Sound Intervals Research Articles

Investigating the time-distance relationship: an innovative approach to Galileo’s inclined plane experiment using Arduino

Abstract In this paper, we present an innovative approach to hands-on scientific inquiry, for classroom use, by integrating modern tools such as reflective photointerrupter sensors and sound emitters into an experimental setup. Inspired by Galileo’s pioneering work, our proposed experiments investigate the relationship between sound intervals and the motion of an object along an inclined U-shaped profile. Using different sensor arrangements, we explore the quadratic relationship between distance and time for spheres rolling on the inclined plane. Additionally, we discuss a simplified theoretical framework facilitating comparison between theoretical and experimental acceleration values. Our findings demonstrated a close correspondence between experimental distance-time data and theoretical predictions, validating the effectiveness of our approach.

Cross-Referencing Self-Training Network for Sound Event Detection in Audio Mixtures.

Sound event detection is an important facet of audio tagging that aims to identify sounds of interest and define both the sound category and time boundaries for each sound event in a continuous recording. With advances in deep neural networks, there has been tremendous improvement in the performance of sound event detection systems, although at the expense of costly data collection and labeling efforts. In fact, current state-of-the-art methods employ supervised training methods that leverage large amounts of data samples and corresponding labels in order to facilitate identification of sound category and time stamps of events. As an alternative, the current study proposes a semi-supervised method for generating pseudo-labels from unsupervised data using a student-teacher scheme that balances self-training and cross-training. Additionally, this paper explores post-processing which extracts sound intervals from network prediction, for further improvement in sound event detection performance. The proposed approach is evaluated on sound event detection task for the DCASE2020 challenge. The results of these methods on both "validation" and "public evaluation" sets of DESED database show significant improvement compared to the state-of-the art systems in semi-supervised learning.

Consonances and dissonances of color and sound intervals and their transposition in audiovisual harmony

Consonances and dissonances of color and sound intervals and their transposition in audiovisual harmony

Females prefer males producing a high-rate song with shorter timbal-stridulatory sound intervals in a cicada species.

Uncovering mate choice and factors that lead to the choice are very important to understanding sexual selection in evolutionary change. Cicadas are known for their loud sounds produced by males using the timbals. However, males in certain cicada species emit 2 kinds of sounds using respectively timbals and stridulatory organs, and females may produce their own sounds to respond to males. What has never been considered is the mate choice in such cicada species. Here, we investigate the sexual selection and potential impact of predation pressure on mate choice in the cicada Subpsaltria yangi Chen. It possesses stridulatory sound-producing organs in both sexes in addition to the timbals in males. Results show that males producing calling songs with shorter timbal–stridulatory sound intervals and a higher call rate achieved greater mating success. No morphological traits were found to be correlated with mating success in both sexes, suggesting neither males nor females display mate preference for the opposite sex based on morphological traits. Males do not discriminate among responding females during mate searching, which may be due to the high energy costs associated with their unusual mate-seeking activity and the male-biased predation pressure. Females generally mate once but a minority of them re-mated after oviposition which, combined with the desirable acoustic traits of males, suggest females may maximize their reproductive success by choosing a high-quality male in the first place. This study contributes to our understanding mechanisms of sexual selection in cicadas and other insects suffering selective pressure from predators.

Machine learning as a tool for geologists

Machine learning is becoming an appealing tool in various fields of earth sciences, especially in resources estimation. Six machine learning algorithms have been used to predict the presence of gold mineralization in drill core from geophysical logs acquired at the Lalor deposit, Manitoba, Canada. Results show that the integration of a set of rock physical properties — measured at closely spaced intervals along the drill core — with ensemble machine learning algorithms allows the detection of gold-bearing intervals with an adequate rate of success. Since the resulting prediction is continuous along the drill core, the use of this type of tool in the future will help geologists in selecting sound intervals for assay sampling and in modeling more continuous ore bodies during the entire life of a mine.

Differential effects of hyperemia and passive leg raising on QRS to Korotkoff sound time intervals in hypertensive patients

Introduction: Statin therapy is widely used to treat dyslipidemia. However, recent reports suggest that statin therapy increases the risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Fitness lowers the risk of developing DM. The interaction between fitness, statin therapy and the risk of DM has not been investigated. Methods: We identified 3,161 hypertensive individuals on statin therapy for at least 6 months (mean age: 59.0 10.7) and no evidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) prior to initiation of statin therapy. All completed an exercise stress test at two VA Medical Centers (Washington, DC and Palo Alto, CA. We established five age-adjusted fitness categories based on peak metabolic equivalents (METs) achieved: Least-Fit ( 20%; 4.6 0.98 METs; n1⁄4733); Low-Fit (20.1%-40%; 6.2 0.80 METs; n1⁄4807); Moderate-Fit (40.1%-60%; 7.6 0.70 METs; n1⁄4799), Fit (60.1%-80%; 8.7 0.64; n1⁄4450) and High-Fit (>75%; 9.6 1.0 METs; n1⁄4377). Multivariable Cox proportional hazard model, adjusted for age, BMI, cardiac risk factors, and cardiac medications was used to assess the association between exercise capacity and the risk for developing DM2. The Least-Fit category was used as the referent. P-values <0.05 using two sided tests were considered statistically significant. Results: During a median follow-up period of 8.9 years, 1,172 developed DM2 (41.9/1,000 person-years). Exercise capacity was inversely related to DM2 incidence. The risk was 6% lower (hazard ratio, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.91-0.98) for every 1-MET increase in exercise capacity. Compared with the Least-Fit individuals, hazard ratios were: 0.78 (95% CI: 0.63-0.96) for Fit and 0.73 (95% CI: 0.58-0.93) for HighFit individuals. Conclusion: Moderate and high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness attenuated the risk of developing DM in hypertensive patients on statin therapy.

Effects of presentation method and duration on alarm detection threshold in the presence of loud pink noise

Detection of pure tone signals in the presence of noise has been thoroughly studied. Most of these studies have used monaural presentation of audio stimuli. Also, studies testing alarm detection in the presence of noise are limited. In 2013, Karunarathne et al., conducted a study and found out that human listeners were able to detect an alarm in negative signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), as low as −24 dB. This study aims to investigate the effects of presentation method and duration of the alarms on detection threshold. Eight conditions varied by presentation method (monaural vs spatial) and alarm duration were tested. Sixteen human subjects with normal hearing were given the task of identifying which one of two sound intervals contained an alarm along with 80dBA pink noise. Thresholds were estimated as the 79.4% points on the psychometric functions, using adaptive 2-Interval Forced Choice (2IFC) procedure with a 3-down 1-up rule. Results indicated that detection thresholds were statistically significantly lower in spatial condition compared to monaural. The effect of alarm duration was not significant in both spatial and monaural conditions. Thresholds lower than −30 dB SNR were observed in the spatial condition, which agreed with the findings of Karunarathne et al. and further extended threshold boundaries.

Chicks Like Consonant Music

The question of whether preference for consonance is rooted in acoustic properties important to the auditory system or is acquired through enculturation has not yet been resolved. Two-month-old infants prefer consonant over dissonant intervals, but it is possible that this preference is rapidly acquired through exposure to music soon after birth or in utero. Controlled-rearing studies with animals can help shed light on this question because such studies allow researchers to distinguish between biological predispositions and learned preferences. In the research reported here, we found that newly hatched domestic chicks show a spontaneous preference for a visual imprinting object associated with consonant sound intervals over an identical object associated with dissonant sound intervals. We propose that preference for harmonic relationships between frequency components may be related to the prominence of harmonic spectra in biological sounds in natural environments.

Neural correlates of auditory temporal-interval discrimination in cats

Auditory temporal cues are very important in the perception of speech; nevertheless, the neural correlates underlying even a simple temporal task, such as interval discrimination, remain unclear, mainly due to the lack of comparable data of psychophysical and electrophysiological experiments in the same species. To address this, we measured both behavioral and neural responses in cats. Cats’ ability to discriminate differences in sound intervals was tested by presenting two identical pure tone markers interrupted by intervals ranging from 10 to 320 ms duration. All three subjects could accurately discriminate tones of 80–320 ms interval from those of 10 ms interval (correct rate > 75%), but could not discriminate 20–40 ms interval from 10 ms interval. Neural responses to the same stimuli were recorded in the primary auditory cortex (A1) of three others awake cats. Consistent with previous studies, we found that the majority of A1 neurons showed a suppressed response to the second tone, and the amount of suppression generally increased with the decrease of intertone interval. Neurometric analysis revealed that neural responses could be used to discriminate the intertone interval, while discrimination performance was dependent on temporal precision to read the neural information. When spike activities were analyzed by 100 ms bin size, 80% of neurometric functions matched the cats’ psychometric function, suggesting a possible correlation between A1 activities and interval perception.

Development of a Biometric System for the Measurement of Swallowing Motion While Drinking Beer

The sensation in the throat while drinking is important for beer. To evaluate this feeling, we developed a noninvasive biometric system for measurement of the swallowing motion while drinking. The system measures movement of the Adam's apple and provides an electromyogram (EMG) of the throat musculature and swallowing sounds by simultaneously employing pressure sensors, EMG electrodes, and microphones, all mounted on the throat surface. As analytic parameters, we used the period of larynx heave, throat muscular activity, and intervals of swallowing sound. Three beer samples with different throat sensation features confirmed by sensory evaluation were investigated. The subjects swallowed beer for 15 sec successively to measure throat movement while drinking a glass of beer. The difference in laryngeal movement time and swallowing sound intervals was significant. It was determined that a sample with a light finish, ease of drinking, and drinkable sensation had short laryngeal movement time, low muscular activity, and small swallowing sound intervals. It was suggested that the sensation in the throat could be an important factor in beer drinkability. It is expected that this system could characterize the difference in swallowing motion while drinking beer and the sensation in the throat.

Expiratory nasal sound analysis as a new method for evaluation of nasal obstruction in patients with nasal septal deviation: comparison of expiratory nasal sounds from both deviated and normal nasal cavity

The reliability of nasal obstruction measurements could be improved, and several new techniques are being developed. Our objective was to investigate the use of a new software program, Odiosoft-Rhino, in the assessment of nasal obstruction via analysis of the sounds of nasal expiration. We compared the nasal symptom scores and Odiosoft-Rhino and acoustic rhinometry test results for 61 patients with known nasal septal deviation. We found a significant difference, and a correlation, between Odiosoft-Rhino results at 2000-4000 Hz and 4000-6000 Hz intervals, and the minimal cross-sectional area 2.2 cm from the nostril, in the right nasal cavity in patients with right-sided deviations. Similar results were observed for the left nasal cavity in patients with left-sided deviations. The Odiosoft-Rhino software test is noninvasive, requires minimal cooperation and experience, and provides results that can be saved as digital data. Additionally, data from the Odiosoft-Rhino test are strongly correlated with acoustic rhinometry results and visual analogue scores of nasal obstruction. It seems that sound intensity within the 2000-4000 Hz and 4000-6000 Hz intervals is more sensitive than other sound intensity intervals. Thus, we speculate that Odiosoft-Rhino testing could be used as a new diagnostic method in order to evaluate nasal airflow in clinical practice.

Salicylate- and quinine-induced tinnitus and effects of memantine

Conclusion: Memantine, an antiglutamatergic drug, has been proposed as a treatment for tinnitus. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine if memantine would prevent salicylate-induced tinnitus. Local field potentials were also recorded from auditory cortex to determine what effect salicylate, memantine, and the combination of both drugs would have on evoked potential amplitudes. Materials and methods: Schedule induced polydipsia-avoidance conditioning was used to identify the doses of salicylate or quinine that reliably induced tinnitus in rats. Rats were trained to lick for water during quiet intervals and avoid licking during sound intervals. Results: Rats injected with saline or a low dose of sodium salicylate or quinine failed to develop tinnitus-like behaviors. However, high doses of salicylate (150–300 mg/kg/day) or quinine (100–150 mg/kg/day) greatly reduced licks-in-quiet, behavior consistent with the presence of tinnitus. Licks-in-quiet increased slightly when memantine (1.5 or 3 mg/kg/day) was co-administered with salicylate; however, the effect was not statistically significant or dose-dependent. These results indicate that memantine does not completely suppress salicylate-induced tinnitus. Cortical auditory evoked potential amplitude increased after salicylate treatment; co-administration of memantine failed to block this salicylate-induced increase.

Combining Neural Network and Genetic Algorithm for Prediction of Lung Sounds

Recognition of lung sounds is an important goal in pulmonary medicine. In this work, we present a study for neural networks-genetic algorithm approach intended to aid in lung sound classification. Lung sound was captured from the chest wall of The subjects with different pulmonary diseases and also from the healthy subjects. Sound intervals with duration of 15-20 s were sampled from subjects. From each interval, full breath cycles were selected. Of each selected breath cycle, a 256-point Fourier Power Spectrum Density (PSD) was calculated. Total of 129 data values calculated by the spectral analysis are selected by genetic algorithm and applied to neural network. Multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network employing backpropagation training algorithm was used to predict the presence or absence of adventitious sounds (wheeze and crackle). We used genetic algorithms to search for optimal structure and training parameters of neural network for a better predicting of lung sounds. This application resulted in designing of optimum network structure and, hence reducing the processing load and time.

The mismatch negativity as an index of temporal processing in audition

Objectives: The relation of the mismatch negativity (MMN) elicitation with behavioral stimulus discrimination as well as the replicability of the MMN was evaluated for intervals between paired tones. Methods: The MMN, obtained in a passive oddball paradigm in two sessions separated by 4–21 days and behavioral responses (button presses to target stimuli) in a separate session were recorded from 10 adult healthy subjects. The standard stimulus ( P=0.79) was a tone pair separated by a 120 ms silent inter-stimulus interval (ISI) and the deviant stimuli were tone pairs with an ISI of 100, 60, and 20 ms ( P=0.07 for each). Results: The 20 and 60 ms ISI deviant tone pairs elicited a significant MMN during both recording sessions and they were also behaviorally discriminated, whereas neither did the 100 ms ISI deviant pair elicit significant MMN nor was it behaviorally discriminated. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between the MMN and reaction times to the 20 and 60 ms ISI deviant pairs. The 20 ms ISI deviant stimulus elicited highly replicable MMNs ( r=0.75), whereas the less well discriminated 60 ms ISI deviant pair did not ( r=0.60). Conclusions: The MMN reflects discrimination accuracy of temporal sound intervals. Furthermore, when the physical difference between the standard and deviant tone pair in the temporal domain is large, it is elicited with high reliability.

Classification of Asthmatic Breath Sounds: Preliminary Results of the Classifying Capacity of Human Examiners versus Artificial Neural Networks

For continuous monitoring of the respiratory condition of patients, e.g., at the intensive care unit, computer assistance is required. Existing mechanical devices, such as the peak expiratory flow meter, provide only with incidental measurements. Moreover, such methods require cooperation of the patient, which at, e.g., the ICU is usually not possible. The evaluation of complicated phenomena such as asthmatic respiratory sounds may be accomplished by use of artificial neural networks. To investigate the merit of artificial neural networks, the capacities of neural networks and human examiners to classify breath sounds were compared in this study. Breath sounds were in vivo recorded from 50 school-age children with asthma and from 10 controls. Sound intervals with a duration of 20 seconds were randomly sampled from asthmatics during exacerbation, asthmatics in remission, and controls. The samples were digitized and related to peak expiratory flow. From each interval, two full breath cycles were selected. Of each selected breath cycle, a Fourier power spectrum was calculated. The so-obtained set of spectral vectors was classified by means of artificial neural networks. Humans evaluated graphic displays of the spectra. Human examiners could not clearly discriminate between the three groups by inspecting the spectrograms. Classification by self-classifying neural networks confirmed the existence of at least three classes; however, discrimination of 11 classes seemed more appropriate. Good results were obtained with supervised networks: as much as 95% of the training vectors could be classified correctly, and 43% of the test vectors. The three patient groups, as discriminated in advance, do not correspond with three sharply separated sets of spectrograms. More than three classes seem to be present. Humans cannot take up the spectral complexity and showed negative classification results. Artificial neural networks, however, are able to handle classification tasks and show positive results.

Musicians' and Nonmusicians' Aural Perception of Orchestral Instrument Families

The purpose of this study was to examine aural perception in a selective listening task using a Continuous Response Digital Interface (CRDI). Undergraduate college students (60 musicians, 60 nonmusicians) listened to an excerpt from Billy the Kid by Aaron Copland. Subjects indicated focus on instrumental family by manipulating the indicator of the CRDI. “Sound intervals” were determined by changes in predominant instrument family in the orchestral texture. Families were divided into five categories: (a) brass, (b) percussion, (c) woodwinds, (d) strings, and (e) all The “all” category indicated focus on three or more families simultaneously (e.g., tutti). Results were based on examination of subjects' category selections in terms of percentages of time focused on each category within each interval Analyses of cumulative seconds across all intervals indicated that nonmusicians focused on brass and percussion longer than did musicians. Musicians focused on strings longer and selected strings mare frequently than did nonmusicians. Musicians also indicated focus on three or more families simultaneously more than did nonmusicians.

Recognition of speech or speech-like sounds

An improved method of speech recognition suitable for use in simple type speech recognition systems is disclosed. The method of speech recognition uses short time self-correlation functions as feature parameters for recognition of speech or speech-like words and especially effecting preliminary selection utilizing part of data for final recognition, that is, short time self-correlation functions of lower degrees (typically, primary to cubic). In carrying out recognition of speech or speech-like sounds, the method involves creating self-correlation functions for input sound signals, deciding the intervals of the sound signals, normalizing the time axies in conjunction with the sound intervals, and conducting recognization of words or the like through deciding using the self-correlation functions as feature parameters whether there is matching with reference patterns. In the above method, preliminary selection is effected prior to the final recognization step by means of linear matching using the self-correlation functions of lower degrees.

Calculation of economic performance in the establishment of scientifically sound intervals between checks

Calculation of economic performance in the establishment of scientifically sound intervals between checks

Extraction and Portrayal of Pitch of Speech Sounds

An improved method for automatically extracting the pitch information of speech sounds has been devised. It employs a combination of gain control, double detection, voiced sound selection, unvoiced sound exclusion, and a means for counting the fundamental vibrations in the voiced sound intervals. Reliable indications of pitch have been obtained over a range corresponding to frequencies from 100 to 600 cycles for a wide variety of voices. The pitch-indicating signals have been applied, for study purposes, to a number of visual portrayal means for showing pitch changes, and descriptions of several of these systems are included.

Extraction and Portrayal of Pitch in Speech Sounds

An improved method for automatically extracting the pitch information of speech sounds has been devised. It employs a combination of gain control, double detection, voiced sound selection, unvoiced sound exclusion, and a means for counting the fundamental vibrations in the voiced sound intervals. Reliable indications of pitch have been obtained over a range corresponding to frequencies from 100 to 600 cycles for a wide variety of voices. Several visual portrayal means that have been used to show pitch changes are described. One means involves a display of colored light which changes from purple through amber to blue as the pitch increases. Another is in graphical form employing an array of staff-like lines whose spacings widen or narrow in contour fashion to show how the pitch varies with time, permitting a detailed study of the changes.