2,506 research outputs found
The effects of asymmetric directional microphone fittings on acceptance of background noise
The present study investigated the effects of asymmetric directional microphone fittings (i.e., an omnidirectional microphone on one ear and a directional microphone on the other) on speech understanding in noise and acceptance of background noise in 15 full-time hearing aid users. Subjects were fitted binaurally with four directional microphone conditions (i.e., binaural omnidirectional, asymmetric right directional, asymmetric left directional and binaural directional microphones) using Siemens Intuis directional behind-the-ear hearing aids and comply earmolds. The results revealed that speech understanding in noise improved when using asymmetric directional microphones compared to binaural omnidirectional microphone fittings and were not significantly hindered compared to binaural directional microphone fittings. The results also revealed that listeners who wore asymmetric directional microphones were more likely to accept background noise (i.e., accept hearing aids) than listeners fitted with binaural omnidirectional microphones. Lastly, the results revealed that the ANLs were better for the binaural directional microphones when compared to the asymmetric directional microphones, maximizing listeners\u27 willingness to wear hearing aids in the presence of noise
Suppressed Superconductivity of the Surface Conduction Layer in BiSrCaCuO Single Crystals Probed by {\it c}-Axis Tunneling Measurements
We fabricated small-size stacks on the surface of
BiSrCaCuO (BSCCO-2212) single crystals with the bulk
transition temperature 90 K, each containing a few intrinsic
Josephson junctions. Below a critical temperature ( ), we have
observed a weakened Josephson coupling between the CuO superconducting
double layer at the crystal surface and the adjacent one located deeper inside
a stack. The quasiparticle branch in the data of the weakened Josephson
junction (WJJ) fits well to the tunneling characteristics of a d-wave
superconductor()/insulator/d-wave superconductor (DID) junction. Also,
the tunneling resistance in the range agrees well with the
tunneling in a normal metal/insulator/d-wave superconductor (NID) junction. In
spite of the suppressed superconductivity at the surface layer the symmetry of
the order parameter appears to remain unaffected.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure
Amplitude death in a ring of nonidentical nonlinear oscillators with unidirectional coupling
We study the collective behaviors in a ring of coupled nonidentical nonlinear
oscillators with unidirectional coupling, of which natural frequencies are
distributed in a random way. We find the amplitude death phenomena in the case
of unidirectional couplings and discuss the differences between the cases of
bidirectional and unidirectional couplings. There are three main differences;
there exists neither partial amplitude death nor local clustering behavior but
oblique line structure which represents directional signal flow on the
spatio-temporal patterns in the unidirectional coupling case. The
unidirectional coupling has the advantage of easily obtaining global amplitude
death in a ring of coupled oscillators with randomly distributed natural
frequency. Finally, we explain the results using the eigenvalue analysis of
Jacobian matrix at the origin and also discuss the transition of dynamical
behavior coming from connection structure as coupling strength increases.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure
A Daily Activity Monitoring System for Internet of Things-Assisted Living in Home Area Networks
In this paper, a daily activity monitoring system for Internet of Things (IoT)- assisted living in home area networks is proposed in order to provide care for elderly people who live alone. The proposed system consists of two main parts: an IoT-assisted living space with contactless activity sensors, a help trigger, and an emergency gateway and a daily activity monitoring server with a range of components including data collection, event and user management, activity analysis and reporting, and so on. The contactless activity sensors can be placed anywhere in the home, and the emergency gateway collects data from them, detects emergency situations reported through the help trigger, and communicates with the daily activity monitoring server. The server analyzes and reports the daily activities and activity patterns of elderly users using a predefined activity index. In addition, unexpected emergency situations can be estimated and prevented through analysis of the activity information
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