Employees Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Perceptions of Workplace Accommodations

The purpose of this paper is to measure the effectiveness of existing employment accommodations required by the Americans with Disabilities Act for employees who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Participants completed an online survey in which they identified with one of four levels of hearing loss and selected from descriptions of workplace accommodations. Each selection was ranked according to perceived importance and satisfaction. Accommodations that showed any significance of importance were endorsed by 18% or less of the respondents. The most important accommodations were computer assisted note-taking (18%) and flashing alarms (11%). Participants reported high satisfaction with most of the accommodations necessary to their job performance, but Deaf awareness training (36%) and coworker taking notes (29%) showed low satisfaction levels. As this study was limited, further research is necessary to draw significant conclusions that will lead to refining the ADA required workplace accommodations for Deaf or Hard of Hearing employees

Evoked Potentials Recorded From the Spinal Cord During Neurostimulation for Pain: A Computational Modeling Study

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153677/1/ner12965.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153677/2/ner12965_am.pd

Intradural Spinal Cord Stimulation: Performance Modeling of a New Modality

Introduction: Intradural spinal cord stimulation (SCS) may offer significant therapeutic benefits for those with intractable axial and extremity pain, visceral pain, spasticity, autonomic dysfunction and related disorders. A novel intradural electrical stimulation device, limited by the boundaries of the thecal sac, CSF and spinal cord was developed to test this hypothesis. In order to optimize device function, we have explored finite element modeling (FEM).Methods: COMSOL®Multiphysics Electrical Currents was used to solve for fields and currents over a geometric model of a spinal cord segment. Cathodic and anodic currents are applied to the center and tips of the T-cross component of the electrode array to shape the stimulation field and constrain charge-balanced cathodic pulses to the target area.Results: Currents from the electrode sites can move the effective stimulation zone horizontally across the cord by a linear step method, which can be diversified considerably to gain greater depth of penetration relative to standard epidural SCS. It is also possible to prevent spread of the target area with no off-target action potential.Conclusion: Finite element modeling of a T-shaped intradural spinal cord stimulator predicts significant gains in field depth and current shaping that are beyond the reach of epidural stimulators. Future studies with in vivo models will investigate how this approach should first be tested in humans

Memory prosthesis: is it time for a deep neuromimetic approach?

Memory loss, one of the most dreaded afflictions of the human condition, presents considerable burden on the world’s health care system and it is recognized as a major challenge in the elderly. There are only a few neuro-modulation treatments for memory dysfunctions. Open loop deep brain stimulation is such a treatment for memory improvement, but with limited success and conflicting results. In recent years closed-loop neuropros-thesis systems able to simultaneously record signals during behavioural tasks and generate with the use of inter-nal neural factors the precise timing of stimulation patterns are presented as attractive alternatives and show promise in memory enhancement and restoration. A few such strides have already been made in both animals and humans, but with limited insights into their mechanisms of action. Here, I discuss why a deep neuromimetic computing approach linking multiple levels of description, mimicking the dynamics of brain circuits, interfaced with recording and stimulating electrodes could enhance the performance of current memory prosthesis systems, shed light into the neurobiology of learning and memory and accelerate the progress of memory prosthesis research. I propose what the necessary components (nodes, structure, connectivity, learning rules, and physi-ological responses) of such a deep neuromimetic model should be and what type of data are required to train/ test its performance, so it can be used as a true substitute of damaged brain areas capable of restoring/enhancing their missing memory formation capabilities. Considerations to neural circuit targeting, tissue interfacing, elec-trode placement/implantation and multi-network interactions in complex cognition are also provided