures, elastomer thickness, and properties of the electret polymer. The acoustic properties, such as sensitivity and improved rejection of environmental noise, are experimentally evaluated through a body phantom in simulated noise environments in a semi-anechoic chamber.
Lyrics on the melody or melody of the lyrics?
Authors: Banerjee Archi , Roy Souparno , Patnaik Priyadarshi
Published: December 2020

The musicians say “When a marriage happens between a lyric and a melody, only then a true song is born”! A proper song should express the true meaning of its lyrics through the movements of its melodic structure. “Which impacts more: Melody or lyrics?”—The answer is still unknown. The present work explores the acoustical contribution as well as the neuro-cognitive impact of lyrics in different genres of songs evoking contrast emotions. Four songs of two different genres (i.e., two songs from each genre depicting opposite/contrast emotions: joy-sorrow) were recorded from a trained musician who was asked to consecutively sing (with proper meaningful lyrics) and hum (without using any lyric or meaningful words) the songs, the obtained audio signals were later put to acoustical analysis. Later EEG signals were recorded for five naÃ¯ve participants with different sets of song-humming (i.e., with lyric-without lyric) versions of the same melodic content as stimuli, to study their corresponding bio-signal (EEG) attributes. DFA technique was employed to calculate and compare the Hurst Exponent values for all of the recorded auditory signals as well as the EEG responses. This is a pilot study in the context of Indian music which endeavours to analyze the contribution of lyrics in songs of different genre as well as different emotional content in both acoustic and neuro-cognitive domain.
Music recommendation based on acoustic features from the recording studio
Authors: Ziemer Tim , Kiattipadungkul Pattararat , Karuchit Tanyarin
Published: December 2020

Producers of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) typically spend more time creating, shaping, mixing and mastering sounds, than with aspects of composition and arrangement. They analyze the sound by close listening and by leveraging audio monitoring tools, until they successfully created the desired sound character. DJs of EDM tend to play sets of songs that meet their sound ideal. We use audio monitoring tools from the recording studio to retrieve the sound ideal of the most popular DJs and perform a DJ classification, e.g., to predict “what your favorite DJ would play.” The features include third-octave band VU, RMS and crest factor meters, phase scope, and the channel correlation coefficient. This new set of features and the focus on DJ sets is targeted at EDM as it takes the producer and DJ culture into account. With simple dimensionality reduction and machine learning these recording studio features enable us to attribute a song to a DJ with an accuracy of 63%. The features from the monitoring tools in the recording studio could serve for many applications in music information retrieval, such as genre, style and era classification for music browsing, automatic playlist generation and music recommendation, especially in electronic dance music.
Relationship between environmental sound imagery and environmental sound identification in cochlear implant listeners
Authors: Corle Breanna L. , Shafiro Valeriy , Vasil Kara J. , Moberly Aaron C.
Published: December 2020

Identification of common environmental sounds (“car honking,” “baby crying,” “waves”) is a continuing challenge for many adult postlingual cochlear implant (CI) listeners. This study investigated whether environmental sound imagery, used to characterize the strength of underlying mental representations, relates to CI listeners' environmental sound identification. CI participants first read the names of 24 individual sounds and rated how familiar, pleasant, complex, and easy to imagine each sound was on a 5-point scale. Next, they heard and identified each sound. Rating responses were transformed based on how each sound's rating corresponded to its identification accuracy to obtain an imagery correspondence index (ICI). A higher ICI indicates a closer agreement between a sound's rating and its identification accuracy. Across participants results indicated moderate-to-high correlations between identification accuracy and ICI scores only for familiarity and ease of imagining but not complexity and pleasantness. A similar correlation pattern with raw ratings was observed across sounds but not across participants. These results suggest that aspects of environmental sound imagery can be predictive of auditory perception of real-world sounds in CI listeners and should be considered in future diagnostic and rehabilitation applications.
Autism, a hearing problem?
Authors: Cameron Robert H.
Published: December 2020

At the San Diego Acoustical Society meeting, on my poster, was a picture of an eight year old child with a headset that allowed him to hear only with his dominant right ear. He was focused on his homework. Days before he was running down the street into traffic, so frustrated by people repeatedly saying pizza and not understanding. He repeated what he heard, “Sissa.” I posit that different frequencies of the signal from each ear propagate at different speeds in the central nervous system of an autistic child so that the waveform is distorted. To demonstrate this I propose to present this child with a headset with sine, and more complex waves, of different frequencies within the speech range at his right ear and the same signal 180 deg out of phase at his left ear, and ask him to point to where the sound is coming from. (A previous experiment with a “non-autistic” child indicated that he would sense that the sound comes from the center of his head.) Where he points to should indicate whether or not all frequencies travel at the same speed. In addition, I will have selected from the list of the most common English words, words I believe he has heard as well as words he is unlikely to have heard and ask him to repeat them, first with hearing blocked in less dominate ear then unblocked to see how long it takes to correct the mispronunciation in each case.
Acoustic effects of face masks on speech signals
Authors: Corey Ryan M. , Jones Uriah , Singer Andrew C.
Published: December 2020

Face masks muffle speech and make communication more difficult, especially for people with hearing loss. This study examines the acoustic attenuation caused by different face masks, including medical, cloth, and transparent masks, using a head-shaped loudspeaker and a live human talker. The results suggest that all masks attenuate frequencies above 1 kHz, that attenuation is greatest in front of the talker, and that there is substantial variation between mask types, especially cloth masks with different materials and weaves. Transparent masks have poor acoustic performance compared to both medical and cloth masks. Most masks have little effect on lapel microphones, suggesting that existing sound reinforcement and assistive listening systems may be effective for verbal communication with masks.
Perceptual similarity and scaling of room reverberation features: Decay time and wet-dry ratio
Authors: Kawczinski Kimberly , Fujioka Takako , Canfield-Dafilou Elliot K. , Abel Jonathan S.
Published: December 2020

When considering the suitability of a room impulse response (RIR) for a particular musical performance, the 60dB decay time (T60) and the ratio of reverberant to direct energy (wet-dry ratio or W2D) are important features. However, the perceptual effects of these features have not been well studied; specifically, the perceptual similarity of the reverberation may be affected differently by these two features and their combination. Here, we modified measured RIRs by adjusting the T60 and W2D by set increments; care was taken to construct modifications that were both realistic and mutually distinct. Modified RIR's were convolved with choral excerpts matching the musicological context of the spaces. The resulting sounds were paired and presented to listeners who made similarity ratings. Multidimensional scaling analysis was performed to uncover perceptual warping of distance along feature axes. Our results show perceptual scales consistent with exponential scaling for both T60 and W2D. When modifications in both T60 and W2D are considered, T60 appears to take precedence in shaping listeners' sense of source distance. Additionally, W2D has a more prominent effect in the case of shorter T60s.
On the characteristics of aging voices of famous trot singers
Authors: Ann Ik-Soo , Bae Myungjin
Published: December 2020

In Korea, there is a trot song among traditional music that mainly focuses on delivering words by voice. Most famous trot singers sing popular songs, and their popularity has lasted for decades. However, compared to song voices in their 30s and 40s, the aging voice feels dull. The song voice of an old-fashioned trot singer is hard to feel the singing of his prime due to the aging characteristics. As we get older, the spectrum bandwidth of song voices decreases. Reducing spectrum bandwidth in vocalization simplifies voices, making it difficult for listeners to fall into the song. In this paper, the characteristics of the differences were identified by comparing and analyzing the famous voice of the famous trot singer's heyday and the current voice spectrum. The voices of famous trot singers, who have been popular for more than 30 years, have been shown to have a low frequency bandwidth of −1% a year reduced, and simplified by a decrease of approximately −27% for 30 years. In conclusion, as you get older, you need to try to recover the harmonics by varying the size of the mouth.
Modeling aerosol flow for singing and brass instruments
Authors: Thulin Spencer , Bhatt Binod , Quire Jack , Hoffman Kurt R.
Published: December 2020

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in Washington State, a choir rehearsal resulted in most of the participants contracting the virus during the rehearsal. More importantly, as people consider restarting education programs, the question of safely rehearsing choirs, bands, and symphonies needs to be addressed. Guidelines based on talking, sneezing, or coughing are insufficient to provide appropriate guidance for safe environments for collective singing or instrument performance. This paper reports our initial efforts to explore the question of aerosol movement through the air for some special cases of musical performance. We explored using open-source modeling software designed to numerically solve differential equations of motion: FEniCS and OpenFOAM. We will discuss modifying Open-source CFD Software to model the airflow and resulting aerosol spray from a singing human voice. We will also discuss our progress in applying these methods to the case of a brass instrument where the mixture is traveling through a tube of various lengths.
Update on ASTM standards on heavy hard impact testing on fitness flooring
Authors: Golden Matthew
Published: December 2020

Currently there are two fitness related heavy hard impact standards under development at ASTM. One is a field-based method that uses standard objects of know geometry and mass to generate and vibration that can be measured in 1/3 octave bands. The second is a laboratory-based standard that uses a calibrated drop tower to measure the force pulse, or blocked force, due to an object impacting on the flooring surface. The Institute of Acoustics in the United Kingdom and ASHRAE are both also working on fitness noise related standards as well. This presentation will cover the current state of all of these standards, as well as information as to how to get involved in their development. The author will also share his thoughts on the importance of standards, the current state of standard development and who should get involved.
Comparison of room acoustics parameters measured using different techniques
Authors: Nepomuceno José A. , Gaspar Julio , Reis Marcos
Published: December 2020

ISO Standard 3382 is used around the world to investigate the room acoustics parameters of performing arts spaces. The measured data serves as feedback for new projects; to evaluate the results with design intent, and benchmark exercises with well-known halls. It is not always practical for acoustical consultants to carry out tests using precision techniques that can include omnidirectional sources and other apparatuses that are difficult to transport from one place to another. To investigate the results obtained with different techniques, we measured the room acoustics parameters in six venues. These venues include a multipurpose theatre seating 1500, two small black-box type venues seating 150 each, one chamber music hall seating 200 and two large halls with no seats and capacity for 700 people. It is a broad sample, including halls of different volumes and shapes. At the precision technique sessions, it was used one omnidirectional source, number of samples according to ISO 3382, and swept sine signal. At the simplified technique sessions, we use balloon bursts and handclaps. The data analysis used the same software for both techniques. This article presents the results and the pros and cons of using the simplified technique.
Lombard effect, ambient noise and willingness to spend time and money in a restaurant amongst older adults
Authors: Piper Rachael N. , Legner Brianna , Ruda Alyse , BOTTALICO PASQUALE
Published: December 2020

Restaurants have become problematic over the last few decades as they are no longer just a site to grab a meal; they are a very important aspect of the social experience. Ambient noise in venues can vary in sound pressure levels adding to the overall dining experience. A hearing impairment (or loss) already creates a deficit in the quality of communicating with other individuals and many patients with normal hearing still have difficulty in noisy environments. Thirty-six older adults (60 + ) will be categorized into groups, based on their audiometric information, to evaluate (1) vocal effort, (2) disturbance in communication, (3) willingness to spend time and (4) money, and (5) the noise level threshold at which intelligibility breaks down in a synthesized restaurant environment. These results will represent an important step toward the establishment of ”age-friendly” communities.
Contextual sociophonetic prediction beyond the gender binary
Authors: Craft Justin T. , Calloway Ian , Bouavichith Dominique A.
Published: December 2020

Previous research has demonstrated social information affects listeners' linguistic decision-making. Strand and Johnson (1996) showed that imputed gender shifts listeners' sibilant category boundaries. Further research has shown sibilant identity influences listeners' binary categorization of gender, suggesting social-linguistic bidirectionality (Bouavichith et al., 2019). This study extends this body of literature by investigating how sibilant categorization changes when acoustically masculinized speech is framed within differing social contexts. Participants completed a lexical decision task, where each word consisted of a synthesized sibilant onset and a naturalistic rime. In block 1, rimes were minimally manipulated; listeners were told the speaker identified as female during the recording. In block 2, rimes were masculinized; this manipulation was contextualized in condition 1 as the speaker's gender transition and in condition 2 as digital manipulation. If sensitive to the use of phonetic variation to convey social meaning, condition 1 listeners would be more likely than condition 2 listeners to adopt a categorization strategy in block 2 consistent with hearing a male-sounding voice (i.e., more likely to categorize ambiguous sibilants as /s/). As expected, condition 1 participants were more likely to categorize a sibilant as /s/ in block 2, while condition 2 participants did not differ across blocks.
Implied speaker attributes in standard sentence materials: Implications for sociophonetic research
Authors: Tripp Alayo , Munson Benjamin
Published: December 2020

Studies have shown that sentence intelligibility is affected by listeners' knowledge of attributes of talkers being perceived, such as their race [e.g., Babel and Russell, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 137 (2015)]. Some of these studies have used the standard IEEE/Harvard sentences [IEEE Trans. Audio Electroacoust. 17 (1969)] which were developed to be phonetically balanced with low contextual probability. Hence, their content alone ought to not convey anything about speaker attributes. The current study tests this by examining ratings of 124 individuals of 80 written IEEE sentences, and a comparison set of 80 sentences from the internet discussion forum Reddit. The latter served as comparisons that were more likely to convey social attributes. Individuals rated the naturalness of the sentences, and whether they conveyed the gender and race of a person who might produce them. The IEEE sentences were rated less natural than the Reddit sentences, and less likely to convey race or gender. However, on average, 25% of the raters deemed each IEEE sentence to convey speaker gender, and 18% deemed them to convey speaker race. These findings caution against using the IEEE sentences as socially neutral stimuli in studies of talker attributes and speech intelligibility. [Funded by NIH.]