Intelligibility of medically related sentences in quiet, speech-shaped noise, and hospital noise

Noise in healthcare settings, such as hospitals, often exceeds levels recommended by health organizations. Although researchers and medical professionals have raised concerns about the effect of these noise levels on spoken communication, objective measures of behavioral intelligibility in hospital noise are lacking. Further, no studies of intelligibility in hospital noise used medically relevant terminology, which may differentially impact intelligibility compared to standard terminology in speech perception research and is essential for ensuring ecological validity. Here, intelligibility was measured using online testing for 69 young adult listeners in three listening conditions (i.e., quiet, speech-shaped noise, and hospital noise: 23 listeners per condition) for four sentence types. Three sentence types included medical terminology with varied lexical frequency and familiarity characteristics. A final sentence set included non-medically related sentences. Results showed that intelligibility was negatively impacted by both noise types with no significant difference between the hospital and speech-shaped noise. Medically related sentences were not less intelligible overall, but word recognition accuracy was significantly positively correlated with both lexical frequency and familiarity. These results support the need for continued research on how noise levels in healthcare settings in concert with less familiar medical terminology impact communications and ultimately health outcomes

AB-10-018: The effects of noise from building mechanical systems with tonal components on human performance and perception (1322-RP)

This study investigated the effects of noise from building mechanical systems with tonal components on human task performance and perception. Six different noise conditions based on in-situ measurements were reproduced in an office-like setting; all were set to approximately the same sound level (47 dBA) but could have one particular tonal frequency (120 Hz, 235 Hz, or 595 Hz) at one of two tonal prominence ratios (5 or 9). Thirty participants were asked to complete typing, grammatical reasoning, and math tasks plus subjective questionnaires, while being exposed for approximately 1 hour to each noise condition. Results show that the noise conditions that had tonal prominence ratios of 9 were generally perceived to be more annoying than those of 5, although statistically significant differences in task performance were not found. Other findings are (1) that higher annoyance/distraction responses were significantly correlated with reduced typing task performance; (2) that the noise characteristics most closely correlated to higher annoyance/distraction responses in this study were higher ratings of loudness followed by roar, rumble, and tones; and (3) that perception of more low frequency rumble in particular was significantly linked to reduced performance on both the routine and cognitively demanding tasks

Worship space acoustics: 3 decades of design

This book takes the reader on a wide-ranging tour through churches, synagogues, mosques, and other worship spaces designed during the past 30 years. The book begins with a series of essays on topics ranging from the soundscape of worship spaces to ecclesiastical design at the turn of the 21st Century. Perspective pieces from an architect, audio designer, music director, and worship space owner are also included. The core of the book presents the acoustical and architectural design of a wide variety of individual worship space venues. Acoustical consulting firms, architects, and worship space designers from across the world contributed their recent innovative works in the area of worship space acoustics. The contributions include detailed renderings and architectural drawings, as well as informative acoustic data graphs and evocative descriptions of the spaces. Filled with beautiful photography and fascinating modern design, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in religious architecture, acoustical design, or musical performance. Provides detailed acoustic and architectural information for 67 worship space venues from 12 major religions directly from the acousticians who designed the spaces Features contributions from acoustical consulting firms and worship space designers worldwide, with spaces indexed by consulting firm and by geographic location Includes high-resolution photos and renderings, full-page architectural drawing s, scientific data, an overview of acoustic design for worship spaces, and a glossary of common worship space acoustics terminology David T. Bradley, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Physics + Astronomy Department at Vassar College. Erica E. Ryherd, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering & Construction at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Lauren M. Ronsse, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Audio Arts & Acoustics Department at Columbia College Chicago

Applying unsupervised machine learning clustering techniques to early childcare soundscapes

Early childhood is a critical time period for language, brain, cognitive, and social/emotional development. Out-of-home childcare is a normative, typical experience for millions of young children. Although Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in K-12 settings has received recent, significant attention, the links between IEQ and children’s learning and development in early childcare settings is a less understood topic. This work focuses specifically on the sound aspect of IEQ in early childcare settings to better understand typical noise levels and occupant experience. Standard approaches to analyzing background noise will be presented alongside more detailed statistical analyses utilizing unsupervised machine learning clustering techniques. Noise data collected in three daycares will be presented using typical acoustic metrics and clustering techniques to better understand room activity conditions and support new metrics. Overall, this study can lead to a better understanding of daycare soundscapes and pave the way towards a better childcare for young children