65 research outputs found
Preliminary investigation of the short-term in situ performance of an automatic masker selection system
Soundscape augmentation or "masking" introduces wanted sounds into the
acoustic environment to improve acoustic comfort. Usually, the masker selection
and playback strategies are either arbitrary or based on simple rules (e.g. -3
dBA), which may lead to sub-optimal increment or even reduction in acoustic
comfort for dynamic acoustic environments. To reduce ambiguity in the selection
of maskers, an automatic masker selection system (AMSS) was recently developed.
The AMSS uses a deep-learning model trained on a large-scale dataset of
subjective responses to maximize the derived ISO pleasantness (ISO 12913-2).
Hence, this study investigates the short-term in situ performance of the AMSS
implemented in a gazebo in an urban park. Firstly, the predicted ISO
pleasantness from the AMSS is evaluated in comparison to the in situ subjective
evaluation scores. Secondly, the effect of various masker selection schemes on
the perceived affective quality and appropriateness would be evaluated. In
total, each participant evaluated 6 conditions: (1) ambient environment with no
maskers; (2) AMSS; (3) bird and (4) water masker from prior art; (5) random
selection from same pool of maskers used to train the AMSS; and (6) selection
of best-performing maskers based on the analysis of the dataset used to train
the AMSS.Comment: paper submitted to the 52nd International Congress and Exposition on
Noise Control Engineering held in Chiba, Greater Tokyo, Japan, on 20-23
August 2023 (Inter-Noise 2023
Do uHear? Validation of uHear App for Preliminary Screening of Hearing Ability in Soundscape Studies
Studies involving soundscape perception often exclude participants with
hearing loss to prevent impaired perception from affecting experimental
results. Participants are typically screened with pure tone audiometry, the
"gold standard" for identifying and quantifying hearing loss at specific
frequencies, and excluded if a study-dependent threshold is not met. However,
procuring professional audiometric equipment for soundscape studies may be
cost-ineffective, and manually performing audiometric tests is
labour-intensive. Moreover, testing requirements for soundscape studies may not
require sensitivities and specificities as high as that in a medical diagnosis
setting. Hence, in this study, we investigate the effectiveness of the uHear
app, an iOS application, as an affordable and automatic alternative to a
conventional audiometer in screening participants for hearing loss for the
purpose of soundscape studies or listening tests in general. Based on
audiometric comparisons with the audiometer of 163 participants, the uHear app
was found to have high precision (98.04%) when using the World Health
Organization (WHO) grading scheme for assessing normal hearing. Precision is
further improved (98.69%) when all frequencies assessed with the uHear app is
considered in the grading, which lends further support to this cost-effective,
automated alternative to screen for normal hearing.Comment: Full paper submitted to 24th International Congress on Acoustic
Assessment of a cost-effective headphone calibration procedure for soundscape evaluations
To increase the availability and adoption of the soundscape standard, a
low-cost calibration procedure for reproduction of audio stimuli over
headphones was proposed as part of the global ``Soundscape Attributes
Translation Project'' (SATP) for validating ISO/TS~12913-2:2018 perceived
affective quality (PAQ) attribute translations. A previous preliminary study
revealed significant deviations from the intended equivalent continuous
A-weighted sound pressure levels () using the open-circuit
voltage (OCV) calibration procedure. For a more holistic human-centric
perspective, the OCV method is further investigated here in terms of
psychoacoustic parameters, including relevant exceedance levels to account for
temporal effects on the same 27 stimuli from the SATP. Moreover, a
within-subjects experiment with 36 participants was conducted to examine the
effects of OCV calibration on the PAQ attributes in ISO/TS~12913-2:2018.
Bland-Altman analysis of the objective indicators revealed large biases in the
OCV method across all weighted sound level and loudness indicators; and
roughness indicators at \SI{5}{\%} and \SI{10}{\%} exceedance levels.
Significant perceptual differences due to the OCV method were observed in about
\SI{20}{\%} of the stimuli, which did not correspond clearly with the biased
acoustic indicators. A cautioned interpretation of the objective and perceptual
differences due to small and unpaired samples nevertheless provide grounds for
further investigation.Comment: For 24th International Congress on Acoustic
Crossing the Linguistic Causeway: Ethnonational Differences on Soundscape Attributes in Bahasa Melayu
Despite being neighbouring countries and sharing the language of Bahasa
Melayu (ISO 639-3:ZSM), cultural and language education policy differences
between Singapore and Malaysia led to differences in the translation of the
"annoying" perceived affective quality (PAQ) attribute from English (ISO
639-3:ENG) to ZSM. This study expands upon the translation of the PAQ
attributes from eng to ZSM in Stage 1 of the Soundscapes Attributes Translation
Project (SATP) initiative, and presents the findings of Stage 2 listening tests
that investigated ethnonational differences in the translated ZSM PAQ
attributes and explored their circumplexity. A cross-cultural listening test
was conducted with 100 ZSM speakers from Malaysia and Singapore using the
common SATP protocol. The analysis revealed that Malaysian participants from
non-native ethnicities (my:o) showed PAQ perceptions more similar to Singapore
(sg) participants than native ethnic Malays (MY:M) in Malaysia. Differences
between Singapore and Malaysian groups were primarily observed in stimuli
related to water features, reflecting cultural and geographical variations.
Besides variations in water source-dominant stimuli perception, disparities
between MY:M and SG could be mainly attributed to vibrant scores. The findings
also suggest that the adoption of region-specific translations, such as
membingitkan in Singapore and menjengkelkan in Malaysia, adequately addressed
differences in the annoying attribute, as significant differences were observed
in one or fewer stimuli across ethnonational groups The circumplexity analysis
indicated that the quasi-circumplex model better fit the data compared to the
assumed equal angle quasi-circumplex model in ISO/TS 12913-3, although
deviations were observed possibly due to respondents' unfamiliarity with the
United Kingdom-centric context of the stimulus dataset...Comment: Preprint submitted to Elsevier for revie
Towards clinical AI fairness: A translational perspective
Artificial intelligence (AI) has demonstrated the ability to extract insights
from data, but the issue of fairness remains a concern in high-stakes fields
such as healthcare. Despite extensive discussion and efforts in algorithm
development, AI fairness and clinical concerns have not been adequately
addressed. In this paper, we discuss the misalignment between technical and
clinical perspectives of AI fairness, highlight the barriers to AI fairness'
translation to healthcare, advocate multidisciplinary collaboration to bridge
the knowledge gap, and provide possible solutions to address the clinical
concerns pertaining to AI fairness
Federated and distributed learning applications for electronic health records and structured medical data: A scoping review
Federated learning (FL) has gained popularity in clinical research in recent
years to facilitate privacy-preserving collaboration. Structured data, one of
the most prevalent forms of clinical data, has experienced significant growth
in volume concurrently, notably with the widespread adoption of electronic
health records in clinical practice. This review examines FL applications on
structured medical data, identifies contemporary limitations and discusses
potential innovations. We searched five databases, SCOPUS, MEDLINE, Web of
Science, Embase, and CINAHL, to identify articles that applied FL to structured
medical data and reported results following the PRISMA guidelines. Each
selected publication was evaluated from three primary perspectives, including
data quality, modeling strategies, and FL frameworks. Out of the 1160 papers
screened, 34 met the inclusion criteria, with each article consisting of one or
more studies that used FL to handle structured clinical/medical data. Of these,
24 utilized data acquired from electronic health records, with clinical
predictions and association studies being the most common clinical research
tasks that FL was applied to. Only one article exclusively explored the
vertical FL setting, while the remaining 33 explored the horizontal FL setting,
with only 14 discussing comparisons between single-site (local) and FL (global)
analysis. The existing FL applications on structured medical data lack
sufficient evaluations of clinically meaningful benefits, particularly when
compared to single-site analyses. Therefore, it is crucial for future FL
applications to prioritize clinical motivations and develop designs and
methodologies that can effectively support and aid clinical practice and
research
Soundscape assessment : towards a validated translation of perceptual attributes in different languages
The recently published ISO/TS 12913-2:2018 standard aims to provide researchers and practitioners around the world with a reliable questionnaire for soundscape characterization. The ISO Technical Specifications report protocols and attributes grounded in the soundscape literature, but only includes an English version. The applicability and reliability of these attributes in non-English speaking regions remains an open question, as research investigating translations of soundscape attributes is limited. To address this gap, an international collaboration was initiated with soundscape researchers from all over the world. Translation into 15 different languages, obtained through focus groups and panels of experts in soundscape studies, are proposed. The main challenges and outcomes of this preliminary exercise are discussed. The long-term objective is to validate the proposed translations using standardized listening experiments in different languages and geographical regions as a way to promote a widespread use of the soundscape attributes, both in academia and practice, across locations, populations and languages
Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol
High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries(1,2). However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world(3) and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health(4,5). However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol-which is a marker of cardiovascular riskchanged from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million-4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world.Peer reviewe
Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries
Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely
Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants
Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks
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