Portable Media Players Research Articles

Preoperative and perioperative music to reduce anxiety during first-time phacoemulsification cataract surgery in the high-volume setting: randomized controlled trial.

To determine whether preoperative and perioperative music exposure reduced patient self-rated anxiety and physiologic indicators of stress during first-time phacoemulsification cataract surgery in the high-volume setting. Aravind Eye Care System, Pondicherry, India. Prospective single-masked randomized controlled trial. Patients were provided music before and during first-time phacoemulsification in 1 group and patients underwent surgery without music in another group. Measurements of blood pressure (BP), heart rate, respiration rate, and a Likert scale anxiety rating were collected at preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative timepoints. One hundred sixty-five patients (aged 53-65 years) were provided music using a portable MP3 player before and during first-time phacoemulsification, and 165 patients underwent surgery without music. Systolic and diastolic BPs were statistically significantly lower in the music intervention group at the postoperative timepoint, with similar physiologic measures between groups during the perioperative timepoints. In the preoperative period, before music exposure, 62 patients (38%) in the music group reported being very or extremely anxious. After 10 minutes of music exposure, only 7 patients (4%) reported this anxiety level. In the perioperative period, 80 patients (48%) in the intervention group reported feeling not at all or a little anxious, compared with 50 patients (30%) of the control group. In the postoperative period, 139 (84%) music group patients felt not at all or a little anxious postoperatively compared with 92 patients (56%) in the control group. Marked reductions in self-reported anxiety preoperatively, intraoperatively, and postoperatively when exposed to music and a statistically significant decrease in postoperative BP showed that music can be an inexpensive and effective solution to improve the patient experience of cataract surgery in the high-volume setting.

Hybrid Recommender System for Music Information Retrieval

Music plays an integral role in our lives as the most popular type of recreation. With the advent of new technologies such as Internet and portable media players, large amount of music data is available online which can be distributed and easily made available to people. Enormous amount of music data is released every year by several artists with songs varying in features, genre and so on. Because of this, a need for reliable and easy access of songs based on user preferences is necessary. The recommender system focuses on generating playlists based on the physical, perceptual and acoustical properties of the song (content based filtering approach), or on commonalities between users on a particular basis like ratings or user data history (collaborative filtering). The system thus developed is a hybrid music recommender tool which creates a user centric suggestion system accompanied by feature extraction which in turn enhances the accuracy of music recommendations.

Personal audio devices and the risk of hearing loss in young adults

Personal audio devices and the risk of hearing loss in young adults

Sonic Counterspaces: The Role of Music in the Latino College Experience at a Predominantly White Institution

A critical race theory framework was used to examine the role of music listening practices in the academic and social contexts of Latino college students enrolled at a predominantly White institution. An inductive thematic analysis examined themes in participants’ open-ended responses. Awareness of their Latino identity in music and the use of digital music players served to construct sonic counterspaces, an affirming auditory realm that is comprised of emotional, psychological, and physical space activated through intentional listening practices. Sonic counterspaces facilitated their academic experience and helped them navigate negative social encounters.

It's never too late (to enter)… till it is! Firms’ entry and exit in the digital audio player industry

We study the determinants of firms’ exit from product segments in a technologically dynamic industry to understand whether exit depends on entry timing, the pre-entry experience of entrants, and the presence of a dominant firm in the segment. Relying upon a detailed database of products from the digital audio player industry since its inception, we find that late entry in a product segment is beneficial for a firm's survival. Firms without prior experience in related markets have a higher hazard of exit from a product segment than those having previous experience. However, late entry into a product segment can mitigate this negative effect. We find also that the presence of a dominant firm in a product segment is generally associated with an increase in the hazard of exit for all the firms, but this effect is less evident for the firms that entered before the dominant firm. These results show that in industries with heterogeneous demand and several market segments, delaying entry into a specific segment may represent a successful strategy, especially for those firms that are relatively inexperienced. This strategy, however, can backfire if entry occurs ‘too late’, specifically after the dominant firm has entered the segment.

Video Glasses Reduce Preoperative Anxiety Compared With Portable Multimedia Player in Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PurposePreoperative anxiety in children is challenging for anesthesia providers and nurses. The use of video glasses (VG), an immersive head mount display, helps conceal the unfamiliar operating room environment from the patient's visual field. The aim of this study was to determine the anxiolytic effect of VG compared with that of a portable multimedia player (PMP) during the preoperative period in children. DesignProspective randomized trial. MethodsParticipants were randomized into VG or PMP groups. Patients watched their favorite animation videos using the allocated device from the time of entering the preanesthetic holding area to the end of anesthetic induction. We evaluated modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale scores during anesthetic induction. FindingsThe modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale score in the VG group was significantly lower than that in the PMP group (P = .001). ConclusionsIn children, the anxiolytic effect of VG during the preoperative period is larger than that of PMP.

Comprehensive elemental analysis of consumer electronic devices: Rare earth, precious, and critical elements

Over the past few decades, electronic devices of all kinds, and especially consumer electronics, have evolved in function and composition, in parallel to increasing manufacture and use. There is great potential for recovering economic value and reducing environmental impact by recycling devices and extracting various elements. However, there are few studies that comprehensively identify the elemental content of electronic devices or electronic waste.In the present study, consumer electronics and components (hard drives, ethernet hubs, portable media players, printers, answering machines, mobile phones, Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) players, computer wiring, and printed circuit boards) and electronic waste (low-grade scrap from one commercial recycling facility) were analyzed for rare earth, precious and critical metals. The overall procedure included size reduction, microwave assisted digestion, and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) analysis.Fifty-six elements were quantified or detected in these devices: 14 rare earth elements, six platinum group metals, 20 critical metals, and 16 other elements, including some precious metals. A single device could include a wide range of elements: 48 metals were quantified in the computer hard drives. The estimated economic value of the metals in each device ranged from $12.94 USD (computer wiring) to $454 USD (hard drives). The variety of metals in electronic devices suggests that end-of-life management strategies should focus on recycling and recovery, which also decreases the overall environmental impacts of the devices, especially associated with mining and refining metals.

Design & Implementation of Power Bank using Supercapacitor

Portable power banks are comprised of battery in a case with a circuit to control power flow. Power banks are becoming increasingly popular because the battery life of phones, tablets and portable media players is exceeded by the number of time gadgets used in aday. In this paper, the design and implementation of power bank using supercapacitors as a charge storage device is presented. Existing power banks use batteries to store charges and it takes a long time to charge completely. In this work, batteries are replaced with supercapacitors to take advantage of its quick charging and slow discharging feature. Supercapacitors are charged using charging and regulation circuit. An output regulator circuit delivers the necessary power for charging portable devices. A display is also implemented using a PIC microcontroller for monitoring.

Radiation modes and acoustic field confined near acoustic sources.

A method to confine the acoustic pressure distribution near a loudspeaker array is investigated for potential application to personal audio devices. The surface velocity distribution of the loudspeaker array is determined so that more reactive than active acoustic power can be generated. The design is based on the theory of radiation modes, i.e., surface velocity distributions that independently contribute to the complex acoustic power. A computer simulation is conducted for a rectangular array of pistons in an infinite baffle, and it is shown that a locally confined acoustic field can be achieved as expected.

E-Learning Through Smart Phone Media in Education

Networked based modern technology which help the user such as internet and world wide web are dramatically changing education learning and teaching style. The advancement of technology help visually challenged user to compete with the visualized people in the field of education and research. It offers high-quality learning resources, exchanging information and making learning groups virtually. The articles discusses on e-learning through mobile application. E- and mobile learning provide enormous possibilities for closing the gap between learners and teachers or the teaching institution, to overcome the misconception of distance learning as an isolated form of learning. M-learning is e-learning through mobile computational devices. Mobile learning devices are defined as handheld devices and can take the form of personal digital assistants, mobile phones, smart phones, audio players, video and multimedia players. They should be connected wirelessly, thus ensuring mobility and flexibility. Innovation in education refers to the changes in teaching and learning as a consequence of the tremendous impact of technological advances. An advanced form in education might mean that in education certain models or patterns no longer exist, because new models and have substituted them. The media applied in distance learning influence the form and nature of interaction and communication, the level of independence and flexibility, as well as scalability and therefore access and costs of distance learning courses.

Teaching English Literature to Digital Natives with special reference to Ernest Hemingway’s <b><i>The Old Man and the Sea</i></b>

This paper is an extension of the workshop titled Learning English Language, Literature and Critical thinking for Digital Natives I conducted at the UGC sponsored symposium on Learning English in the Glocalised World organized by the PG and Research Department of English, Vellalar College for Women (Autonomous), Erode, India on 24 th January 2019 for the PG Students and Research Scholars of the region. Digital Natives are the children who were born since the last two decades of the 20 th century when the world has been filled with computers, videogames, digital music players, cell phones, and myriads of technological toys and gadgets. The advent of the technological era has resulted in a dichotomy in the academic world which is the digital natives being taught by Digital Immigrant teachers i.e., the teachers who were born before the 1980s and immigrated into the world of modern technology. There are many clashes between the approaches of the teachers and the preferred learning styles of the learners. To bridge these gaps between them, the use of Internet Communication Technology is a viable solution. The need for incorporating ICT is a necessity in English Literature courses too. Having understood the need for incorporating internet-based technology into teaching, this paper explores various ways in which literature teaching can be enhanced using ICT to meet the learning needs of the digital native students. English literature courses are offered in most Arts colleges and Universities in India. The growing demand for these courses among young generations is not just passion driven but also because of the worldwide career scope they offer in various fields including teaching.

Teacher acceptability of progressive muscle relaxation in the classroom for the treatment of test anxiety

AbstractTest anxiety is experienced by 10–40% of students. The physical symptoms associated with test anxiety may be more likely to be exhibited by elementary students. Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) has been demonstrated to reduce physical symptoms of anxiety and could be used in the classroom, but teacher acceptability of PMR for test anxiety has not been assessed. This study used a vignette format to survey 404 first through fifth grade teachers on their acceptability of classroom-based PMR as an intervention for test anxiety. Good levels of acceptability were found for implementation with a school psychologist or counsellor, CD player, or digital music player. Special education teachers reported slightly lower levels of acceptability for using PMR in the digital music player scenario. With good levels of teacher acceptability of PMR to address test anxiety, school psychologists and counsellors may be more likely to recommend the use of PMR in classrooms. Implications for implementation of PMR to reduce test anxiety, study limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

President's Page

While episodic, digitally distributed audio programming predates the advent of what we now know as podcasting by two decades, this delivery channel did not catch hold until the early 2000s with the introduction of digital audio players such as the Apple iPod. Today, I take this medium for granted as a primary source of information and entertainment. I can't remember the last time I turned on the radio in my car. Podcasts are following a typical technology cycle, described by Kurzweil as an S curve, with slow growth, followed by rapid growth, followed by a leveling off as the particular paradigm matures.

WHO Issues New Voluntary International Standard for Personal Audio Devices

WHO Issues New Voluntary International Standard for Personal Audio Devices

A Home-Based, Music-Cued Movement Program Is Feasible and May Improve Gait in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

Objectives: To understand the benefits and feasibility of using supervised, home-based, music-cued training to improve gait speed and stability in community-dwelling people with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.Design: Feasibility trial incorporating a single group repeated-measures design.Setting: Human movement laboratory and participants' homes.Interventions:Two training sessions per week, conducted by experienced physiotherapists over 4 weeks. Each home training session consisted of a range of activities in standing or walking, with, and without auditory cues. Rhythmic auditory cues were played via a portable digital music player and consisted of metronome beats and individually chosen, commercially available rhythmic music tracks.Main Outcome Measures: Spatiotemporal gait measures were recorded using an 8 m long GAITRite® mat. Participants walked without cues at self-selected comfortable pace. The Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scales were administered at baseline. Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III, Geriatric Depression Scale, Assessment of Personal Music Preference Scale, and Physiological Profile Assessment were administered at baseline and retest.Results: At baseline, two of the five community-dwelling participants with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy walked with normal speed and low gait variability. Of the remainder who walked with slower, more variable patterns, two walked faster at retest, one by a clinically meaningful amount. Four participants reduced their timing variability at retest and three reduced step length variability. All participants reported high satisfaction levels with the program.Conclusions: When delivered at home with the support of caregivers, music-cued gait training can provide a feasible approach to improving disorders of gait stability in people with this rare, degenerative condition. Movement to music is engaging and enjoyable which can facilitate adherence to therapy.Clinical Trial Registration : ANZCTR 12616000851460. http://www.anzctr.org.au/

Knowledge and practices related to the use of personal audio devices and associated health risks among medical students in Delhi.

BACKGROUND:Over 1 billion young people globally are at risk of hearing loss and road traffic accidents due to unsafe listening practices while using personal audio devices (PADs). Rapid proliferation of mobile phones with built-in music playback facility has rendered nearly universal PAD access. The objective of this study was to ascertain the knowledge of risks and patterns of usage of PADs among medical undergraduate students in Delhi, India.MATERIALS AND METHODS:A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students] aged ≥18 years. Data were collected using a pretested self-administered questionnaire during December 2016–May 2017. Chi-square test was used to find an association between the categorical variables.RESULTS:A total of 255 male and 133 female students were enrolled (n = 388). Male students used PADs with greater frequency and perceived lesser susceptibility to adverse health effects on prolonged PAD usage compared to female students. However, volume preference for PAD usage did not vary across gender. Self-reported history of hearing loss and tinnitus which persisted for at least 3 days in the previous 6 months was 10.6% and 6.4%, respectively. Nearly one in ten students agreed to the possibility of crossing the road while listening to music on their PADs.DISCUSSION:Unsafe music-listening practices using PADs is potentially compromising the health and safety of young people in India. Strategic approaches supporting information education communication activities for promoting awareness of hearing and health risks related to prolonged PAD use at loud volumes and enactment of policies restricting undesirable PAD usage threatening road safety need consideration.

Effect of Various Electronic Devices on the Performance of Electronic Apex Locator.

Apex locators are important devices that can be used to determine working length during root canal treatment. However, it is not known whether electronic devices with various wave length frequencies influence the accuracy of apex locators. The aim of this study was to determine whether a cordless phone set, MP4 player, FM radio, asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), or a mobile phone could influence the accuracy of working length determination by the Dentaport ZX apex locator. In this study, twenty-four sound intact single-rooted extracted human teeth were used. After determining the root canal length with a file and a microscope, the canals were measured with three separate Dentaport ZX apex locators while one of the test devices (ADSL, MP4, FM radio, mobile phone, and cordless phone) was used at a distance of 50 cm from the apex locator. Bland-Altman plots was used for reliability and consistency. Except for the FM radio, all other devices showed significant difference with actual working length (P<0.05). ADSL and MP4 player showed the least consistency compared to the other devices. Based on this in vitro study, the use of ADSL, MP4 player, mobile phone, and cordless phone during root canal treatment may influence working length determination with the Dentaport ZX apex locator.

Consumer-Grade Headphones for Children: Limited Effectiveness of "Level Limiters" When Used With Portable or Home Media Players.

Consumer-grade headphones for children are frequently packaged or marketed with labels claiming incorporation of an output-level-limiting function. Six pairs of headphones, sold separately from devices with audio interfaces, were selected either from online recommendations or from “best rated” with a large online retailer, the opinions being expressed in 2018 to early 2019. The acoustic outputs in response to an internationally standardized test signal were measured through the ears of a head-and-torso simulator and referenced to equivalent A-weighted diffuse-field sound pressure levels. The headphones were tested with a variety of music capable sources found in a domestic environment, such as a mobile phone, tablets, laptop computer, and a home “hi-fi” CD player. To maintain likely homogeneity of the audio interface, the computer-based platforms were manufactured by either Apple™ or certified Android devices. One of the two Bluetooth-linked headphones exhibited level limiting with low distortion (i.e., a compression ratio well in excess of unity). None of the devices wired directly to an audio output performed distortionless level limiting: “limiting” was implemented by a reduction of sensitivity or mechanical limitations, so could be called “soft limiting.” When driven by a laptop or CD player, some were still capable of producing output levels well in excess of “safe-listening” levels of 85 dB(A). Packaging labels were frequently ambiguous and imprecise.

Use of digital audio players by high school students: measurement of use intensity and usage habits.

The main goal of this study was to measure the sound pressure level of digital audio players of high school students and investigate their auditory and non-auditory complaints, and their hearing habits. Another goal was to consider the concern with hearing health and the knowledge sources used by young people to gather information about the subject. This is an observational, descriptive, quantitative, and cross-sectional study, which had the participation of high school students. The first step was an examination of transient-evoked optoacoustic emissions, followed by the application of a questionnaire and the measurement of the volume of audio players. The results showed harmful habits of young people regarding hearing health, such as an excessive time of use (hours, days and years) and high volume levels of digital audio players (DAPs), as well as symptoms that may point to hearing loss. It was found that most young people seem to be concerned about their hearing; however, there is no change of attitude to such situations. The students develop the habit of using DAPs at very early ages and, in many cases, this habit is practiced with the equipment operating at high intensities, which can cause several hearing losses in these students.

Testing paradigms for assistive hearing devices in diverse acoustic environments.

Many individuals worldwide are at risk of hearing loss due to unsafe acoustical exposure and chronic listening experience using personal audio devices. Assistive hearing devices(AHD), such as hearing-aids(HAs) and cochlear-implants(CIs) are a common choice for the restoration and rehabilitation of the auditory function. Audio sound processors in CIs and HAs operate within limits, prescribed by audiologists, not only for acceptable sound perception but also for safety reasons. Signal processing(SP) engineers follow best design practices to ensure reliable performance and incorporate necessary safety checks within the design of SP strategies to ensure safety limits are never exceeded irrespective of acoustic environments. This paper proposes a comprehensive testing and evaluation paradigm to investigate the behavior of audio devices that addresses the safety concerns in diverse acoustic conditions. This is achieved by characterizing the performance of devices with large amounts of acoustic inputs and monitoring the output behavior. The CCi-MOBILE Research-Interface(RI) (used for CI/HA research) is used in this study as the testing paradigm. Factors such as pulse-width(PW), inter-phase gap(IPG) and a number of other parameters are estimated to evaluate the impact of AHDs on hearing comfort, subjective sound quality and characterize audio devices in terms of listening perception and biological safety.