Phone Ringtones Research Articles

Musicogenic seizures - STXBP1 encephalopathy with reflex seizures.

Mutations in the gene encoding syntaxin binding protein 1 (STXBP1) have been implicated in a wide variety of epileptic encephalopathies. Although the recognized phenotypes of patients with STXBP1 encephalopathies have broadened in recent years, no case of reflex seizures, particularly musicogenic seizures, has been reported in the literature. We present an 18-year-old woman with STXBP1 encephalopathy and seizures that are stereotypically reproducible in response to a variety of audible stimuli. An 18-year-old woman with a history of profound intellectual disability, confirmed STXBP1 genetic defect via genetic testing, and seizures beginning as infantile spasms during childhood, who presented to the epilepsy monitoring unit for seizure characterization. Her mother reported reproducible seizures triggered by a particular cell phone ringtone, music from a certain automobile television commercial and certain beeping alarm sounds. In response, the patient had clinically stereotyped seizures associated with staring, behavioral arrest, followed by eye deviation to the left, tonic stiffening in upper and lower extremities and labored breathing, lasting between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. These seizures were reliably reproducible within a few seconds of exposure to the auditory stimulus. During hospitalization, mother played one of the cell phone ringtones known to trigger seizures for the patient, which resulted in induction of a seizure characterized by diffuse electrodecrement, subsequent emergence of frontal-predominant theta which was followed by progressive diffuse attenuation and semi-rhythmic slowing over the right posterior quadrant. This is the first case to describe musicogenic or other reflex seizures in a patient with STXBP1 encephalopathy.

Acoustic object canceller: removing a known signal from monaural recording using blind synchronization

In this paper, we propose a technique for removing a specific type of interference from a monaural recording. Nonstationary interferences are generally challenging to eliminate from such recordings. However, if the interference is a known sound like a cell phone ringtone, music from a CD or streaming service, or a radio or TV broadcast, its source signal can be easily obtained. In our method, we define such interference as an acoustic object. Even if the sampling frequencies of the recording and the acoustic object do not match, we compensate for the mismatch and use the maximum likelihood estimation technique with the auxiliary function to remove the interference from the recording. We compare several probabilistic models for representing the object-canceled signal. Experimental evaluations confirm the effectiveness of our proposed method.

The effect of mobile phone ringtone on visual recognition during driving: Evidence from laboratory and real-scene eye movement experiments

Objective To determine the effect of mobile phone ringtones on visual recognition during driving, laboratory and real-scene eye movement experiments were conducted with simulated and real driving tasks, respectively. Competition for visual attention during driving increases with the integration of sounds, which is related to driving safety. Method We manipulated the physical (long exposure duration vs. short exposure duration) and psychological (self-related vs. non-self-related) properties of mobile phone ringtones presented to drivers. Estimates were based on linear mixed models (LMMs) and generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs). Results Self-related ringtones had a greater influence on driving attention than non-self-related ones, and the interaction between exposure duration and self-relatedness was significant. Furthermore, the impact of the mobile phone ringtone occurred in real time after the ringtone stopped. Conclusion These results highlight the importance of considering the impact of ringtones on driving performance and demonstrate that ringtone properties (exposure duration and self-relatedness) can affect cognitive processes.

Minimizing regain awareness time of the epileptic patient using a well-known phone ringtone

Minimizing regain awareness time of the epileptic patient using a well-known phone ringtone

Effect of masking noise on cognitive performance and annoyance in open plan offices

Even for low noise levels, employees working in open-plan offices declare they are disturbed by different sound sources and especially by intelligible speech. This paper presents two experiments that aim at studying the effects of sound sources on task performance and cognitive load. In the first experiment, thirty-five individuals were assigned a serial memory task in four noise conditions: printers, intelligible speech, non-intelligible speech and phone rings. Noise annoyance was assessed by measuring task performance and cognitive workload (NASA-TLX). Although there was no significant difference between intelligible speech, unintelligible speech and phone ring tone signals in terms of annoyance, the performance in a memory task decreased in the presence of intelligible speech. In the second experiment, the relevance of a new intelligibility index was evaluated. This index was derived from eSII as defined by Rhebergen et al. (2006) to deal with fluctuating noise as speech babble. Fifty-five subjects performed a serial memory task in four STIt (time varying Speech Transmission Index calculated for every 12.5ms in dynamic environment) conditions (from 0.38 to 0.69) while STI values were kept constant (around 0.36). No significant difference appeared between the decreases in performance observed with multiple levels of intelligibility. However, a significant difference between two groups of individuals appeared in performance measurements. The group of better performers seemed to be less affected by the high level of intelligibility condition than the other ones.

Determination of Noise Level and Its Sources in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Neonatal Ward

Background: In Neonatal intensive care units (NICU) different sound intensities and frequencies are produced from different sources, which may exert undesirable physiological effects on the infants. The aim of this study was to determine the noise level and its sources in the NICU and neonatal ward of Al-Zahra Hospital of Rasht, Iran. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the intensity of the sounds generated by the internal and external sources in the NICU and neonatal ward was measured using a sound level meter device. The sound produced by each of the sources was individually calculated. Data were analyzed performing descriptive and analytical statistics, using SPSS version 19. Results: The mean noise levels in six rooms and a hallway during morning, afternoon and night shifts with the electromechanical devices turned on were 61.67±4.5, 61.32±4.32 and 60.71±4.56 dB, respectively. Moreover, with the devices tuned off the mean noise levels during morning, afternoon and evening shifts were 64.97±2.6, 60.6±1.29 and 57.91±4.73 dB, respectively. The differences between the mean noise levels in the neonatal wards (standard noise level=45 dB) during each shift with the electromechanical devices turned on and off were statistically significant (P=0.002 and P<0.05, respectively). Phone ring tones in a one meter distance and neonatal crying registered the highest values (85 and 81 dB, respectively). Conclusion: According to the obtained results, the highest noise levels were generated by the electromechanical devices inside the NICU and neonatal ward, and there were no significant differences in the noise level with the devices turned on and off. Moreover, personnel’s noise-generating behaviors were the main sources of noise. Therefore, it seems that providing educational preparation for the staff can diminish the ambient noise level.

Remediations of Congolese urban dance music in Kinshasa

Abstract Following the continuing popularity of Congolese rumba music in the 1950s–1970s, I explore the technological spaces in which old songs appear more than 50 years later, and study the agency of those who initiate and actively contribute to the reinsertions of the old music in and on new media formats. By redefining the ‘repurposing’ of the remediations as strategies steered by human intentionality and occurring within social spaces, I investigate the kind of knowledge that an anthropological focus on remediation, repetition and circulation through electronic and digital media can offer about Kinshasa’s society at large. I propose to analyse the various purposes that direct Kinois (the inhabitants of Kinshasa), individual persons, media professionals and international corporations, to copy and insert old (and new) Congolese dance music into a particular media format, such as TV shows, USB sticks or mobile phone ring tones.

Applying signal detection theory to determine the ringtone volume of a mobile phone under ambient noise

Although technologies for automatically adjusting the volume of mobile phone ringtones according to the ambient noise level have been developed, few studies have investigated the volume (dB) of the ringtone. This study suggested design recommendations for the ringtone volume under loud ambient noise. Based on signal detection theory, two-alternative forced-choice tracking was performed by thirty subjects to obtain hearing thresholds under noisy conditions. Six experimental conditions were examined: all combination of three pure tone frequencies (500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 4000 Hz) and two white noise levels (70 dB, 80 dB). The results showed that the ringtone volume should increase by 10–15 dB on average when the noise level increases from 70 dB to 80 dB. When adjusting the volume according to the ambient noise level, the volume should be changed differently according to the frequencies of a ringtone. The ringtone should be composed of low-frequency sounds under loud ambient noise because the subjects were very sensitive to the pure tone with frequency of 500 Hz. The results of this study could be used when developing design guidelines for the adaptive ringtone of a mobile phone. Moreover, designers can use this method to design other auditory signals such as notification and emergency alarms that have different chances of signal detectability. Relevance to industryThe results of this study may provide useful information to designers who consider the volume and frequency of a ringtone when adjusting ringtone volume according to ambient noise level. Moreover, the method used in the study could also be widely used to design auditory signals of mobile devices other than mobile phones.

Suspended Animation: A Legal Perspective of School Discipline and African American Learners in the Shadows of &lt;em&gt;Brown&lt;/em&gt;

On a humid Saturday in a southeastern metropolitan city, I circled our airport's loading area several times until I spotted my colleague, Dr. Gwendolyn Webb-Hasan. She had flown in for a short visit. We exited the airport and headed toward the nearby ''Global Shopping Mall for some well-deserved, relaxing activities-catching up over lunch and leisurely shopping for shoes. Or so we thought. Just as we prepared to turn into the mall parking lot, my once pleasant cell phone's ring tone not only interrupted, but also reversed, our long-awaited plans. I sighed while pushing the speaker button. On the other end was a 15-year-old African American male who I knew quite well. He frantically pleaded with me to come to his house right away. I had been assisting his siblings and him while his mother was hospitalized. Of course, I asked him about the urgency. Evidently, a group of boys was circling his house with chains, sticks, and bats. Braxton anxiously said they were yelling and threatening that they were not leaving-until he came outside. They accused him of stealing from one of them.Braxton, who is usually pretty unflappable, was clearly alarmed. When I made that U-turn, little did I know that we would alter much more than our afternoon plans. Dr. Webb-Hasan and I reached Braxton's house only to be met by the glares of eight or nine African American male teens clustered in the driveway and front yard; some were on bicycles and others were on foot. Scanning their faces one by one, she and I emerged slowly from the comfort of the car. Remarkably, each one looked angrier and more menacing than their confederates. Quickly relying on our instincts, we smiled and walked over to the young man looking to be the most agitated and in charge. After introducing ourselves, we asked their names and began shaking hands with Carsyn, the leader, and his friends. We told them that while I knew Braxton well, we wanted to hear their sides to resolve the conflict in a peaceful manner. After listening to the teens' suspicions about Braxton stealing from one of them, we discussed several alternatives to violent ways to resolve conflicts. Since the young men appeared to be listening rather intently, we continued describing ways to talk out problems and gave examples using real-life and personal experiences. We also solicited suggestions from them. Our front yard conversations were peppered with humor, which helped us establish rapport and an ethic of care, despite having never met them before. We also talked about good character and what makes an effective leader. For example, we shared our admiration for real leaders who can step up and move people toward conflict resolution without resorting to their fists or weapons. Clearly on a roll, we engaged them in dialogue about how it takes a big person to know when and how to recognize and apologize for misunderstandings.Much to our surprise, Carsyn asked me to go in the house and bring Braxton outside. He said that he would be the big man and take the lead to talk with Braxton and try to resolve the situation. Carsyn assured us that there would be no fighting. I went in and relayed to Braxton what Carsyn wanted to do. Skeptical at first, Braxton reluctantly ventured outside. Carsyn honored his word and initiated the most wonderful and productive exchange among Braxton, the other young men, and himself. It was exciting to watch him extend his right hand to Braxton and apologize for what apparently was a misunderstanding. Watching the other teens follow Carsyn's lead was equally rewarding.We learned of those young men's back-stories after that incident. Like Braxton, they were adolescents from families with low incomes. Despite being school-aged, they were no longer enrolled in or going to school. Simply put, each one dropped out of middle school and never enrolled in or went to high school. Interestingly, since they were never high school students, were they counted as high school dropouts, if they never dropped in? …

When to approach novel prey cues? Social learning strategies in frog-eating bats

Animals can use different sources of information when making decisions. Foraging animals often have access to both self-acquired and socially acquired information about prey. The fringe-lipped bat, Trachops cirrhosus, hunts frogs by approaching the calls that frogs produce to attract mates. We examined how the reliability of self-acquired prey cues affects social learning of novel prey cues. We trained bats to associate an artificial acoustic cue (mobile phone ringtone) with food rewards. Bats were assigned to treatments in which the trained cue was either an unreliable indicator of reward (rewarded 50% of the presentations) or a reliable indicator (rewarded 100% of the presentations), and they were exposed to a conspecific tutor foraging on a reliable (rewarded 100%) novel cue or to the novel cue with no tutor. Bats whose trained cue was unreliable and who had a tutor were significantly more likely to preferentially approach the novel cue when compared with bats whose trained cue was reliable, and to bats that had no tutor. Reliability of self-acquired prey cues therefore affects social learning of novel prey cues by frog-eating bats. Examining when animals use social information to learn about novel prey is key to understanding the social transmission of foraging innovations.

Re-balancing artists' rights in cell phone ringtones? An analysis of Tanzanian copyright

On 23 July 2012, The Citizen, a Tanzanian local newspaper, bore an appealing headline, ‘How Bongo artists miss billions in ringtone deals’.7 The paper reported that OnMobile, a foreign company headquartered in Bangalore, India, provided ringtone services for the two major mobile service providers, Vodacom Tanzania and Airtel. However, OnMobile had contractual arrangements with Push Mobile, a local company in Tanzania. The latter signed contracts with artists to obtain licences to use their songs as cell phone ringtones. According to the paper, in the period before OnMobile came on to the scene, particularly in the late 2000s, artists had to deal with either Push Mobile or Spice, both local companies, if they wanted sell their songs as ringtones; this ceased to

Cell phone ringtone, but not landline phone ringtone, affects complex reaction time

Legislation systems of most countries prohibited using the handheld mobile phone while driving due to the fact that it disturbs concentration and causes hand involvement. Every phone owner is accustomed to the ringtone of his phone and almost involuntarily endeavors to pick it up or check who calls. This engages one's psychomotor skills, which in our opinion contributes to the attenuation of reaction time needed for performing other crucial functions. The aim of the study was: (1) to evaluate the influence of the sound of a ringing mobile phone on the complex reaction time (RT) score in healthy subjects (owners), and (2) to check if there are any differences in RT when a landline phone and mobile phone ring. To assess RT we used our system and protocol of examination, previously validated. The examination conditions were standardized. All tests were performed in the same room with the same light and general acoustic conditions. The test group consisted of 23 women and 24 men, aged 19-24 years. The examination comprised 4 sessions: Training Session (TS) during which the subjects were accustomed with the application and sample stimuli, Control Session (CS) with no telephone ringing, Landline Session (LS) with landline phone ringing, Mobile Session (MS) with mobile phone ringing. The median RT in the study population was significantly elongated (p < 0.001) in MS. In women and in men RTs were significantly longer in MS than in CS and non-significantly longer than in LS. Reaction times in CS, LS and MS were longer in women, however the differences were not significant (p > 0.05). We think that the specific 'bond' between a person and their private phone can significantly disrupt their attention and thus affect the attention-demanding activities.

Midi-Lab, A Powerful Visual Basic Program for Creating Midi Music

Creating MIDI music can be a practical challenge. In the past, working with it was difficult and frustrating to all but the most accomplished and determined. Now, however, we are offering a powerful Visual Basic program called MIDI-LAB, that is easy to learn, and instantly rewarding to even the newest users. MIDILAB has been developed to give users the ability to quickly create music with a limitless variety of tunes, tempos, speeds, volumes, instruments, rhythms and major scales. This program has a simple, intuitive, and user-friendly interface, which provides a straightforward way to enter musical data with Numbered Musical Notation (NMN) and immediately create MIDI music. The key feature of this program is the digitalization of music input. It vastly simplifies creating, editing, and saving MIDI music. MIDI-LAB can be used virtually anywhere to write music for entertainment, teaching, computer games, and mobile phone ringtones.

Songs, cell phones, absolute pitch: Long-term pitch memory for familiar stimuli

Absolute pitch (AP) is a rare phenomenon as formally defined, but long-term pitch memory appears much more common when tests involve familiar musical material and do not require the use of formally learned pitch labels. It is unclear whether AP possession confers additional advantages to long-term pitch memory in such tasks or merely combines a rare ability to form pitch-label associations with a more general capacity for pitch memory. To test this, 36 trained musicians—18 AP possessors and 18 non-possessors with equivalent age of onset and duration of musical training—were asked to recall and vocalize a familiar song, and their responses were compared with the pitches of the actual recordings; this was repeated with their cell phone ringtones. Both groups were significantly more accurate than chance on the song task, but only the AP possessors performed above chance on the ringtone task. The findings confirm the existence of widespread long-term pitch memory but also point to an AP advantage under some circumstances.

The Emerging Music Business Model: Back to the Future?

For many years, the music industry has consisted of two main components: the concert industry and the recording music industry. Throughout the 80s and 90s, thanks mostly to CD sales, the recording music industry was dominant in terms of revenue and visibility. It reached record US sales in 1999 and 2000 (over $14.3 billion in 2000, $13.2 billion of which for CD albums), and between the years 2000 and 2007, the industry has seen a decline of 44% in its sales of physical records. Reluctantly, the recording industry has joined the digital world by signing agreements with a variety of organizations providing music downloading, in particular with Apple and its iTunes downloading service. It earned 1.4 billion dollars from music downloading in 2007 (with another billion from other digital sales such a cellular phone ringtones). Obviously, digital sales have fallen short of compensating the industry for its losses of physical record sales. The concert industry is re-emerging as the potential dominant component of the music industry. In contrast to the recording industry, its revenues have not been affected by illegal Internet downloading. On the contrary, it is making use of the Internet to increase them. Recording artists are taking advantage of the weakening of the recording labels and of the opportunities offered by the Internet to loosen their dependence on the labels. Finally, the once well-defined separation between the concert industry and the recording industry may be disappearing: concert organizers are getting into the recording business and majors are getting into the concert business.

Scribing Work Songs at an Archeological Dig in Egypt

This article reports research conducted in the northeastern corner of Egypt’s Nile Delta during an excavation at the Mendes archeological dig site in July—August, 2007. Donald Redford, Professor at Pennsylvania State University, accepted the author as the only nonarcheologist that year. In addition to duties of measuring, registering, and storing artifacts as they were unearthed, the author was the first (to her knowledge) to collect work songs at the Mendes site. The purpose of this research was to make digital recordings of regional work songs in the field. Many songs/chants were recorded, transcribed, and categorized as gender specific. Results also showed that cell phone ring tones were now used as pacesetters, which was of interest to area anthropologists.

User acceptance of hedonic digital artifacts: A theory of consumption values perspective

Hedonic digital artifacts have become prevalent in today's society. Their users typically pay for them, and in exchange are generally provided with benefits involving enjoyment. Today's research on technology adoption and use, though, has focused mostly on organizational or personal aids that provide efficiency and effectiveness and are free of charge for users. To bridge this gap, we identified several value drivers of hedonic digital artifacts and measured them in the context of mobile phone ringtones using the theory of consumption values. Hypothesis testing was performed using PLS on data collected from 422 ringtone users. Results confirmed that the overall value of hedonic digital artifacts is a third-order composite assessment, which successfully predicted behavioral usage and positive word-of-mouth intentions. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Musical obsession: Repeated auditory imagery of a cell phone ring tone

Musical obsession: Repeated auditory imagery of a cell phone ring tone

Electrophysiological indices reflect voluntary and involuntary processing of personally significant sounds

Event Abstract Back to Event Electrophysiological indices reflect voluntary and involuntary processing of personally significant sounds Anja Roye1*, Thomas Gruber1, T. Jacobsen1 and E. Schröger1 1 University of Leipzig, Germany Fast and efficient detection of changes in the environment is important for adaptive behaviour. In several studies it has been shown that long-term memory affects the automatic detection of unexpected sounds and may modulate involuntary attention switching. Whereas those studies mainly used group approaches, we had shown that personally significant sounds, namely one’s own ringtone to incoming textmessages, elicit an event-related potential (ERP) following the deviance-related Mismatch Negativity and occurring prior to the initiation of an involuntary attention switch indicated by the P3a (Roye et al., 2007). The present study addressed the question whether the auditory system needs the extraction of a physical regularity and thus the detection of a physical mismatch as a prerequisite for this differential processing of personal significance. Therefore, we presented a train of physically invariant standards, which were rarely interspersed by a deviating stimulus that could be categorized as a deviant solely based on its role as a personally significant, highly familiar stimulus, i.e. the own ringtone presented in a sequence of other person’s ringtones (categorical but not physical oddball). Passive and active conditions were compared. Results revealed a replication of the ERP effect purely related to personal significance occurring around 200 ms after stimulus onset, which thus seems to be independent of a formed physical regularity even under ignore conditions. Furthermore, we observed an N1 enhancement to the personally significant sound which was confined to the attend condition. Specific long-term memory traces may be tuned to this specific significant sound due to plastic reorganization of the cortical representation for the own ringtone. Additionally we observed a P3 component to the personally significant sound solely when the auditory stream was attended. This may suggest that an allocation of attention (using this categorical but not physical oddball paradigm) is triggered only when the auditory objects are monitored. To complement our ERP findings, data will also be analzed in the time-frequency domain. The present results suggest that the own mobile phone ringtone prompts the formation of individual long-term memory traces which lead to fundamental differential processing starting around 200 ms after sound onset irrespective of the used paradigm (physical plus categorical and categorical but not physical oddball) and irrespective of top-down influences (attended versus ignored sounds)‏. When the auditory environment is attended, even N1 generators show differential activity to the individually significant signal.

Play ring-tones on your PIC!

The author explains how you can download and play mobile phone ring tones on low-cost 8-pin microcontrollers!