The effect of presentation level on spectral weights for sentences

Psychophysical data indicate that spectral weights tend to increase with increasing presentation level at high frequencies. The present study examined whether spectral weights for speech perception are similarly affected by presentation level. Stimuli were sentences filtered into five contiguous frequency bands and presented at each of two levels (75 and 95 dB sound pressure level [SPL]). For the highest band (2807–10 000 Hz), normal-hearing listeners' weights were higher for the higher presentation level. Weights for the 95-dB-SPL level resembled those previously estimated for hearing-impaired listeners tested at comparably high levels, suggesting that hearing loss itself may not play a large role in spectral weighting for a sentence recognition task

The Sicilian network of biological therapy in inflammatory bowel disease: preliminary data on efficacy .

Background and aim: The monitoring of appropriateness and costs of biological therapy in Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a relevant need. We aimed to evaluate appropriateness, efficacy and safety of biological therapy in IBD in Sicily through a web based network of prescribing centers. Material and methods: The Sicilian network for the monitoring of biological therapy in IBD is composed by a super Hub coordinator center and five Hub plus ten Spoke centers. From January 2013 all IBD patients starting a biological agent (incident cases) or already on treatment (prevalent cases) were entered in a web based software. Herein we report data on remission and response after twelve weeks of biological therapy, and side effects until the end of follow-up of incident cases. Results: From January 2013 to June 2016, 1475 patients were included. Complete data were available in 1338 cases (983 with Crohn’s disease [CD], 345 with ulcerative colitis [UC], and 10 with unclassified colitis). Incident cases were 956 (673 CD, 274 UC, and 9 unclassified colitis). Considering that 12% of patients experienced more than one line of therapy, a total of 1098 treatments were reported. Adalimumab was used in 543 CD patients, in 69 UC patients, and in 4 with unclassified colitis. Infliximab was prescribed in 221 CD patients (64 biosimilars), in 226 UC patients (41 biosimilars), and in 5 patients with unclassified colitis. Golimumab was prebscribed in 29 UC patients, and in 1 patient with unclassified colitis. After twelve weeks, the rate of response with Adalimumab was 46% and the rate of remission was 38% in CD, while the rate of response with Infliximab originator was 48% and the rate of remission 42% (biosimilars: 37% and 50%, respectively). In UC the rate of response with Adalimumab was 46% and the rate of remission was 38%, the rate of response with Infliximab was 41% and the rate of remission 45% (biosimilars: 25% and 64%, respectively), while the rate of response with Golimumab was 47% and the rate of remission was 27%. Overall, the rate of side effects was 17% (9.2% with Adalimumab, 20% with Infliximab originator, 15% with biosimilars, and 17% with Golimumab). Conclusions: In one of the largest series of IBD patients on biological therapy reported to date, the rates of remission and response after twelve weeks were comparable to data from literature, and similar between the different biologics. Efficacy and safety of biosimilars were analogous to those reported for infliximab originator

Increase in Speech Recognition due to Linguistic Mismatch Between Target and Masker Speech: Monolingual and Simultaneous Bilingual Performance

To examine whether improved speech recognition during linguistically mismatched target–masker experiments is due to linguistic unfamiliarity of the masker speech or linguistic dissimilarity between the target and masker speech

Masking release due to linguistic and phonetic dissimilarity between the target and masker speech

Purpose: To investigate masking release for speech maskers for linguistically and phonetically close (English and Dutch) and distant (English and Mandarin) language pairs. Method: Thirty-two monolingual speakers of English with normal audiometric thresholds participated in the study. Data are reported for an English sentence recognition task in English and for Dutch and Mandarin competing speech maskers (Experiment 1) and noise maskers (Experiment 2) that were matched either to the long-term average speech spectra or to the temporal modulations of the speech maskers from Experiment 1. Results: Listener performance increased as the target-tomasker linguistic distance increased (English-in-English < English-in-Dutch < English-in-Mandarin). Conclusion: Spectral differences between maskers can account for some, but not all, of the variation in performance between maskers; however, temporal differences did not seem to play a significant role

Linguistic Masking Release in School-Age Children and Adults

This study assessed if 6- to 8-year-old children benefit from a language mismatch between target and masker speech for sentence recognition in a 2-talker masker

Effects of linguistic experience on the ability to benefit from temporal and spectral masker modulation

Masked speech perception can often be improved by modulating the masker temporally and/or spectrally. These effects tend to be larger in normal-hearing listeners than hearing-impaired listeners, and effects of temporal modulation are larger in adults than young children [Hall et al. (2012). Ear Hear. 33, 340–348]. Initial reports indicate non-native adult speakers of the target language also have a reduced ability to benefit from temporal masker modulation [Stuart et al. (2010). J. Am. Acad. Aud. 21, 239–248]. The present study further investigated the effect of masker modulation on English speech recognition in normal-hearing adults who are non-native speakers of English. Sentence recognition was assessed in a steady-state baseline masker condition and in three modulated masker conditions, characterized by spectral, temporal, or spectro-temporal modulation. Thresholds for non-natives were poorer than those of native English speakers in all conditions, particularly in the presence of a modulated masker. The group differences were consistent across maskers when assessed in percent correct, suggesting that a single factor may limit the performance of non-native listeners similarly in all conditions

Linguistic Masking Release in School-Age Children and Adults

This study assessed if 6- to 8-year-old children benefit from a language mismatch between target and masker speech for sentence recognition in a 2-talker masker

Masked Sentence Recognition Assessed at Ascending Target-to-Masker Ratios: Modest Effects of Repeating Stimuli

Masked sentence recognition is typically evaluated by presenting a novel stimulus on each trial. As a consequence, experiments calling for replicate estimates in multiple conditions require large corpora of stimuli. The present study evaluated the consequences of repeating sentence-plus-masker pairs at ascending target-to-masker ratios (TMRs). The hypothesis was that performance on each trial would be consistent with the cues available to the listener at the associated TMR, resulting in similar estimates of threshold and slope for procedures using novel vs. repeated sentences within an ascending-TMR block of trials

Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a Pediatric Spanish–English Speech Perception Task

To develop a task to evaluate children’s English and Spanish speech perception abilities in either noise or competing speech maskers

Effects of Low-Pass Filtering on the Perception of Word-Final Plurality Markers in Children and Adults With Normal Hearing

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of low-pass filtering on the detection of word-final /s/ and /z/ for children and adults with normal hearing