Quality Of Verbal Communication Research Articles

The articulation between the STS Approach and Environmental Education for the contextualization of Acoustics in Physics Teaching

Noise pollution presents itself in an invisible, dangerous, and permanent way, with long-lasting consequences. Acoustic discomfort within the school environment affects not only human health but also the quality of verbal communication and student performance. An appropriate acoustic environment contributes to the improvement of the teaching and learning process in addition to enhancing the interpersonal relationships involved in the educational process. Moreover, it is important to introduce acoustics-related subjects, such as environmental noise, into high school science and physics syllabi. As urban noise is a global concern and scope, students may face the need to make decisions related to environmental practices in their future lives, such as those concerning comfortable sound levels. Articulating the STS Approach with Environmental Education, we seek to combine the interdisciplinary content of Acoustics with an environmental awareness that goes beyond mere conservationist reductionism. In addition to the mandatory curricular knowledge, STS Education adopts a scientific and technological education based on a social construction that is culturally and socially contextualized.

Older adults' communication with an interactive humanoid robot : Expectations and experiences of older adults in verbal and nonverbal communication with asocially interactive humanoid robot: amixed methods design in Germany.

One possible approach to counter singularization and loneliness of older adults is the development and implementation of socially interactive robots. Little is known about the expectations and experiences of older adults with socially interactive humanoid robots. In amixed-methods design study, user expectations before interaction and the experience and evaluation of verbal and non-verbal communication after interaction with arobot were assessed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted after the interaction. The majority of older adults expected verbal communication. After the interaction the evaluation of the quality of verbal communication differed. Participants did not expect any form of nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication was highlighted as particularly positive. Gestures, facial expressions, and body movements were described as confidence building. The robot's ability to communicate nonverbally might positively influence older adults' experience of communication with the robot. In the development of socially interactive robots non-verbal communication should be given more consideration in order to contribute to successful human-robot interaction.

Uncertainty Detection in Supervisor–Operator Audio Records of Real Electrical Network Operations

The quality of verbal communication, understood as the absence of uncertainty in the message transmitted, is a key factor in mission-critical processes. Several processes are handled by direct voice communication between these endpoints and any miscommunication could have an impact in success of the task. For that reason, the quality control of verbal communication is required to ensure that the instructions issued are effectively understood and adequately executed. In this context, it is expected that instructions from the command center are issued once, and that the acknowledgment from the field are minimal. In the present work, the communication between an electrical company control center and factory workers in the field was chosen for analysis. We developed two complementary approaches by using machine learning and deep learning algorithms to assess, in an automatic way, the quality of information transmission in the voice communications. Preliminary results demonstrate that the automatic uncertainty detection is feasible, despite the small number of samples available at the present time. To support further studies, a repository was created in GitHub with the spectrogram and the tokenized words of all audios.

Prevalence of voice handicap among nurses in intensive care units due to occupational noise during pandemic.

Healthcare workers have been identified as being at risk of occupational voice disorders. Among them, nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs) are particularly vulnerable due to the risk factors that are associated with their exposure to high levels of noise. Thus, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of voice disorders among ICU nurses. A questionnaire was administered to 100 ICU nurses from four hospitals in China. The questionnaire assessed vocal-related symptoms, perceived voice handicap, frequently heard noise sources, and the quality of communications. Results indicate that the most frequently reported voice symptoms were 'voice tiredness' and 'voiceless'. Nurses working more than 50 h per week experienced voice symptoms more frequently than nurses working for 40-50 h per week. The median value of the perceived voice handicap score (VHI-30) was 23, indicating mild voice handicap, while 24% of the nurses reported severe voice handicap. Longer working hours and working at patient wards were significantly associated with higher VHI-30 scores. The nurses also reported that the quality of verbal communication with patients and colleagues and voice problems worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 20% of nurses reported severe voice handicap, however, voice handicap among ICU nurses did not appear universally to all nurses. Further research is necessary to identify the risk factors associated with voice disorders and the mechanism behind such heterogeneity among ICU nurses.

Improving the Efficiency of Dysarthria Voice Conversion System Based on Data Augmentation.

Dysarthria, a speech disorder often caused by neurological damage, compromises the control of vocal muscles in patients, making their speech unclear and communication troublesome. Recently, voice-driven methods have been proposed to improve the speech intelligibility of patients with dysarthria. However, most methods require a significant representation of both the patient's and target speaker's corpus, which is problematic. This study aims to propose a data augmentation-based voice conversion (VC) system to reduce the recording burden on the speaker. We propose dysarthria voice conversion 3.1 (DVC 3.1) based on a data augmentation approach, including text-to-speech and StarGAN-VC architecture, to synthesize a large target and patient-like corpus to lower the burden of recording. An objective evaluation metric of the Google automatic speech recognition (Google ASR) system and a listening test were used to demonstrate the speech intelligibility benefits of DVC 3.1 under free-talk conditions. The DVC system without data augmentation (DVC 3.0) was used for comparison. Subjective and objective evaluation based on the experimental results indicated that the proposed DVC 3.1 system enhanced the Google ASR of two dysarthria patients by approximately [62.4%, 43.3%] and [55.9%, 57.3%] compared to unprocessed dysarthria speech and the DVC 3.0 system, respectively. Further, the proposed DVC 3.1 increased the speech intelligibility of two dysarthria patients by approximately [54.2%, 22.3%] and [63.4%, 70.1%] compared to unprocessed dysarthria speech and the DVC 3.0 system, respectively. The proposed DVC 3.1 system offers significant potential to improve the speech intelligibility performance of patients with dysarthria and enhance verbal communication quality.

Characterizing the impact of verbal communication and health literacy in the patient-surgeon encounter

BackgroundPatients with limited health literacy (HL) have difficulty understanding written/verbal information. The quality of verbal communication is not well understood. Therefore, our aim was to characterize patient-surgeon conversations and identify opportunities for improvement. MethodsNew colorectal patient-surgeon encounters were audio-recorded and transcribed. HL was measured. Primary outcomes were rates-of-speech, understandability of words, patient-reported understanding, and usage of medical jargon/statistics. Secondary outcomes included length-of-visit (LOV), conversation possession time, patient-surgeon exchanges, and speech interruptions. ResultsSignificant variations existed between surgeons in rates-of-speech and understandability of words (p < 0.05). Faster rates-of-speech were associated with significantly less understandable words (p < 0.05). Patient-reported understanding varied by HL and by surgeon. Conversation possession time and usage of medical jargon/statistics varied significantly by surgeon (p < 0.05) in addition to patient-surgeon exchanges and interruptions. Patients with limited HL had shorter LOV. ConclusionsSignificant variations exist in how surgeons talk to patients. Opportunities to improve verbal communication include slowing speech and using more understandable words.

Studying acoustical capacity and quality of verbal communication in occupied restaurants

Sound level data and occupancy data has been logged in five restaurants by the research team at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Sound levels and Occupancy at 10 second intervals were documented over time periods of two to four hours during active business hours. Noise levels were logged with dosimeters distributed throughout each restaurant, and occupancy was obtained from images recorded by infrared cameras. Previous analyses of this data have focused on average sound levels and statistical metrics, such as L10 and L90 values. This presentation focuses on each restaurant's Acoustical Capacity and Quality of Verbal Communication, as introduced by Rindel (2012). Acoustical Capacity is a metric describing the maximum number of persons for reasonable communication in a space, calculated from the unoccupied reverberation time and the volume of the space. Quality of Verbal Communication is a metric describing the ease with which persons in the space can communicate at a singular point in time, depending on the reverberation time, the volume of the space, and the number of occupants in the space.

Noise and acoustic conditions of premises for hearing-impaired people in Korea

Hearing-impaired people need more stringent acoustic and noise requirements than normal-hearing people in terms of speech intelligibility and listening effort. Multiple guidelines recommend a maximum reverberation time of 0.4 s in classrooms, signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) greater than 15 dB, and ambient noise levels lower than 35 dBA. We measured noise levels and room acoustic parameters of 12 classrooms in two schools for hearing-impaired pupils, a dormitory apartment for the hearing-impaired, and a church mainly for the hearing-impaired in the Republic of Korea. Additionally, subjective speech clarity and quality of verbal communication were evaluated through questionnaires and interviews with hearing-impaired students in one school. Large differences in subjective speech perception were found between younger primary school pupils and older pupils. Subjective data from the questionnaire and interview were inconsistent; major challenges in obtaining reliable subjective speech perception and limitations of the results are discussed.

Application of a Prediction Model for Ambient Noise Levels and Acoustical Capacity for Living Rooms in Nursing Homes Hosting Older People with Dementia

Acoustic comfort is becoming an increasingly important dimension for practitioners in the context of design of care facilities for older adults, namely nursing homes. Defining the quality of these spaces based on room acoustics criteria alone might be challenging if aspects related to their functioning (e.g., speech-based activities) are not taken into account. The acoustical capacity concept has been previously proposed for eating establishments as a way to provide a quality assessment based on both physical characteristics of the space and the perceived quality of verbal communication. In this study, a revised version of a prediction model for ambient noise levels based on occupancy and an estimation of acoustical capacity are proposed for nursing homes hosting people with dementia, and the corresponding parameters of slope, group size and absorption per person are optimized for the specific application, using a Nursing Home in Flanders (Belgium) participating to the AcustiCare project as case study. Results show that, compared to normal eating establishments, lower absorption per person values and higher group size values should be used in nursing homes to reduce errors in ambient noise levels prediction. Furthermore, using a retrofit intervention carried out in the living room of the Nursing Home, the enhanced acoustical capacity of the space was analysed. Results, in this case, show that, prior to the retrofit intervention, the acoustical capacity was already exceeded with average occupancy (i.e., saturated in normal functioning conditions), while the reduction in reverberation time achieved with the retrofit increased considerably the acoustical capacity of the space, shifting the quality of verbal communication in the living room from insufficient to satisfactory.

Re-enacting the Bodily Self on Stage: Embodied Cognition Meets Psychoanalysis.

The embodied approach to cognition consists in a range of theoretical proposals sharing the idea that our concepts are constitutively shaped by the physical and social constraints of our body and environment. Still far from a mutually enriching interplay, in recent years embodied and psychoanalytic approaches are converging on similar constructs as the ones of intersubjectivity, bodily self, and affective quality of verbal communication. Some efforts to cope with the sentient subject were already present in classical cognitivism: having expunged desires and conflicts from the cognitive harmony, bodily emotions re-emerged but only as a noisy dynamic friction. In contrast, the new, neural, embodied cognitive science with its focus on bodily effects/affects has enabled a dialogue between neuro-cognitive perspectives and clinic-psychological ones, through shared conceptual frameworks. I will address crucial issues that should be faced on this reconciling path. With reference to two kinds of contemporary addictions – internet addiction disorder and eating disorders – I will introduce a possible therapeutic approach that is built upon the core role of the acting-sentient bodily self in a dynamic-social and affective environment. In Psychoanalytic Psychodrama, the spontaneous re-enactment of a past (socially and physically constrained) experience is actualized by means of the other, the Auxiliary Ego. This allows homeostatic and social-emotional affects, i.e., drives and instincts, to be re-experienced by the agent, the Protagonist, in a safe scenario. The director-psychoanalyst smoothly traces back this simulation to the motivated, and constrained, early proximal embodied interactions with significant others, and to the related instinctual conflicting aims. The psychoanalytic reframing of classical psychodrama does not merely exploit its original cathartic function, rather stands out for exploring the interpersonal constitution of the self, through an actual “re-somatization” of psychoanalytic therapy. Unspoken/unspeakable feelings pop up on stage: the strength of this treatment mainly rests on re-establishing the priority of the embodied Self over the narrative Self. By pointing out the possible conflicts between these two selves, this method can broaden the embodied cognition perspective. The psychodramatic approach will be briefly discussed in light of connectionist models, to finally address linguistic and methodological pivotal issues.

Active noise control system in a fire helmet – a proposal of the solution

An auditory warning signal emitted by a moving emergency vehicle is intended to inform other road users about an approaching emergency vehicle and the need to give way to it. Emission of a warning signal with the highest possible sound pressure level is the main method of ensuring the audibility and recognition of the warning signal by traffic participants at unknown and varying traffic noise, acoustic insulation of vehicles and noise in the interior of the vehicle. The A-weighted sound pressure level of the auditory warning signal reaching the interior of an emergency vehicle may exceed 90 dB, which can be harmful to the hearing, can adversely affect psychophysical fitness of the crew members and can significantly hinder verbal communication in the vehicle. This article presents the concept and results of numerical simulations of an active noise control system in fire helmets, which will reduce the exposure of the crew to the warning signal and improve the quality of verbal communication in an emergency vehicle. This system is integrated with the signal generation system. The Notch algorithm and the NLMS adaptation algorithm were used in the system's control algorithm. The construction of the controller was based on a microcontroller from the STM32F4 family.

EP 10. Pallidal stimulation affects speech fluency in dystonia

Introduction Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the globus pallidus interna (GPi) used in treatment of pharmacoresistant dystonic syndromes is potentially accompanied by several side effects including disorders of speech. Stuttering-like dysfluencies appeared with basal ganglia dysfunction and were occasionally reported as a consequence of GPi DBS in a few cases with dystonia ( Nebel et al., 2009) . Objectives To study possible deterioration of speech fluency after GPi DBS. Patients and methods Speech fluency was systematically evaluated in 19 patients (12 women, 7 men, aged 48 ± (SD)18 years) with dystonia of various origin (14 idiopathic, 2 DYT-1, 2 with parkinsonism, 1 post-anoxic) and distribution (11 generalized and 8 cervical) treated with GPi DBS bilaterally (disease duration 14 ± 6 years, 10–81 months after implantation). Each patient was tested in two conditions within the same day: in the DBS chronically switched on (ON condition) and two hours after switching the DBS off (OFF condition). All patients performed monologue for approximately 90 sec on a given topic. Analysis of dysfluency was performed according to the behavioral taxonomy of stuttering, where the percentage of dysfluent words was calculated as the number of dysfluent events normalized by the total number of words within entire monologue. Repeated measures analysis of variance was applied to count differences in speech fluency between ON and OFF conditions. Results Analysis revealed significant decrease of dysfluent words in OFF condition (3.4 ± 1.7%) to ON condition (2.3 ± 1.6%) in dystonia patients (p Conclusion These findings emphasize a role of the GPi in regulating speech fluency and generally support the view of stuttering as a speech disorder of basal ganglia origin. Whether this side effect of GPi DBS in dystonia may compromise quality of verbal communication it remains to be specified. Supported by the grants of the Czech Ministry of Health ( IGA MZ CR NT12282-5/2011 and MZ CR 15-28038A ).

Investigation of Nursing Students' Verbal Communication Quality during Patients' Education in Zahedan Hospitals: Southeast of Iran.

Background:Most basic nursing skill is communicating with the patient. Nurses must be able to provide their professional services well for patients while communicating with them therefore examining the professional skills of nursing students as those who make the future nursing community is of great importance.Objective:The aim of this study was Investigation of nursing students’ verbal communication quality during patients’ Education in Zahedan hospitals: southeast of IranMaterials and Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted on 95 nursing students in two Educational hospitals of Zahedan, Iran from November 2013 through March 2014.sampling method was census. Researcher made checklist was used to gather the data. Statistical tests of frequency distribution, mean, SD and chi-squire were used to analyze the data.Results:Most of the students in the start N=45 (47.4%) and during N=48 (50.5%) of verbal communication with the patients had the good verbal communication but in the end of communication the patients most students N=33 (34.7%) had average verbal communication and N=31 (32.6%) of them had poor verbal communication.Conclusion:Since quality of verbal communication in the end of patient education is poor and good communication between the patient and nurse is the basic component of patient care and its Educational plans should be coordinated with clinical practices and be parallel to it, also effective methods must be used.

Automatic detection of stridence in speech using the auditory model

Stridence as a form of speech disorder in Serbian language is manifested by the appearance of an intense and sharp whistling. Its acoustic characteristics significantly affect the quality of verbal communication. Although various forms of stridence manifestation are successfully diagnosed by speech therapists, there is a need for the automatic detection and evaluation of stridence. In this paper, an algorithm for stridence detection using Patterson's auditory model is presented. The algorithm consists of three processing stages. In the first stage spectral analysis and masking effects are applied using Paterson's auditory model. In the second stage a contour of spectral peaks that best fits characteristic features of the stridence is selected in the time-frequency (TF) representation of the signal obtained by Patterson's auditory model. In the third stage hypothesis testing is performed with three decisions: D0 – no stridence, D1 – stridence, and D2 – unable to decide. The reliability of stridence detection is tested on the speech corpus of 16 speakers without stridence (with correct speech), 16 speakers without stridence but with some other speech sound disorders, and 16 speakers with stridence. Test results show high correspondence of subjective measures and automatic detection.

Machiavellianism and Parental Attachment in Adolescence

Machiavellianism is a well-studied topic in several branches of psychology. Still, it has received little attention from a developmental perspective. Previous retrospective studies linked Machiavellianism to poor parental care, but actual reports of adolescents who live in their family of origin have been ignored so far. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between Machiavellianism and parental attachment in adolescence and possible sex differences based on life history theory. An adolescent sample ( N = 376; 17.27 ± .77 years of age) completed the Mach-IV and the maternal and paternal versions of revised Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA-R). According to our results, significant sex differences emerged in the relationship between Machiavellianism and attachment to parents. For girls, maternal alienation proved to be the only significant predictor of Machiavellianism, whereas for boys, low intensity and quality of verbal communication with father predicted higher levels of Machiavellianism. Results are discussed from an evolutionary perspective of socialization and from the perspective of emotion regulation.

Patient care transitions from the emergency department to the medicine ward: evaluation of a standardized electronic signout tool.

To evaluate the impact of a new electronic handoff tool for emergency department to medicine ward patient transfers over a 1-year period. Prospective mixed-methods analysis of data submitted by medicine residents following admitting shifts before and after eSignout implementation. University-based, tertiary-care hospital. Internal medicine resident physicians admitting patients from the emergency department. An electronic handoff tool (eSignout) utilizing automated paging communication and responsibility acceptance without mandatory verbal communication between emergency department and medicine ward providers. (i) Incidence of reported near misses/adverse events, (ii) communication of key clinical information and quality of verbal communication and (iii) characterization of near misses/adverse events. Seventy-eight of 80 surveys (98%) and 1058 of 1388 surveys (76%) were completed before and after eSignout implementation. Compared with pre-intervention, residents in the post-intervention period reported similar number of shifts with a near miss/adverse event (10.3 vs. 7.8%; P = 0.27), similar communication of key clinical information, and improved verbal signout quality, when it occurred. Compared with the former process requiring mandatory verbal communication, 93% believed the eSignout was more efficient and 61% preferred the eSignout. Patient safety issues related to perceived sufficiency/accuracy of diagnosis, treatment or disposition, and information quality. The eSignout was perceived as more efficient and preferred over the mandatory verbal signout process. Rates of reported adverse events were similar before and after the intervention. Our experience suggests electronic platforms with optional verbal communication can be used to standardize and improve the perceived efficiency of patient handoffs.

WYNIKI BADAŃ WPŁYWU ADAPTACJI AKUSTYCZNYCH SAL LEKCYJNYCH NA JAKOŚĆ KOMUNIKACJI WERBALNEJ

Voice organ disorders among teachers are caused by excessive voice strain. One of the measures to reduce this strain is to decrease background noise when teaching. Increasing the acoustic absorption of the room is a technical measure for achieving this aim. The absorption level also improves speech intelligibility rated by the following parameters: room reverberation time and speech transmission index (STI). This article presents the effects of acoustic adaptation of classrooms on the quality of verbal communication, aimed at getting the speech intelligibility at the good or excellent level. The article lists the criteria for evaluating classrooms in terms of the quality of verbal communication. The parameters were defined, using the measurement methods according to PN-EN ISO 3382-2:2010 and PN-EN 60268-16:2011. Acoustic adaptations were completed in two classrooms. After completing acoustic adaptations the reverberation time for the frequency of 1 kHz was reduced: in room no. 1 from 1.45 s to 0.44 s and in room no. 2 from 1.03 s to 0.37 s (maximum 0.65 s). At the same time, the speech transmission index increased: in room no. 1 from 0.55 (satisfactory speech intelligibility) to 0.75 (speech intelligibility close to excellent); in room no. 2 from 0.63 (good speech intelligibility) to 0.80 (excellent speech intelligibility). Therefore, it can be stated that prior to completing acoustic adaptations room no. 1 did not comply and room no. 2 barely complied with the criterion (speech transmission index of 0.62). After completing acoustic adaptations both rooms meet the requirements.

Working alliance in communication skills training for oncology clinicians: A controlled trial

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of communication skills training (CST) on working alliance and to identify specific communicational elements related to working alliance. MethodsPre- and post-training simulated patient interviews (6-month interval) of oncology physicians and nurses (N=56) who benefited from CST were compared to two simulated patient interviews with a 6-month interval of oncology physicians and nurses (N=57) who did not benefit from CST. The patient–clinician interaction was analyzed by means of the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS). Alliance was measured by the Working Alliance Inventory – Short Revised Form. ResultsWhile working alliance did not improve with CST, generalized linear mixed effect models demonstrated that the quality of verbal communication was related to alliance. Positive talk and psychosocial counseling fostered alliance whereas negative talk, biomedical information and patient's questions diminished alliance. ConclusionPatient–clinician alliance is related to specific verbal communication behaviors. Practice implicationsWorking alliance is a key element of patient–physician communication which deserves further investigation as a new marker and efficacy criterion of CST outcome.

Noise Problems in Restaurants

The gathering of many people in restaurants, bars, canteens and other kinds of eating establishments is often very noisy, and for that reason verbal communication can be difficult, or even impossible for people with reduced hearing capacity. Although a complicated acoustical problem due to the feed-back influence of noise on the speech level, a simple prediction model for the ambient noise level due the speech is suggested. It is found that the noise level increases by 6 dB if the number of people is doubled. In order to achieve a sufficient quality of verbal communication a high volume and a short reverberation time is needed. A minimum of 3–4 m2 absorption area per person is needed for sufficient conditions, and 6–8 m2 for satisfactory conditions. It is suggested to label the rooms with the “Acoustical capacity”, i.e. number of people which should not be surpassed for sufficient quality of verbal communication.

Prediction of optimal conditions for verbal-communication quality in eating establishments

This paper discusses the prediction of verbal-communication quality in eating establishments (EEs). EEs contain talkers and listeners who require high speech intelligibility at their tables, and high speech privacy between tables. Using catt-Acoustic, verbal-communication quality--quantified by speech transmission index (STI)--in models of three existing EEs was predicted. Talker voice-output levels were predicted using an existing empirical model accounting for the Lombard effect. With these, catt-Acoustic predicted impulse responses, speech levels and noise levels at primary and secondary listener positions, and the corresponding STIs. The untreated EEs were first modeled for various talker and listener positions, and occupancies. Then various treated configurations, involving reduced volume, increased absorption and barriers were studied to determine the effectiveness of the treatments. The results suggest that placing barriers around tables can be an effective way to achieve good verbal-communication quality. Increasing the absorption of the room surfaces or decreasing the ceiling height to control reverberation may not be effective. However, increasing the surface absorption and putting barriers around tables may achieve optimal speech conditions in EEs. Subdividing large EEs into smaller ones can also be effective.