Phoneme recognition and confusions in patients with sensorineural hearing loss

Hearing impaired listeners show different phoneme confusions during speech recognition testing. The aim of the study was to analyze phoneme recognition in patients with sensorineural hearing loss during word recognition testing with monosyllable words, as well as, to compare consonant confusions in different vowel context. Recognition of 18 initial and final consonants was analyzed in a total of 698 presentations of the words. There were 1154 (82.7%) correct recognitions and 100 consonant confusions (7.2%). The patients did not response at a total of 71 presentations of the words which means that consonants in 142 cases (10.2%) were not recognized, nor confused. There are no consonant confusion patterns during suprathreshold testing with real words. In cases of phoneme confusions, listeners replace the stimulus word with another word from the lexical neighborhood. In terms of the vowel context, the consonants are the most easily identified in the context of the vowel /a/. © 2023, Institute for Human Rehabilitation. All rights reserved

Risk assessment of non-native fishes in the Balkans Region using FISK, the invasiveness screening tool for non-native freshwater fishes

A high level of freshwater fish endemism in the Balkans Region emphasizes the need for non-native species risk assessments to inform management and control measures, with pre-screening tools, such as the Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) providing a useful first step. Applied to 43 non-native and translocated freshwater fishes in four Balkan countries, FISK reliably discriminated between invasive and non-invasive species, with a calibration threshold value of 9.5 distinguishing between species of medium and high risk sensu lato of becoming invasive. Twelve of the 43 species were assessed by scientists from two or more Balkan countries, and the remaining 31 species by a single assessor. Using the 9.5 threshold, three species were classed as low risk, 10 as medium risk, and 30 as high risk, with the latter category comprised of 26 moderately high risk, three high risk, and one very high risk species. Confidence levels in the assessments were relatively constant for all species, indicating concordance amongst assessors

Adopting a child perspective for exposome research on mental health and cognitive development - Conceptualisation and opportunities.

Mental disorders among children and adolescents pose a significant global challenge. The exposome framework covering the totality of internal, social and physical exposures over a lifetime provides opportunities to better understand the causes of and processes related to mental health, and cognitive functioning. The paper presents a conceptual framework on exposome, mental health, and cognitive development in children and adolescents, with potential mediating pathways, providing a possibility for interventions along the life course. The paper underscores the significance of adopting a child perspective to the exposome, acknowledging children's specific vulnerability, including differential exposures, susceptibility of effects and capacity to respond; their susceptibility during development and growth, highlighting neurodevelopmental processes from conception to young adulthood that are highly sensitive to external exposures. Further, critical periods when exposures may have significant effects on a child's development and future health are addressed. The paper stresses that children's behaviour, physiology, activity pattern and place for activities make them differently vulnerable to environmental pollutants, and calls for child-specific assessment methods, currently lacking within today's health frameworks. The importance of understanding the interplay between structure and agency is emphasized, where agency is guided by social structures and practices and vice-versa. An intersectional approach that acknowledges the interplay of social and physical exposures as well as a global and rural perspective on exposome is further pointed out. To advance the exposome field, interdisciplinary efforts that involve multiple scientific disciplines are crucial. By adopting a child perspective and incorporating an exposome approach, we can gain a comprehensive understanding of how exposures impact children's mental health and cognitive development leading to better outcomes

On the ontology and epistemology of visual legal evidence: Interview with Jennifer L. Mnookin

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Frequency of the Audiometric Notch Following Excessive Noise Exposure

The aim of the study was to determine the configuration of pathologic audiograms in patients with excessive noise exposure, and to calculate the frequency of notches in the audiogram in patients with and without excessive noise exposure by avoiding the effect of age-related hearing loss. We have analyzed 514 audiograms of 257 patients aged between 20 to 50 years: 240 patients (mean age of 38.7 years) with excessive noise exposure and 17 patients (mean age of 41.2 years) with notches in the audiogram, but without a history of excessive noise exposure. For statistical data analysis we have used the Chisquare test and Fisher exact test with the level of significance p < 0.05. Pathologic audiograms were classified into five different types: Slope at 4000 Hz (0.8%), Slope at 2000 Hz (15.1%), Notch at 4000 Hz (67.4%), Notch at 2000 Hz (0.8%), Flat (8.9%), and 7% were out of this classification. A total of 190 (79.2%) patients with excessive noise exposure had a notch in the audiogram. Left ear notches were the most common. Among the patients with notched audiograms, 91.8% had a history of excessive noise exposure, either occupational or nonoccupational, and 8.2% did not report any excessive noise exposure

Reproductive Outcomes Associated with Noise Exposure — A Systematic Review of the Literature

Introduction: High noise exposure during critical periods in gestation is a potential stressor that may result in increased risk of implantation failure, dysregulation of placentation or decrease of uterine blood flow. This paper systematically reviews published evidence on associations between reproductive outcomes and occupational and environmental noise exposure. Methods: The Web of Science, PubMed and Embase electronic databases were searched for papers published between 1970 to June 2014 and via colleagues. We included 14 epidemiological studies related to occupational noise exposure and nine epidemiological studies related to environmental noise exposure. There was some evidence for associations between occupational noise exposure and low birthweight, preterm birth and small for gestational age, either independently or together with other occupational risk factors. Five of six epidemiologic studies, including the two largest studies, found significant associations between lower birthweight and higher noise exposure. There were few studies on other outcomes and study design issues may have led to bias in assessments in some studies. Conclusions: There is evidence for associations between noise exposure and adverse reproductive outcomes from animal studies. Few studies in have been conducted in humans but there is some suggestive evidence of adverse associations with environmental noise from both occupational and epidemiological studies, especially for low birthweight