Development of a speech autocuer

A wearable, visually based prosthesis for the deaf based upon the proven method for removing lipreading ambiguity known as cued speech was fabricated and tested. Both software and hardware developments are described, including a microcomputer, display, and speech preprocessor

Science, society, and policy in the face of uncertainty: reflections on the debate around face coverings for the public during COVID-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has had enormous effects on health, wellbeing and economies worldwide. Governments have responded with rapid and sometimes radical public health interventions. As nations grapple with the question of how to regain normality without unnecessarily endangering lives or healthcare systems, some scientists have argued for policies to encourage or compel use of face coverings in community (non-clinical) settings, despite acknowledged gaps in the evidence base for the effectiveness of such a measure. This commentary has two objectives. First, in the face of strong arguments that face coverings are a commonsense intervention, with negligible downsides, that can only do good, we make the case for caution in changing policy. Many seemingly benign public health interventions have the potential to cause harm, and that harm is often socially differentiated. We present five arguments for caution in policy change. Second, we reflect on the wider implications of the increasingly overt approaches to policy advocacy taken by some scientists. Drawing from the theory of post-normal science, we argue that the science-policy interface in the case of face coverings has taken a surprisingly traditional form, falling short of interdisciplinary integration and failing to incorporate insights of the full range of relevant experts and affected stakeholders. We sketch a vision for an alternative, more mature, relationship between science and society that accepts uncertainty, embraces deliberation, and rises to the challenge of developing knowledge to improve public health

Upgrading a Social Media Strategy to Increase Twitter Engagement During the Spring Annual Meeting of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.

Microblogs known as tweets are a rapid, effective method of information dissemination in health care. Although several medical specialties have described their Twitter conference experiences, Twitter-related data in the fields of anesthesiology and pain medicine are sparse. We therefore analyzed the Twitter content of 2 consecutive spring meetings of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine using publicly available online transcripts. We also examined the potential contribution of a targeted social media campaign on Twitter engagement during the conferences. The original Twitter meeting content was largely scientific in nature and created by meeting attendees, the majority of whom were nontrainee physicians. Physician trainees, however, represent an important and increasing minority of Twitter contributors. Physicians not in attendance predominantly contributed via retweeting original content, particularly picture-containing tweets, and thus increased reach to nonattendees. A social media campaign prior to meetings may help increase the reach of conference-related Twitter discussion

Factors influencing the inspirational effect of major sports events on audience sport participation behaviour

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the factors that determine the extent to which spectators attending one-off sports events feel inspired to increase their own participation in sport. The research considers both the socio-demographic and sport participation profile of the audience as well as the characteristics of an event as predictors of inspiration. The methodological approach involved secondary analysis of data collected from audiences across 10 events held in England since 2010. The findings are based on an aggregate sample of 7458 respondents. The statistical method used to analyse the data was multinomial logistic regression. The results show that the majority of respondents were inspired by the event that they attended, but the strength of the inspiration effect varied significantly according to their age; place of residence; ethnic origin; sport participation profile; and whether or not they had been exposed to information about opportunities to undertake sport. Moreover, events featuring team sports, non-age restricted events and elite events incorporating a mass participation component were also found to be positively related to inspiration. Several policy implications are identified for event organizers and public funders of both elite and community sport