An analysis of the effectiveness of a voice improvement program in a third grade class.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

A first approach to understanding and measuring naturalness in driver-car interaction

With technology changing the nature of the driving task, qualitative methods can help designers understand and measure driver-car interaction naturalness. Fifteen drivers were interviewed at length in their own parked cars using ethnographically-inspired questions probing issues of interaction salience, expectation, feelings, desires and meanings. Thematic analysis and content analysis found five distinct components relating to 'rich physical' aspects of natural feeling interaction typified by richer physical, analogue, tactile styles of interaction and control. Further components relate to humanlike, intelligent, assistive, socially-aware 'perceived behaviours' of the car. The advantages and challenges of a naturalness-based approach are discussed and ten cognitive component constructs of driver-car naturalness are proposed. These may eventually be applied as a checklist in automotive interaction design.This research was fully funded by a research grant from Jaguar Land Rover, and partially funded by project n.220050/F11 granted by Research Council of Norway

Using Beatboxing for Creative Rehabilitation After Laryngectomy:Experiences From a Public Engagement Project

Laryngectomy is the surgical removal of the larynx (voice box), usually performed in patients with advanced stages of throat cancer. The psychosocial impact of losing the voice is significant, affecting a person’s professional and social life in a devastating way, and a proportion of this patient group subsequently must overcome depression (22–30%) and social isolation (40%). The profound changes to anatomical structures involved in voicing and articulation, as a result of surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy (separately or in combination with one another), introduce challenges faced in speech rehabilitation and voice production that complicate social reintegration and quality of life. After laryngectomy, breathing, voicing, articulation and tongue movement are major components in restoring communication. Regular exercise of the chest, neck and oropharyngeal muscles, in particular, is important in controlling these components and keeping the involved structures supple. It is, however, a difficult task for a speech therapist to keep the patient engaged and motivated to practice these exercises. We have adopted a multidisciplinary approach to explore the use of basic beatboxing techniques to create a wide variety of exercises that are seen as fun and interactive and that maximize the use of the structures important in alaryngeal phonation. We herein report on our empirical work in developing patients’ skills, particularly relating to voiced and unvoiced consonants to improve intelligibility. In collaboration with a professional beatboxing performer, we produced instructional online video materials to support patients working on their own and/or with support from speech therapists. Although the present paper is focused predominantly on introducing the structure of the conducted workshops, the rationale for their design and the final public engagement performance, we also include feedback from participants to commence the critical discourse about whether this type of activity could lead to systematic underlying research and robustly assessed interventions in the future. Based on this exploratory work, we conclude that the innovative approach that we employed was found to be engaging, useful, informative and motivating. We conclude by offering our views regarding the limitations of our work and the implications for future empirical research

Car-aoke: Vocal Performances Indicate Distraction Effects of In-Car Music

Drivers engage in a host of driving-unrelated tasks while on the road. Most frequently, drivers listen to music and sing-along with the words in a karaoke fashion. At times drivers accompany songs by pounding-out drum-kicks, fingering guitar-licks, singing background, and even dancing in their seat. However, there is controversy over in-cabin music: Does background music facilitate driver performance via increased arousal leading to more focused concentration, or cause distraction placing drivers at greater risk. In an effort to shed light on the debate over the utility of in-car music, the current study explored how driving tasks might subsequently affect vocal performances during simulated driving. Eighteen young drivers recorded two versions of two songs (baseline vs. low-demand vs. high-demand driving). The results indicate that as the perceptual demands of the primary driving task increase, the performance of the secondary activity (i.e., karaoke-like singing) declines. That is, vocal performances during high-demand driving contained significantly more errors of both intonation/rhythm and lyrics compared to low-demand driving, while both were far less accurate than baseline recordings. Such a picture supports evidence that engaging in music activity does actually preoccupy vital mental resources. In-car music may not necessarily be handled very well, nor is it blocked-out entirely by drivers during high-demand driving – as previously reported in some literature. Singing along with in-cabin music background may contribute to increased risk for incidents, events, and near-crashes, and should be reconsidered by traffic scientists investigating human factors, vehicular control, and road safety

Barnes Hospital Bulletin

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/bjc_barnes_bulletin/1208/thumbnail.jp

Digital Radio Strategies in the United States: A Tale of Two Systems

This essay analyzes how, despite early interest in the Digital Audio Broadcasting standard (DAB) in the United States, an alternative in-band system (HD Radio) was developed as the approved digital radio standard

Spartan Daily, May 14, 1993

Volume 100, Issue 68https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8426/thumbnail.jp

Theatre Noise Conference

Three days of Performances, Installations, Residencies, Round Table Discussions, Presentations and Workshops More than an academic conference, Theatre Noise is a diverse collection of events exploring the sound of theatre from performance to the spaces inbetween. Featuring keynote presentations, artists in residence, electroacoustic, percussive and digital performances, industry workshops and installations, Theatre Noise is an immersive journey into sound

Spartan Daily, April 20, 1989

Volume 92, Issue 53https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/7843/thumbnail.jp