Measuring Spatial Hearing Abilities in Listeners with Simulated Unilateral Hearing Loss

Spatial hearing is the ability to use auditory cues to determine the location, direction, and distance of sound in space. Listeners with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) typically have difficulty understanding speech in the presence of competing sound; this is likely due to the lack of access to spatial cues. The assessment of spatial hearing abilities in individuals with UHL is of growing clinical interest, particularly for everyday listening environments. Current approaches used to measure spatial hearing abilities include Spatial Release from Masking (SRM), Binaural Intelligibility Level Difference (BILD), and Listening in Spatialized Noise-Sentences (LiSN-S) test. Spatial Release from Masking is the improvement in speech recognition thresholds (SRT) when the target and masker are co-located as opposed to when they are spatially separated, utilizing a sound-field setup. The LiSN-S test also measures improvement in SRTs when the target and masker are spatially separated. Although similar, the LiSN-S utilizes a more clinically assessable procedure by simulating a three-dimensional auditory environment under headphones. Akin to the LiSN-S, the BILD also utilizes headphones but instead elicits improved SRTs by presenting target speech 180° out-of-phase to one ear instead of in-phase to two ears. The purposes of this study were (a) to determine if patterns of individual variability were similar across the three measures for 30 adults with normal hearing and 28 adults with simulated UHL and (b) to evaluate the effects of simulated UHL on performance. Results of this study confirmed the three tests were all sensitive measures of binaural hearing deficits in participants with UHL. Although all measures were correlated with each other, only the measures conducted under headphones (BILD and LiSN-S) were influenced by magnitude of asymmetry. These findings suggested that although the measures were producing similar results, they might be reflecting different aspects of binaural processing

What You Will: a Twelfth Night Adaptation

For my Senior Honors Project in ECU’s Honors College, I have adapted and directed Twelfth Night, cut down to only the sub-plot of Antonio and Sebastian, and titled it What You Will (Shakespeare’s alternate title for Twelfth Night). This adapted version of this play will shed light on the often forgotten tragic character of Antonio, whose only downfall was loving someone who didn’t love him back. This story is something that everyone has experienced in one way or another, whether it is your cat not wanting to be near you, your middle school crush not giving you the time of day, or watching the person you love marry someone else. Because unrequited love is something all audience members will be able to relate to, I wanted to highlight this sub-plot without all the distraction of the main characters. The main characters are still part of the adapted script, but their main function is to highlight the tragedy of Antonio’s story

Disordered: A Tale of the Body

While a body of creative nonfiction writing exists regarding experiences with various psychological disorders, few personal accounts have been written about the physical complications of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Some memoirs tell a tale of serious illness in a straightforward narrative line. On the opposite end of this spectrum, other memoirs intentionally blur the lines of truth and heighten the confusion of a disorder. This thesis is as much a narrative of my experience with Generalized Anxiety Disorder as it is a response to the void in creative nonfiction surrounding this specific disorder and the narrative forms others have chosen to utilize while writing about the body. In this thesis, I manipulate traditional narrative forms to expose the truth of my experience. The first chapter contains a straightforward narrative of my experience in the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine in Ashland, Pennsylvania, to provide a framework for a thesis regarding the redemption of a ruined landscape, or an ill body. The second section follows the guidelines of a psychosocial interview and intake form used by therapists and reveals the particular physical manifestations of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The third and final section is fragmented into fiction, drama and memoir. The combination of my personal story with illness and the geological, social and industrial history of central Pennsylvania coal mining and the mutation of form used to convey it permits a deeper level of understanding for the complexities surrounding collapsed bodies, landscapes and narratives

Building Knowledge, Making Meaning, and Applying Understanding of Learner Agency in a New Zealand Primary School

This study builds knowledge, makes meaning and applies understanding about Learner Agency. It presents enablers, capabilities and perceptions of both students and teachers from Stonefields Primary School (SPS) in New Zealand. Quantitative data was gathered by implementing the Agency Self-perception Tool (ASpT) with 1089 Year 4-8 learners in four schools. The ASpT was developed at SPS and validated in this study. Focus Groups enabled scaffolding of the quantitative findings and support literature

The Resurrection of Nora O\u27Brien

There is a cave, hidden in the hills, that brings the dead back to life. Its power is the driving force behind the blood feud between the Walshes and the O’Briens that lasts for generations. Jeremiah Walsh, a young boy growing up just after the civil war, is entrusted with the location of the cave and its secrets. But when he kills to protect his family legacy, he is stricken with guilt and questions his loyalties. His story parallels Nora O’Brien’s, a teenage girl who moves to the Ozarks with her family after the death of her grandfather. As she explores her grandfather’s house, her family’s dark past comes to light and she finds herself on a quest to find the legendary cave. Eventually, Jeremiah and Nora’s timelines merge. The Resurrection of Nora O’Brien uses dual timelines to create a story set in both the past and the present. It does not conform to a single genre, but rather blends genre, as John Gardner talks about in The Art of Fiction. It is part regional novel, like Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell; part historical fiction, like The Teeth of the Souls by Steve Yates; and part fantasy, like Natalie Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting

Geophysical Investigations of the Mound City Borrow Pits, Ross County, Ohio

Geophysical subsurface imaging is becoming a common practice in archaeology. Non-invasive geophysical methods provide efficient alternatives to costly and invasive excavations, allowing archaeologists to analyze sites before any excavation is done to identify areas of interest. For my thesis, I investigated two prehistoric borrow pits at the Mound City Group (200 BC - 200 AD) in the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in south-central Ohio. The primary objective of this study was to determine the presence and spatial extent of a clay lining that was emplaced upon the borrow pits by the Hopewell people. Information gleaned from the geophysical investigation was used to assess the degree of site disturbance from agriculture, construction of Camp Sherman, and modern reconstruction of the earthworks. My analysis included a suite of overlapping geophysical surveys consisting of ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, electromagnetic induction, and electrical resistivity. The geophysical data was ground-truthed with limited auguring and trenching. Analysis of the first borrow pit data showed strong evidence of historical disturbance within the pit from construction of Camp Sherman, including disturbed soil and a buried utility pipe, leaving little of the clay lining present except around the edges of the borrow pit. The geophysical data for the second borrow pit showed less historical damage that was primarily caused from the re-excavation of the pit during the reconstruction of the park. The second borrow pit still retains about half of the clay lining, a finding supported by the results of auguring and trenching. These results are evidence that the borrow pits at Mound City may have also served a purpose as cultural landscape features. The geophysical methods used in this study proved to be an invaluable source of information with minimal disturbance of the site

Does nest defense behavior vary with differences in landscape features in four species of shrub-nesting birds?

This study focused on if landscape features around the nest affect levels of anti-predator behavior in different shrub-land birds. Adult behavior was recorded on day 7 post-hatch, when chicks were remover as part of another study. The species studied are American Robins (AMRO), Gray Catbirds (GRCA), Northern Cardinals (NOCA) and Brown Thrashers (BRTH). The behavior between the different landscapes of AMROs and GRCAs was not significantly different. This shows that the energy difference is not significant enough to deter protective behavior. However, the NOCAs in less developed areas had a significantly more aggressive behavior. Also, the BRTHs had a significantly higher behavior score in lower percent grassland/shrub-land areas. This may be due to predation risk and perceived quality of the habitat. Variation in their habitat influenced their behavior.Ope

Complexity of Sizing for Space Suit Applications

The `fit? of a garment is often considered to be a subjective measure of garment quality. However, some experts attest that a complaint of poor garment fit is a symptom of inadequate or excessive ease, the space between the garment and the wearer. Fit has traditionally been hard to quantify, and space suits are an extreme example, where fit is difficult to measure but crucial for safety and operability. A proper space suit fit is particularly challenging because of NASA?s need to fit an incredibly diverse population (males and females from the 1st to 99th percentile) while developing a minimum number of space suit sizes. Because so few sizes are available, the available space suits must be optimized so that each fits a large segment of the population without compromising the fit of any one wearer