Building an authentic listener: Applying a passive exposure-based training paradigm to detecting differences among compositional styles

Background in music history. Around 1600, there was a shift in compositional style whose most significant feature was the increasingly free use of unprepared and/or incorrectly resolved dissonance. It caused controversy at the time (Artusi vs. Monteverdi), and its proponents argued that it was justifiable as a means of text expression. It can be argued that, in order to be shocked at the "illegal" treatment of dissonances, a listener would have to be familiar with "legal" behaviour of dissonances. Modern audiences, when exposed to seconda pratica music, tend not to react with same degree of alarm. One can argue that this is because later developments in music, to which the audiences have been exposed, go much farther in their dissonance treatment than the music of the seconda pratica composers. Background in psychology. Previous studies have shown that participants can rapidly develop both knowledge and subjective preference for grammatical structure following only a limited exposure to unfamiliar musical systems. Familiarity with musical structure has been shown to play a role in influencing the degree of emotional engagement experienced by participants while listening to music. The differences among the musical stimuli used in these studies are often maximised; in some cases, an entirely artificial musical grammar is used. Aims. Can we, through exposure to a training set, build enough familiarity in modern listeners of the conventional rules of dissonance treatment, that they experience seconda pratica music as odd or alarming in some way? Our experiment is a pilot study to test the feasibility of such an approach to this problem. Main contribution. We constructed an experiment in which a group of participants, drawn from among undergraduate students in music and psychology, were asked to rate two different pieces of Monteverdi (to represent seconda pratica), both before and after being exposed to a training set composed of either Monteverdi or Palestrina (to represent prima pratica). All pieces were presented once only without repetition. The training sets were chosen to minimise the effect of performers' interpretation on the listener, in an attempt to isolate compositional style as the most salient difference. Our results showed a significant difference in the rating of the Monteverdi pieces as "familiar" between the different groups. Other variables did not have a significant impact. This finding implies a degree of internalisation of the differences in musical grammar, and suggests that this paradigm for study might profitably be extended in the future. Implications. Our research has implications for any situation in which a teacher, performer, or composer is attempting to communicate musical meaning to an audience that is unfamiliar with the style in question. If a fairly brief training period is sufficient to build an appreciation in a sample of untrained listeners, for differences that are as relatively subtle as those between Monteverdi and Palestrina, then a presenter of unfamiliar or new music might use such knowledge to consciously structure the listening experience

Building an authentic listener: Applying a passive exposure-based training paradigm to detecting differences among compositional styles

Background in music history. Around 1600, there was a shift in compositional style whose most significant feature was the increasingly free use of unprepared and/or incorrectly resolved dissonance. It caused controversy at the time (Artusi vs. Monteverdi), and its proponents argued that it was justifiable as a means of text expression. It can be argued that, in order to be shocked at the "illegal" treatment of dissonances, a listener would have to be familiar with "legal" behaviour of dissonances. Modern audiences, when exposed to seconda pratica music, tend not to react with same degree of alarm. One can argue that this is because later developments in music, to which the audiences have been exposed, go much farther in their dissonance treatment than the music of the seconda pratica composers. Background in psychology. Previous studies have shown that participants can rapidly develop both knowledge and subjective preference for grammatical structure following only a limited exposure to unfamiliar musical systems. Familiarity with musical structure has been shown to play a role in influencing the degree of emotional engagement experienced by participants while listening to music. The differences among the musical stimuli used in these studies are often maximised; in some cases, an entirely artificial musical grammar is used. Aims. Can we, through exposure to a training set, build enough familiarity in modern listeners of the conventional rules of dissonance treatment, that they experience seconda pratica music as odd or alarming in some way? Our experiment is a pilot study to test the feasibility of such an approach to this problem. Main contribution. We constructed an experiment in which a group of participants, drawn from among undergraduate students in music and psychology, were asked to rate two different pieces of Monteverdi (to represent seconda pratica), both before and after being exposed to a training set composed of either Monteverdi or Palestrina (to represent prima pratica). All pieces were presented once only without repetition. The training sets were chosen to minimise the effect of performers' interpretation on the listener, in an attempt to isolate compositional style as the most salient difference. Our results showed a significant difference in the rating of the Monteverdi pieces as "familiar" between the different groups. Other variables did not have a significant impact. This finding implies a degree of internalisation of the differences in musical grammar, and suggests that this paradigm for study might profitably be extended in the future. Implications. Our research has implications for any situation in which a teacher, performer, or composer is attempting to communicate musical meaning to an audience that is unfamiliar with the style in question. If a fairly brief training period is sufficient to build an appreciation in a sample of untrained listeners, for differences that are as relatively subtle as those between Monteverdi and Palestrina, then a presenter of unfamiliar or new music might use such knowledge to consciously structure the listening experience

Einfluss der Cochlea-Implantat-Versorgung auf die mentale und kognitive Gesundheit älterer Hörgeschädigter

Die Cochlea-Implantat (CI)-Versorgung ist als Mittel der Wahl für die Hörrehabilitation an Taubheit grenzend Schwerhöriger bekannt. Dabei ist eine große Vielfalt an Parametern für die Erhebung der Rehabilitationsergebnisse einer CI-Versorgung etabliert. Mit zunehmendem Wissen um das biologische, gesunde Altern wird die Auseinandersetzung mit dem multifaktoriellen Zusammenhang zwischen dem Patientenalter und der mentalen sowie kognitiven Gesundheit älterer Hörgeschädigter erforderlich. Die kognitive Leistungsfähigkeit determiniert die Kompensationsfähigkeit der Hörbeeinträchtigung und ist ausschlaggebend für das individuelle Sprachverständnis. Umgekehrt reduziert ein lang anhaltender unversorgter Hörverlust die kognitiven Fähigkeiten Betroffener, was als wesentlichster vermeidbarer Risikofaktor des mittleren Alters für die Entstehung einer späteren Demenz angesehen wird. Depressionen, soziale Isolation und körperliche Inaktivität wurden hingegen als ausschlaggebende, vermeidbare Risikofaktoren der älteren Bevölkerung definiert. Diese stehen mit der kognitiven Funktion und der Hörfähigkeit des Einzelnen in Beziehung. Um die vielschichtigen Auswirkungen respektive Wechselwirkungen der Hörrehabilitation mit einem CI in Ergänzung zum Sprachverständnis zu evaluieren und zu diskutieren wurden die der vorliegenden Arbeit zugrundeliegenden Veröffentlichungen erstellt. Auf ebendieser Grundlage sind aus der vorliegenden Habilitationsschrift nachfolgende Ergebnisse zu resümieren. Die Untersuchungen stützen die Erkenntnisse des Nutzens der CI-Versorgung alter und sehr alter Hörgeschädigter. Der signifikante Zugewinn im Sprachverständnis durch die CI-Versorgung wird durch konstant niedrige psychometrische Messwerte psychologischer Komorbiditäten flankiert. Stressempfinden, Ängstlichkeit und Depressivität haben dabei signifikant gegenläufigen Einfluss auf die durch Krankheiten beeinflusste gesundheitsbezogene Lebensqualität (HRQoL). Diese steigt vergleichbar mit 103 jüngeren Populationen in der Gruppe otogeriatrischer Patienten signifikant an. Vor und nach CI wird sie signifikant negativ durch die Tinnitusbelastung beeinflusst. Ferner wurden strukturelle hirnorganische Läsionen der weißen Substanz (white matter lesions) als Prädiktor eines schlechteren sprachrehabilitativen Ergebnisses der mittleren Altersgruppe herausgearbeitet. Das nummerische Alter hat dabei im mittleren Alter keinen Einfluss auf das Sprachverständnis. Hingegen ist das Alter bei Über-70-Jährigen als Prädiktor zu benennen. Losgelöst ist die signifikante Zunahme kognitiver Fähigkeit im Bereich der fluiden Intelligenz hervorzuheben. Das Arbeitsgedächtnis und die Verarbeitungsgeschwindigkeit sind infolge der CI-Versorgung Älterer signifikant verbessert. Die Hörrehabilitation mit CI als Voraussetzung des Erhalts der sozialen Kommunikation und Teilhabe ist Bindeglied zur mentalen und kognitiven Gesundheit. Sie vermeidet eine soziale Isolation und Vereinsamung des Alternden, trägt zum gesunden Altern bei und findet Ausdruck in Form der HRQoL. Beeinflussbare auslösende Faktoren kognitiver Einschränkungen des Älteren gehen bis ins mittlere Alter zurück. Im otologischen Kontext muss das zur Achtsamkeit gegenüber unversorgten und unerkannten Hörschädigungen bereits im mittleren Lebensabschnitt führen. In Kenntnis der Wechselwirkung zwischen Hörschädigungen, mentalen sowie kognitiven Begleiterkrankungen ist die gezielte Aufmerksamkeit auf ebenderen Detektion zu lenken und zukünftig in individuell angepasste, altersadaptierte Rehabilitationsprogramme zu integrieren

Towards Assessing Compliant Robotic Grasping from First-Object Perspective via Instrumented Objects

Grasping compliant objects is difficult for robots - applying too little force may cause the grasp to fail, while too much force may lead to object damage. A robot needs to apply the right amount of force to quickly and confidently grasp the objects so that it can perform the required task. Although some methods have been proposed to tackle this issue, performance assessment is still a problem for directly measuring object property changes and possible damage. To fill the gap, a new concept is introduced in this paper to assess compliant robotic grasping using instrumented objects. A proof-of-concept design is proposed to measure the force applied on a cuboid object from a first-object perspective. The design can detect multiple contact locations and applied forces on its surface by using multiple embedded 3D Hall sensors to detect deformation relative to embedded magnets. The contact estimation is achieved by interpreting the Hall-effect signals using neural networks. In comprehensive experiments, the design achieved good performance in estimating contacts from each single face of the cuboid and decent performance in detecting contacts from multiple faces when being used to evaluate grasping from a parallel jaw gripper, demonstrating the effectiveness of the design and the feasibility of the concept.Comment: Under review for RA-

Cochlear Implantation of Bilaterally Deafened Patients with Tinnitus Induces Sustained Decrease of Tinnitus-Related Distress

Objective: Tinnitus is a common symptom of hearing impairment. Patients who are bilaterally hard of hearing are often affected by tinnitus. However, they cannot undergo any of the standard tinnitus therapies, since they rely on hearing. Cochlear implantation (CI) used to treat severe hearing disabilities, such as bilateral hearing loss, was also shown to reduce tinnitus. Our goal was to determine if CI induces sustained reduction of tinnitus. We performed prospective, longitudinal analyses of tinnitus-related distress in a uniform group of bilaterally deafened patients after CI. Patients and Methods: The homogenous sample consisted of 41 patients who met the inclusion criteria and were consecutively included in this study. The impact of unilateral CI on tinnitus-related distress, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and hearing abilities was studied with validated instruments. The follow-up appointments were scheduled at 6, 12, and 24 months after CI surgery. During the appointments, hearing abilities were estimated with monosyllabic Freiburg test, whereas the tinnitus-related distress, the HRQoL, and the subjective hearing were measured with standard questionnaires [Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ), Nijmegen Cochlear Implantation Questionnaire, and Oldenburg Inventory, respectively]. Results: Tinnitus-related distress decreased significantly from the mean TQ score of 35.0 (SD = 19.6) prior to surgery to the mean TQ = 27.54 (SD = 20.0) 6 months after surgery and remained sustained low until the end of follow-up period. In addition, CI significantly improved the hearing abilities and the HRQoL of all patients. Conclusion: The results from our prospective study suggest that in a homogenous sample of bilaterally deafened, implanted patients who report having tinnitus prior to surgery, CI alone not only improves the hearing abilities but also significantly reduces the tinnitus- related distress and improves the HRQoL in a sustained way

Modelling and simulation of power devices for high-voltage integrated circuits

Process and device simulators turned out to be important tools in the design of high-voltage integrated circuits and in the development of their technology. The main goal of this project was the improvement of the device simulator WIAS-TeSCA in order to simulate different power devices in high-voltage integrated circuits developed by the industrial partner. Some simulation results are presented. Furthermore, we discuss some aspects of the mathematics of relevant model equations which device and process simulations are based on

Duration of deafness impacts auditory performance after cochlear implantation: A meta‐analysis

Objective: Hearing loss is a highly disabling condition. Cochlear implantation is an established remedy if conventional hearing aids have failed to alleviate the level of disability. Unfortunately, cochlear implant (CI) performance varies dramatically. This study aims to examine the effects of duration of deafness (DoD) prior to cochlear implantation and the postoperative duration of implant experience with resulting hearing performance in postlingually deaf patients. Methods: A systematic literature review and two meta-analyses were conducted using the search terms cochlear implant AND duration deafness. Included studies evaluate the correlation between the DoD and auditory performance after cochlear implantation using monosyllabic and sentence tests. Correlation coefficients were determined using Pearson's correlation and Spearman rho. Results: A total of 36 studies were identified and included data on cochlear implantations following postlingual deafness and postoperative speech testing of hearing outcomes for 1802 patients. The mean age ranged from 44 to 68 years with a DoD of 0.1 to 77 years. Cochlear implant use varied from 3 months to 14 years of age. Speech perception, which was assessed by sentence and monosyllabic word perception, was negatively correlated with DoD. Subgroup analyses revealed worse outcomes for longer DoD and shorter postoperative follow-up. Conclusion: DoD is one of the most important factors to predict speech perception after cochlear implantation in postlingually deaf patients. The meta-analyses revealed a negative correlation between length of auditory deprivation and postoperative sentence and monosyllabic speech perception. Longer DoD seems to lead to worse CI performance, whereas more experience with CI mitigates the effect

Multi-modal News Understanding with Professionally Labelled Videos (ReutersViLNews)

While progress has been made in the domain of video-language understanding, current state-of-the-art algorithms are still limited in their ability to understand videos at high levels of abstraction, such as news-oriented videos. Alternatively, humans easily amalgamate information from video and language to infer information beyond what is visually observable in the pixels. An example of this is watching a news story, where the context of the event can play as big of a role in understanding the story as the event itself. Towards a solution for designing this ability in algorithms, we present a large-scale analysis on an in-house dataset collected by the Reuters News Agency, called Reuters Video-Language News (ReutersViLNews) dataset which focuses on high-level video-language understanding with an emphasis on long-form news. The ReutersViLNews Dataset consists of long-form news videos collected and labeled by news industry professionals over several years and contains prominent news reporting from around the world. Each video involves a single story and contains action shots of the actual event, interviews with people associated with the event, footage from nearby areas, and more. ReutersViLNews dataset contains videos from seven subject categories: disaster, finance, entertainment, health, politics, sports, and miscellaneous with annotations from high-level to low-level, title caption, visual video description, high-level story description, keywords, and location. We first present an analysis of the dataset statistics of ReutersViLNews compared to previous datasets. Then we benchmark state-of-the-art approaches for four different video-language tasks. The results suggest that news-oriented videos are a substantial challenge for current video-language understanding algorithms and we conclude by providing future directions in designing approaches to solve the ReutersViLNews dataset

On the Complex Network Structure of Musical Pieces: Analysis of Some Use Cases from Different Music Genres

This paper focuses on the modeling of musical melodies as networks. Notes of a melody can be treated as nodes of a network. Connections are created whenever notes are played in sequence. We analyze some main tracks coming from different music genres, with melodies played using different musical instruments. We find out that the considered networks are, in general, scale free networks and exhibit the small world property. We measure the main metrics and assess whether these networks can be considered as formed by sub-communities. Outcomes confirm that peculiar features of the tracks can be extracted from this analysis methodology. This approach can have an impact in several multimedia applications such as music didactics, multimedia entertainment, and digital music generation.Comment: accepted to Multimedia Tools and Applications, Springe

On providing semantic alignment and unified access to music library metadata

A variety of digital data sources—including insti- tutional and formal digital libraries, crowd-sourced commu- nity resources, and data feeds provided by media organisa- tions such as the BBC—expose information of musicological interest, describing works, composers, performers, and wider historical and cultural contexts. Aggregated access across such datasets is desirable as these sources provide comple- mentary information on shared real-world entities. Where datasets do not share identifiers, an alignment process is required, but this process is fraught with ambiguity and difficult to automate, whereas manual alignment may be time-consuming and error-prone. We address this problem through the application of a Linked Data model and frame- work to assist domain experts in this process. Candidate alignment suggestions are generated automatically based on textual and on contextual similarity. The latter is determined according to user-configurable weighted graph traversals. Match decisions confirming or disputing the candidate sug- gestions are obtained in conjunction with user insight and expertise. These decisions are integrated into the knowledge base, enabling further iterative alignment, and simplifying the creation of unified viewing interfaces. Provenance of the musicologist’s judgement is captured and published, support- ing scholarly discourse and counter-proposals. We present our implementation and evaluation of this framework, con- ducting a user study with eight musicologists. We further demonstrate the value of our approach through a case study providing aligned access to catalogue metadata and digitised score images from the British Library and other sources, and broadcast data from the BBC Radio 3 Early Music Show