Pitch Comparison Research Articles

Quantifying the Sustainability of Football (Soccer) Pitches: A Comparison of Artificial and Natural Turf Pitches with a Focus on Microplastics and Their Environmental Impacts

Recently, the European Commission announced their intention to restrict intentionally added microplastics to reduce the amount emitted by 0.5 million tons per year. Findings on microplastics indicate toxic behavior for biota, yet many mechanisms remain in the dark. Microplastics also pose a challenge in life cycle assessment as methods are actively being developed. Considering this recent decision, an anticipatory life cycle assessment was performed, comparing the impacts of natural grass pitches with artificial grass pitches using bio-based infill materials as well as polymeric ones made from recycled and virgin materials. The aim was to confirm if microplastics are in fact a considerable environmental hazard when compared to more traditional impacts. The microplastics’ impact was modeled after the MarILCA group’s work on the new midpoint of physical effects on biota. The results showed that the influence of the microplastics remains negligible when using the method provided. For most midpoint categories, the wood-based infill showed the best results, often closely tied with the infill made from recycled rubber from tires. A sensitivity analysis revealed that neither the physical effects on biota nor the greenhouse gas emissions from degradation in a marine environment are deciding factors when assessing the endpoint of ecosystem damage.

Reducing the environmental impact of aluminum production through the use of petroleum pitch

This study is aimed at developing a technology for obtaining petroleum pitch as a binder for anode mass used in the electrolytic production of aluminum from fuel oils of catalytic liquid-phase oxidative oil cracking. A review of published data on the existing methods for obtaining petroleum pitch and its properties is carried out in order to define research directions. A method for producing petroleum pitch by catalytic liquid-phase oxidative cracking of crude oil using heterogeneous metal complex catalysts is proposed. The process of petroleum pitch production is shown to undergo several stages, including homogenization of fuel oil and modifying additives; oxidative cracking of fuel oil during heating of homogenized fuel oil in a furnace; catalytic liquid-phase oxidative cracking of fuel oil with removal of distillates; rectification of light fractions; condensation of distillates; collection of light oil products; oxidation of bottom residues by air and steam; removal of oxidation distillates and petroleum pitch; and pitch pelletizing. According to the conducted comparison of the as-obtained petroleum pitch with the B-1 coal tar pitch produced by the Altai Koks JSC, the proposed material meets the technological requirements of the Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant of the RUSAL company. In terms of sulfur content, the proposed petroleum pitch is superior to coal tar pitch. The experiments conducted at an aluminum plant showed the petroleum pitch to contain no harmful polyaromatic hydrocarbons, in particular, carcinogenic benz(a)pyrene. Therefore, replacement of coal tar pitch with petroleum pitch could provide technological and environmental advantages for primary aluminum producers, as well as for enterprises producing various carbon materials.

Design of Music Teaching System Based on Internet of Things Multimedia Intelligent Platform

In order to improve the practical and popularization value of the multimedia vocal music teaching system, the author proposes a teaching system based on the Internet of Things multimedia intelligent platform. Mainly use Visual C++ to realize the acquisition, playback, and display of audio and realize the real-time modification of the sound wave waveform on the computer and also add the function of vocal score. Experimental results show that in the pitch comparison, the standard fundamental frequency average value of the fundamental frequency track of the two pieces of music is obtained by the cepstral method: avgF 0 = 143.12 HZ and the average fundamental frequency of the trial singing: avgF 0 = 142.05 HZ . The average distance and score of each parameter of the testers are mindisv = 726.126 for pitch intensity, path length = 144 ; mindisp = 4.51987 , path length = 163 for pitch, breath smoothness = 484.20 . Conclusion. This method not only improves the intuitiveness and interaction of vocal music teaching, but also increases the interest of vocal music teaching.

Training allows switching from limited-capacity manipulations to large-capacity perceptual processing.

In contrast to perceptual tasks, which enable concurrent processing of many stimuli, working memory (WM) tasks have a very small capacity, limiting cognitive skills. Training on WM tasks often yields substantial improvement, suggesting that training might increase the general WM capacity. To understand the underlying processes, we trained a test group with a newly designed tone manipulation WM task and a control group with a challenging perceptual task of pitch pattern discrimination. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans confirmed that pretraining, manipulation was associated with a dorsal fronto-parietal WM network, while pitch comparison was associated with activation of ventral auditory regions. Training induced improvement in each group, which was limited to the trained task. Analyzing the behavior of the group trained with tone manipulation revealed that participants learned to replace active manipulation with a perceptual verification of the position of a single salient tone in the sequence presented as a tentative reply. Posttraining fMRI scans revealed modifications in ventral activation of both groups. Successful WMtrained participants learned to utilize auditory regions for the trained task. These observations suggest that the huge task-specific enhancement of WM capacity stems from a task-specific switch to perceptual routines, implemented in perceptual regions.

Comparison of Roll and Pitch Among Patients with Vertical and Horizontal Skeletal Patterns Using Cant-O-Meter: A New Gyroscopic Device for Measuring Occlusal Cant

In Orthodontics, initial classification of malocclusions was based on planar malocclusions in the anteroposterior, transverse and vertical planes that were based only on translation of the jaws in space. In 2007, Ackermann and Proffit introduced rotational components—roll, pitch, and yaw—analogous to the position of the airplane in space. These rotations can result in canting of the occlusal plane. There are no quantitative methods available in the literature for a precise estimation of the occlusal cant. Qualitative evaluation of occlusal cant is subjective and is associated with inter-individual variations. This article describes an indigenously devised simple chairside device that can quantify cant of the occlusal plane in terms of the roll and pitch in degrees. There is accurate quantification of cant, which can be used effectively in many clinical scenarios.

The perception of octave pitch affinity and harmonic fusion have a common origin

Musicians say that the pitches of tones with a frequency ratio of 2:1 (one octave) have a distinctive affinity, even if the tones do not have common spectral components. It has been suggested, however, that this affinity judgment has no biological basis and originates instead from an acculturation process ‒ the learning of musical rules unrelated to auditory physiology. We measured, in young amateur musicians, the perceptual detectability of octave mistunings for tones presented alternately (melodic condition) or simultaneously (harmonic condition). In the melodic condition, mistuning was detectable only by means of explicit pitch comparisons. In the harmonic condition, listeners could use a different and more efficient perceptual cue: in the absence of mistuning, the tones fused into a single sound percept; mistunings decreased fusion. Performance was globally better in the harmonic condition, in line with the hypothesis that listeners used a fusion cue in this condition; this hypothesis was also supported by results showing that an illusory simultaneity of the tones was much less advantageous than a real simultaneity. In the two conditions, mistuning detection was generally better for octave compressions than for octave stretchings. This asymmetry varied across listeners, but crucially the listener-specific asymmetries observed in the two conditions were highly correlated. Thus, the perception of the melodic octave appeared to be closely linked to the phenomenon of harmonic fusion. As harmonic fusion is thought to be determined by biological factors rather than factors related to musical culture or training, we argue that octave pitch affinity also has, at least in part, a biological basis.

Experimental comparison of blade pitch and speed control strategies for horizontal-axis current turbines

Experimental comparison of blade pitch and speed control strategies for horizontal-axis current turbines

A Comparison of Place-Pitch-Based Interaural Electrode Matching Methods for Bilateral Cochlear-Implant Users.

Interaural place-of-stimulation mismatch for bilateral cochlear-implant (BI-CI) listeners is often evaluated using pitch-comparison tasks that can be susceptible to procedural biases. Bias effects were compared for three sequential interaural pitch-comparison tasks in six BI-CI listeners using single-electrode direct stimulation. The reference (right ear) was a single basal, middle, or apical electrode. The comparison electrode (left ear) was chosen from one of three ranges: basal half, full array, or apical half. In Experiment 1 (discrimination), interaural pairs were chosen randomly (method of constant stimuli). In Experiment 2 (ranking), an efficient adaptive procedure rank ordered 3 reference and 6 or 11 comparison electrodes. In Experiment 3 (matching), listeners adjusted the comparison electrode to pitch match the reference. Each experiment was evaluated for testing-range bias (point of subjective equality [PSE] vs. comparison-range midpoint) and reference-electrode slope bias (PSE vs. reference electrode). Discrimination showed large biases for both metrics; matching showed a smaller but significant reference-electrode bias; ranking showed no significant biases in either dimension. Ranking and matching were also evaluated for starting-point bias (PSE vs. adaptive-track starting point), but neither showed significant effects. A response-distribution truncation model explained a nonsignificant bias for ranking but it could not fully explain the observed biases for discrimination or matching. It is concluded that (a) BI-CI interaural pitch comparisons are inconsistent across test methods; (b) biases must be evaluated in more than one dimension before accepting the results as valid; and (c) of the three methods tested, ranking was least susceptible to biases and therefore emerged as the optimal approach.

Effects of syllable name change on pitch comparison

Previous research has found that musicians’ pitch judgments, unlike non-musicians’, are influenced by syllable names. Although non-musicians fail to identify absolute pitches, they acknowledge the direction of pitch change. The present experiment investigated whether non-musicians’ judgments of pitch change can be influenced by the direction of syllable name change. Moreover, we examined the spatial, magnitudinal and sequential nature of pitches and syllable names. Participants ( N = 33) were asked to hear two successive tones sung by syllable name and to judge the direction of pitch change by pressing vertically arranged buttons. Participants’ accuracy of pitch change judging was found to be influenced by the direction of syllable name change. However, the response location was not found to interact with pitch change or syllable name change. The distance effect was found in pitches but not in syllable names. A sequence effect was found that trials with early-in-sequence syllable names were responded faster than trials with late-in-sequence syllable names. These results suggest that syllable names can influence non-musicians’ pitch judgments in a relative context. We suggest that it is the sequential order of syllable names that is the product of cultural activities that interfere with the judgment of pitch change.

Comparison of Coal Tar Pitch and Petroleum Pitches in the Reactions of Thermal Solvolysis of Thermosetting Polymers

Comparison of Coal Tar Pitch and Petroleum Pitches in the Reactions of Thermal Solvolysis of Thermosetting Polymers

Contributions of modal and creaky voice to the perception of habitual pitch

In some languages, creaky voice is used over relatively long stretches of speech as a prosodic element, to convey emotion, and/or stylistically. A primary acoustic and perceptual cue to creaky voice quality is a low fundamental frequency. Previous research has shown that listeners can make fine-grained comparisons of speakers' habitual modal pitch, but this study focuses on how a combination of modal and nonmodal phonation affects the perception of habitual pitch. A perception experiment assesses whether listeners are more likely to rate a speaker's utterance as being holistically lower in pitch if it contains both modal and creaky voice than if it is fully modal speech. Results indicate that for female American English speakers with higher modal pitch, the inclusion of creaky voice leads listeners to rate such utterances as lower in pitch than fully modal utterances, but not for speakers with lower modal pitch. These results are consistent with studies showing that pitch perception interacts with nonmodal phonation, and they relate to previous observations that speakers may utilize nonmodal phonation to manipulate their intended habitual pitch.

Comparison of Coal Tar Pitch and Petroleum Pitches in the Reactions of Thermal Solvolysis of Thermosetting Polymers

Comparison of Coal Tar Pitch and Petroleum Pitches in the Reactions of Thermal Solvolysis of Thermosetting Polymers

Pitch Matching in Cochlear Implant Users With Single-Sided Deafness: Effects of Electrode Position and Acoustic Stimulus Type.

Previous studies in patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) have reported results of pitch comparisons between electric stimulation of their cochlear implant (CI) and acoustic stimulation presented to their near-normal hearing contralateral ear. These comparisons typically used sinusoids, although the percept elicited by electric stimulation may be closer to a wideband stimulus. Furthermore, it has been shown that pitch comparisons between sounds with different timbres is a difficult task and subjected to various types of range biases. The present study aims to introduce a method to minimize non-sensory biases, and to investigate the effect of different acoustic stimulus types on the frequency and variability of the electric-acoustic pitch matches. Pitch matches were collected from 13 CI users with SSD using the binary search procedure. Electric stimulation was presented at either an apical or a middle electrode position, at a rate of 800 pps. Acoustic stimulus types were sinusoids (SINE), 1/3-octave wide narrow bands of Gaussian noises (NBN), or 1/3-octave wide pulse spreading harmonic complexes (PSHC). On the one hand, NBN and PSHC are presumed to better mimic the spread of excitation produced by a single-electrode stimulation than SINE. On the other hand, SINE and PSHC contain less inherent fluctuations than NBN and may therefore provide a temporal pattern closer to that produced by a constant-amplitude electric pulse train. Analysis of mean pitch match variance showed no differences between stimulus types. However, mean pitch matches showed effects of electrode position and stimulus type, with the middle electrode always matched to a higher frequency than the apical one (p < 0.001), and significantly higher across-subject pitch matches for PSHC compared with SINE (p = 0.017). Mean pitch matches for all stimulus types were better predicted by place-dependent characteristic frequencies (CFs) based on an organ of Corti map compared with a spiral ganglion map. CF predictions were closest to pitch matches with SINE for the apical electrode position, and conversely with NBN or PSHC for the middle electrode position. These results provide evidence that the choice of acoustic stimulus type can have a significant effect on electric-acoustic pitch matching.

The Analysis of the Influence of Manufacturing Practice of Anode Paste on its Consumption

The article is devoted to the study of the impact of technological features of the anode paste production on one of the technical-and-economic indices – its consumption. It is shown that the prior thermal preparation significantly affects the quality characteristics of pitch and petroleum cokes. The comparison of pitches of foreign and homeland producers revealed the advantage of the last because of their small ash content and the lowered content of sodium. Granulometric composition of the dry mix is determined on the basis of different coke brands. They are close to the concentrations of fractions regulated by the technology of production of the anode paste. The conducted semi-industrial tests were in accordance with the laboratory studies and confirmed the fact of reducing the consumption of the anode paste when using the petroleum coke as a filler.

Coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics and Comprehensive Analysis Calculations of a Gimballed Tiltrotor

In an effort to assess the suitability of the HPCMP CREATE-AV™ Helios computational tool for calculating tiltrotor aeromechanics characteristics, comparisons of rotor performance, blade pitch, and blade loads between calculations and test data are presented for the Tilt Rotor Aeroacoustic Model rotor in helicopter mode at an advance ratio of 0.15. The Helios calculations are performed by coupling the Fully Unstructured Navier–Stokes Three-Dimensional solver with the Rotorcraft Comprehensive Analysis System along with modeling the gimbal motion of the rotor. For rotor performance and blade pitch, the comparisons are with test points that form shaft angle sweeps for two different thrust levels. For blade loads, the comparisons are analyzed in detail for two test points with 3 deg forward shaft tilt and different thrust levels. The level of agreement between the calculations and the test data is very good for rotor performance, blade pitch, and blade airloads. The level of agreement is mixed for blade structural loads.

Pitch magnitude estimation can predict across-ear pitch comparisons in cochlear-implant users

Bilateral cochlear implants provide auditory input in both ears, but sensitivity to interaural time differences (ITDs) varies across individuals. One factor affecting ITD sensitivity is place-of-stimulation mismatch across ears. Currently there is no fast method for estimating mismatch. Since pitch varies depending on place-of-stimulation, our laboratory uses two pitch-matching methods to estimate matched place-of-stimulation across ears: pitch magnitude estimation (PME) and direct pitch comparison (DPC). PME involves rating pitch from 1 (lowest) to 100 (highest) for even numbered electrodes in each ear. DPC involves comparing the pitch of one electrode against six electrodes in the opposite ear, yielding an estimate of place-of-stimulation mismatch at one electrode. DPC predicts interaural electrode pairs with good ITD sensitivity, but is relatively slow because pairs are chosen one at a time. PME is a much faster, global estimate of the relative difference of interaural electrodes, but it is uncertain whether PME can predict the same interaural pairs as DPC. Here, we predict DPC estimates from PME results using regression techniques. Results suggest PME may be an efficient tool for creating clinical maps that yield good binaural sensitivity. [Work supported by NIH-NIDCD R01-DC003083 to RYL, NIH-NIDCD R03-DC015321 to AK, and NIH-NICHD P30-HD03552 to Waisman Center.]

Non-sensory biases in a pitch-discrimination task for bilateral and single-sided deafness cochlear-implant listeners

Matching the interaural place of stimulation is likely to improve binaural processing for bilateral (BI) and single-sided deafness (SSD) cochlear-implant (CI) listeners. Although pitch matching can be used to estimate interaural mismatch for these listeners, non-sensory biases (e.g., responding to the test-frequency range rather than interaural pitch comparisons) could influence the accuracy of place-match estimates. This study evaluated pitch discrimination as a method of estimating the relative interaural places of stimulation for individual CI electrodes for BI-CI and SSD-CI listeners. Three different frequency ranges, and randomization of the stimulus presentation across reference electrodes, were used to measure non-sensory biases. Results showed substantial frequency-range effects for the majority of reference electrodes tested for both listener groups, shifting place-match estimates by as much as about 7 mm for some listeners. Reference-electrode randomization affected a smaller proportion of the estimates, producing shifts of 2-3 mm or less. These findings suggest that pitch discrimination might not reliably estimate relative interaural place of stimulation for BI-CI and SSD-CI listeners. [The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of Army/Navy/Air Force, Department of Defense, or U.S. Government. Funding: NIH-NIDCD R01-DC-015798 (Goupell/Bernstein).]

Pitch Perception in the First Year of Life, a Comparison of Lexical Tones and Musical Pitch.

Pitch variation is pervasive in speech, regardless of the language to which infants are exposed. Lexical tone is influenced by general sensitivity to pitch. We examined whether the development in lexical tone perception may develop in parallel with perception of pitch in other cognitive domains namely music. Using a visual fixation paradigm, 100 and one 4- and 12-month-old Dutch infants were tested on their discrimination of Chinese rising and dipping lexical tones as well as comparable three-note musical pitch contours. The 4-month-old infants failed to show a discrimination effect in either condition, whereas the 12-month-old infants succeeded in both conditions. These results suggest that lexical tone perception may reflect and relate to general pitch perception abilities, which may serve as a basis for developing more complex language and musical skills.

Auditory feedback to support image-guided medical needle placement.

During medical needle placement using image-guided navigation systems, the clinician must concentrate on a screen. To reduce the clinician's visual reliance on the screen, this work proposes an auditory feedback method as a stand-alone method or to support visual feedback for placing the navigated medical instrument, in this case a needle. An auditory synthesis model using pitch comparison and stereo panning parameter mapping was developed to augment or replace visual feedback for navigated needle placement. In contrast to existing approaches which augment but still require a visual display, this method allows view-free needle placement. An evaluation with 12 novice participants compared both auditory and combined audiovisual feedback against existing visual methods. Using combined audiovisual display, participants show similar task completion times and report similar subjective workload and accuracy while viewing the screen less compared to using the conventional visual method. The auditory feedback leads to higher task completion times and subjective workload compared to both combined and visual feedback. Audiovisual feedback shows promising results and establishes a basis for applying auditory feedback as a supplement to visual information to other navigated interventions, especially those for which viewing a patient is beneficial or necessary.

Management of Cochlear Implant Electrode Migration.

The present study reviewed a cochlear implant (CI) patient population after surgery, which received a free-fitting electrode carrier designed for hearing preservation. The aim was to determine the rate of electrode migration of the CI electrodes and present clinical and surgical implications. Retrospective patient review. Tertiary referral university hospital. Two hundred seventy-eight patients implanted uni- or bilaterally with lateral wall electrodes designed for hearing preservation (358 implants). The control group was 323 patients implanted uni- or bilaterally with preformed perimodiolar electrodes (468 implants). Determination of CI electrode migration was conducted according to a clinical test protocol. Revision surgery was offered in confirmed patients of electrode migration. A bone groove was considered to improve the fixation of the electrode. Audiological testing including speech audiometry, subjective sound quality rating, and bilateral pitch comparison in bilateral patients, as well as radiological examinations, were conducted. Electrode migration was observed solely in patients implanted with lateral wall electrodes; 10 of 358 patients with free-fitting electrodes (2.8%) had electrode migration, which was successfully confirmed by the proposed clinical test protocol. Nine of the 10 confirmed patients underwent reinsertion surgery. Mean perception score decreased from 75.0% to 62.1% after electrode migration and recovered completely after reinsertion surgery. A flowchart to detect electrode migration was designed for clinical practice. Although electrode migration is a rare complication in CI surgery, long-term follow-up diagnostics should include a test protocol to detect electrode shifts of lateral wall electrode arrays. A reinsertion surgery should be conducted in confirmed patients to recover speech perception.