A Sustainable Financing Model: High Quality Preschool for At-Risk Children

There is growing state and national attention on addressing the achievement gap and increasing reading proficiency by 3rd grade. As state governments continue to face challenging fiscal conditions, there is a need to identify strategies that will lead to improved school readiness for at-risk children within state education budget constraints. The sustainable financing model for high quality preschool presented in this report is one strategy that could potentially increase the resources available to school districts to invest in high quality preschool programs for at-risk children.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ РОБОТИ ТАМБУРМАЖОРА В СУЧАСНИХ ВІЙСЬКОВИХ ОРКЕСТРАХ УКРАЇНИ, СПОЛУЧЕНИХ ШТАТІВ АМЕРИКИ ТА КАНАДИ

The purpose of the article is to highlight the basics of the work of the drum majors in the military orchestra of Canada and the United States of America and compare them with the relevant principles in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as to determine the positive experience of these foreign countries to improve Ukrainian music practice. The research methodology involves the use of systematic and comparative methods. This combination of methods allows us to consider the basics of the drum majors in the military orchestras of Ukraine and individual foreign countries in order to obtain a holistic vision of their work, as well as identify commonalities and differences in the functioning of Ukrainian and foreign drum majors. The scientific novelty is that for the first time a comparative constructive study of the work of the drum majors in the military orchestras of Ukraine, the United States of America, and Canada; the leading aspects for their introduction into the activity of Ukrainian military orchestras are singled out. Conclusions. The activity of the drum major in the military orchestras of the United States of America, Canada, and Ukraine has a number of common and distinctive features. It seems appropriate to propose approval of methodological recommendations on the management of military orchestras with drum major maces at the level of the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to determine the design of drum major maces for different units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to improve the methods of controlling the orchestra on the spot. Such measures, in our opinion, will help to optimize the system of training of the military conductors and activities of the military orchestra service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.Метою статті є висвітлення основ функціонування тамбурмажорів військових оркестрів Канади і Сполучених Штатів Америки та їх порівняння з відповідними засадами в Збройних силах України, а також визначення позитивного досвіду вказаних зарубіжних держав задля вдосконалення української музичної практики. Методологія дослідження передбачає використання системного та компаративного методів. Таке поєднання методів дозволяє розглянути основи діяльності тамбурмажорів у військових оркестрах України та окремих зарубіжних держав з метою отримання цілісного бачення їхньої роботи, а також виявлення спільних і відмінних рис у функціонуванні українських та зарубіжних тамбурмажорів. Наукова новизна полягає в тому, що вперше проведено порівняльне конструктивне дослідження роботи тамбурмажора у військових оркестрах України, Сполучених Штатів Америки та Канади; виокремлено провідні аспекти для впровадження їх у діяльність українських військових оркестрів. Висновки. Діяльність тамбурмажора у військових оркестрах Сполучених Штатів Америки, Канади та України має ряд спільних та відмінних рис. Видається доцільним запропонувати затвердження методичних рекомендацій щодо керування військовим оркестром за допомогою тамбурштока на рівні керівництва Збройних сил України, визначити особливості конструкції тамбурштоків для різних підрозділів Збройних сил України, а також удосконалити прийоми керування оркестром на місці за допомогою тамбурштока відповідно до стандартів НАТО. Такі заходи, на наш погляд, сприятимуть оптимізації системи підготовки військових диригентів та діяльності військово-оркестрової служби Збройних сил України

Predicting Consonant Confusions in Noise on the Basis of Acoustical Analyses

No abstract provided

The importance of interaural time differences and level differences in spatial release from masking

Numerous studies have described improvements in speech understanding when interaural time differences (ITDs) and interaural level differences (ILDs) are present. The present study aimed to investigate whether either cue in isolation can elicit spatial release from masking (SRM) in a speech-on-speech masking paradigm with maskers positioned symmetrically around the listener. Twelve adults were tested using three presentations of the Listening in Spatialized Noise-Sentences Test, with each presentation modified to contain different interaural cues in the stimuli. Results suggest that ILDs provide a similar amount of SRM as ITDs and ILDs combined. ITDs alone provide significantly less benefit. (C) 2013 Acoustical Society of Americ

Speech intelligibility for target and masker with different spectra

The speech intelligibility index (SII) calculation is based on the assumption that the effective range of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regarding speech intelligibility is [− 15 dB; +15 dB]. In a specific frequency band, speech intelligibility would remain constant by varying the SNRs above + 15 dB or below − 15 dB. These assumptions were tested in four experiments measuring speech reception thresholds (SRTs) with a speech target and speech-spectrum noise, while attenuating target or noise above or below 1400 Hz, with different levels of attenuation in order to test different SNRs in the two bands. SRT varied linearly with attenuation at low-attenuation levels and an asymptote was reached for high-attenuation levels. However, this asymptote was reached (intelligibility was not influenced by further attenuation) for different attenuation levels across experiments. The − 15-dB SII limit was confirmed for high-pass filtered targets, whereas for low-pass filtered targets, intelligibility was further impaired by decreasing the SNR below − 15 dB (until − 37 dB) in the high-frequency band. For high-pass and low-pass filtered noises, speech intelligibility kept improving when increasing the SNR in the rejected band beyond + 15 dB (up to 43 dB). Before reaching the asymptote, a 10-dB increase of SNR obtained by filtering the noise resulted in a larger decrease of SRT than a corresponding 10-dB decrease of SNR obtained by filtering the target (the slopes SRT/attenuation were different depending on which source was filtered). These results question the use of the SNR range and the importance function adopted by the SII when considering sharply filtered signals

Real-Time Contrast Enhancement to Improve Speech Recognition

An algorithm that operates in real-time to enhance the salient features of speech is described and its efficacy is evaluated. The Contrast Enhancement (CE) algorithm implements dynamic compressive gain and lateral inhibitory sidebands across channels in a modified winner-take-all circuit, which together produce a form of suppression that sharpens the dynamic spectrum. Normal-hearing listeners identified spectrally smeared consonants (VCVs) and vowels (hVds) in quiet and in noise. Consonant and vowel identification, especially in noise, were improved by the processing. The amount of improvement did not depend on the degree of spectral smearing or talker characteristics. For consonants, when results were analyzed according to phonetic feature, the most consistent improvement was for place of articulation. This is encouraging for hearing aid applications because confusions between consonants differing in place are a persistent problem for listeners with sensorineural hearing loss

Effects of Aging and Adult-Onset Hearing Loss on Cortical Auditory Regions

Hearing loss is a common feature in human aging. It has been argued that dysfunctions in central processing are important contributing factors to hearing loss during older age. Aging also has well documented consequences for neural structure and function, but it is not clear how these effects interact with those that arise as a consequence of hearing loss. This paper reviews the effects of aging and adult-onset hearing loss in the structure and function of cortical auditory regions. The evidence reviewed suggests that aging and hearing loss result in atrophy of cortical auditory regions and stronger engagement of networks involved in the detection of salient events, adaptive control and re-allocation of attention. These cortical mechanisms are engaged during listening in effortful conditions in normal hearing individuals. Therefore, as a consequence of aging and hearing loss, all listening becomes effortful and cognitive load is constantly high, reducing the amount of available cognitive resources. This constant effortful listening and reduced cognitive spare capacity could be what accelerates cognitive decline in older adults with hearing loss