Gender Reality

This paper seeks to answer to following questions from a Philosophical Methodology: What is the conflict between Gender Reality and Gender Ideology? How did Sex and Gender Ideologies Begin? What are the Characteristics of Sex and Gender Ideologies? How did Gender Ideology ‘Go Viral?’ Who Mapped the Virus of Gender Ideology? How can Gender Reality be Ransomed

Auditory brainstem responses in children with auditory processing disorder

Background: The ASHA recommends including electrophysiological measures in an auditory processing disorder (APD) assessment battery, but few audiologists do so, potentially because of limited published evidence for its utility. Purpose: This study compared the auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) of children with APD with age-matched children and adults. Study Sample: This study retrospectively examined the records of 108 children suspected of APD (sAPD) who had click-evoked ABRs recorded as part of their clinical assessment. Twenty adults and 22 typically developing (TD) children were recruited as controls. Data collection and Analysis: Click-evoked ABRs were recorded at slow (13.3 clicks/sec) and faster (57.7 clicks/sec) stimulation rates. ABRs were analyzed using typical clinical measures (latencies and interpeak intervals for waves I, III, and V) and using a model proposed by Ponton et al that offered a more detailed analysis of axonal conduction time and synaptic transmission delay. Results: Both clinical measures and the Ponton model analysis showed no significant differences between TD children and adults. Children sAPD showed absolute latencies that were significantly prolonged when compared with adults but not when compared with TD children. But individual children sAPD showed clinically significant delays (.2 standard deviations of TD children’s data). Examination of responses delineating axonal versus synaptic transmission showed significant delays in synaptic transmission in the group of children sAPD in comparison to TD children and adults. These results suggest that a significant portion of children with listening difficulties showed evidence of reduced or atypical brainstem functioning. Examining the responses for axonal and synaptic delays revealed evidence of a synaptic pattern of abnormalities in a significant portion (37.03%) of children sAPD. Such observations could provide objective evidence of factors potentially contributing to listening difficulties that are frequently reported in children identified with APD. Conclusions: Children sAPD often showed abnormalities in the ABR, suggesting a neurophysiologic origin of their reported difficulties, frequently originating at or before the first synapse. This study provides supportive evidence for the value of click-evoked ABRs in comprehensive auditory processing assessment batteries

Validation of an integrated pressure level measured earmold wideband real-ear-to-coupler difference measurement

Objective: To validate measurement of predicted earmold wideband real-ear-to-coupler difference (wRECD) using an integrated pressure level (IPL) calibrated transducer and the incorporation of an acoustically measured tubing length correction. Design: Unilateral earmold SPL wRECD using varied hearing aid tubing length and the proposed predicted earmold IPL wRECD measurement procedure were completed on all participants and compared. Study Sample: 22 normal hearing adults with normal middle ear status were recruited. Results: There were no clinically significant differences between probe-microphone and predicted earmold IPL wRECD measurements between 500 and 2500 Hz. Above 5000 Hz, the predicted earmold IPL wRECD exceeded earmold SPL wRECDs due to lack of standing wave interference. Test-retest reliability of IPL wRECD measurement exceeded the reliability of earmold SPL wRECD measurement across all assessed frequencies, with the greatest improvements in the high frequencies. The acoustically measured tubing length correction largely accounted for acoustic effects of the participant’s earmold. Conclusions: IPL-based measurements provide a promising alternative to probe-microphone earmold wRECD procedures. Predicted earmold IPL wRECD is measured without probe-microphone placement, agrees well with earmold SPL wRECDs and is expected to extend the valid bandwidth of wRECD measurement

The Medial Olivocochlear Reflex Is Unlikely to Play a Role in Listening Difficulties in Children

The medial olivocochlear reflex (MOCR) has been implicated in several auditory processes. The putative role of the MOCR in improving speech perception in noise is particularly relevant for children who complain of listening difficulties (LiD). The hypothesis that the MOCR may be impaired in individuals with LiD or auditory processing disorder has led to several investigations but without consensus. In two related studies, we compared the MOCR functioning of children with LiD and typically developing (TD) children in the same age range (7–17 years). In Study 1, we investigated ipsilateral, contralateral, and bilateral MOCR using forward-masked click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (CEOAEs; n = 17 TD, 17 LiD). In Study 2, we employed three OAE types: CEOAEs (n = 16 TD, 21 LiD), stimulus frequency OAEs (n = 21 TD, 30 LiD), and distortion product OAEs (n = 17 TD, 22 LiD) in a contralateral noise paradigm. Results from both studies suggest that the MOCR functioning is not significantly different between the two groups. Some likely reasons for differences in findings among published studies could stem from the lack of strict data quality measures (e.g., high signal-to-noise ratio, control for the middle ear muscle reflex) that were enforced in the present study. The inherent variability of the MOCR, the subpar reliability of current MOCR methods, and the heterogeneity in auditory processing deficits that underlie auditory processing disorder make detecting clinically relevant differences in MOCR function impractical using current methods

Dynamics of spontaneous alpha activity correlate with language ability in young children.

Early childhood is a period of tremendous growth in both language ability and brain maturation. To understand the dynamic interplay between neural activity and spoken language development, we used resting-state EEG recordings to explore the relation between alpha oscillations (7-10 Hz) and oral language ability in 4- to 6-year-old children with typical development (N = 41). Three properties of alpha oscillations were investigated: a) alpha power using spectral analysis, b) flexibility of the alpha frequency quantified via the oscillation\u27s moment-to-moment fluctuations, and c) scaling behavior of the alpha oscillator investigated via the long-range temporal correlation in the alpha-amplitude time course. All three properties of the alpha oscillator correlated with children\u27s oral language abilities. Higher language scores were correlated with lower alpha power, greater flexibility of the alpha frequency, and longer temporal correlations in the alpha-amplitude time course. Our findings demonstrate a cognitive role of several properties of the alpha oscillator that has largely been overlooked in the literature

Verification of a Mobile Psychoacoustic Test System

Many hearing difficulties can be explained as a loss of audibility, a problem easily detected and treated using standard audiological procedures. Yet, hearing can be much poorer (or more impaired) than audibility predicts because of deficits in the suprathreshold mechanisms that encode the rapidly changing, spectral, temporal, and binaural aspects of the sound. The ability to evaluate these mechanisms requires well-defined stimuli and strict adherence to rigorous psychometric principles. This project reports on the comparison between a laboratory-based and a mobile system’s results for psychoacoustic assessment in adult listeners with normal hearing. A description of both systems employed is provided. Psychoacoustic tests include frequency discrimination, amplitude modulation detection, binaural encoding, and temporal gap detection. Results reported by the mobile system were not significantly different from those collected with the laboratory-based system for most of the tests and were consistent with those reported in the literature. The mobile system has the potential to be a feasible option for the assessment of suprathreshold auditory encoding abilities

Aircraft-based mass balance estimate of methane emissions from offshore gas facilities in the Southern North Sea

Atmospheric methane (CH4) concentrations have more than doubled since the beginning of the industrial age, making CH4 the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2). The oil and gas sector represent one of the major anthropogenic CH4 emitters as it is estimated to account for 22 % of global anthropogenic CH4 emissions. An airborne field campaign was conducted in April&ndash;May 2019 to study CH4 emissions from offshore gas facilities in the Southern North Sea with the aim to derive emission estimates using a top-down (measurement-led) approach. We present CH4 fluxes for six UK and five Dutch offshore platforms/platform complexes using the well-established mass balance flux method. We identify specific gas production emissions and emission processes (venting/fugitive or flaring/combustion) using observations of co-emitted ethane (C2H6) and CO2. We compare our top-down estimated fluxes with a ship-based top-down study in the Dutch sector and with bottom-up estimates from a globally gridded annual inventory, UK national annual point-source inventories, and with operator-based reporting for individual Dutch facilities. In this study, we find that all inventories, except for the operator-based facility-level reporting, underestimate measured emissions, with the largest discrepancy observed with the globally gridded inventory. Individual facility reporting, as available for Dutch sites for the specific survey date, shows better agreement with our measurement-based estimates. For all sampled Dutch installations together, we find that our estimated flux of (122.7 &plusmn; 9.7) kg h-1 deviates by a factor 0.7 (0.35&ndash;12) from reported values (183.1 kg h-1). Comparisons with aircraft observations in two other offshore regions (Norwegian Sea and Gulf of Mexico) show that measured, absolute facility-level emission rates agree with the general distribution found in other offshore basins despite different production types (oil, gas) and gas production rates, which vary by two orders of magnitude. Therefore, mitigation is warranted equally across geographies.</p