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The Influence of a Single Therapeutic Dose of Methadone on Selected Auditory Functions in Patients Addicted to Opioids and Undergoing Substitution Therapy – a Preliminary Study

Tarnowska E., Wicher A., Sęk A., Gorzelańczyk E. J.

Archives of Acoustics

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2018

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Vol. 43, No. 1

137--146

EN

The main purpose of this research was to determine the influence of a therapeutic dose of an opioid drug (methadone) on selected auditory functions in patients addicted to opioids (recognition ICD-10; F11) and undergoing substitution therapy. Various hearing tests were used in this research – pure tone audiometry, impedance audiometry, otoacoustic emission measurement, and a speech in noise test – in two sessions, before and after methadone intake. It was found that methadone causes an improvement in speech intelligibility when speech is presented in speech-like noise, and slightly decreases hearing thresholds [dB HL]. Methadone consumption has no significant impact on distortion product otoacoustic emissions levels (DPOAE). In summary, a prescribed methadone dose does not worsen the hearing of opioid-dependent subjects.

2

Wyposażenie tuneli drogowych w Polsce na przykładzie Gliwic i Gdańska. Komunikat

Wicher A., Pitura D., Buczyński A.

Budownictwo Górnicze i Tunelowe

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2016

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nr 3

17--22

PL

W artykule omówiono regulacje prawne w zakresie wyposażenia technicznego tuneli drogowych obowiązujące w Unii Europejskiej oraz proces ich wdrożenia przez Polskę. Na przykładzie tuneli w Gdańsku i Gliwicach omówiono systemy: wentylacja, monitoring video, łączność radiowa dla służb ratunkowych, łączność SOS, organizacja ruchu drogowego, zarządzanie i sterowanie tunelem, system alarmowania pożarowego, dźwiękowy system ostrzegawczy, pomiar jakości powietrza, oświetlenie ogólne tunelu, oświetlenie orientacyjne LED, oświetlenie ewakuacyjne, oświetlenie kanału technicznego i przejść ewakuacyjnych, zasilanie.

EN

The article discusses the legal regulations in the field of technical equipment of road tunnels in force in the European Union and the process of their implementation by Poland. On the example of tunnels in Gdansk and Gliwice the article discusses the systems of ventilation, video surveillance, radio communication for emergency services, SOS communication, road traffic organization, management and control of a tunnel, system of fire alarming, acoustic warning system, measurement of air quality, general lighting of the tunnel, indicative LED lighting, evacuation lighting, lighting of technical passage and evacuation ways, power supply.

3

The Influence of the Semantic Material on the Assessment of Speech Reception Threshold

Krenz M., Wicher A., Sęk A.

Archives of Acoustics

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2015

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Vol. 40, No. 1

41--50

EN

To determine speech intelligibility using the test suggested by Ozimek et al. (2009), the subject composed sentences with the words presented on a computer screen. However, the number and the type of these words were chosen arbitrarily. The subject was always presented with 18, similarly sounding words. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine whether the number and the type of alternative words used by Ozimek et al. (2009), had a significant influence on the speech intelligibility. The aim was also to determine an optimal number of alternative words: i.e., the number that did not affect the speech reception threshold (SRT) and not unduly lengthened the duration of the test. The study conducted using a group of 10 subjects with normal hearing showed that an increase in the number of words to choose from 12 to 30 increased the speech intelligibility by about 0.3 dB/6 words. The use of paronyms as alternative words as opposed to random words, leads to an increase in the speech intelligibility by about 0.6 dB, which is equivalent to a decrease in intelligibility by 15 percentage points. Enlarging the number of words to choose from, and switching alternative words to paronyms, led to an increase in response time from approximately 11 to 16 s. It seems that the use of paronyms as alternative words as well as using 12 or 18 words to choose from is the best choice when using the Polish Sentence Test (PST).

4

Changes in Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission Caused by Contralateral Broadband Noise

Ozimek E., Wicher A.

Archives of Acoustics

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2014

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Vol. 39, No. 1

125--138

EN

The main purpose of this investigation was to measure the effect of contralateral acoustic stimulation (CAS) on distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) in twenty human ears, for a ratio of primary tones f2/f1 = 1.22 and a wide frequency range of f2 (1.4–9 kHz), for two intensity levels of primary tones (L1 = 60 dB SPL; L2 = 50 dB SPL and L1 = 70 dB SPL; L2 = 60 dB SPL) and two intensity levels of CAS (50 and 60 dB SPL). It was found that in the presence of CAS, in the majority of cases the DPOAE level decreased (suppression), but it might also increase (enhancement) or remain unchanged depending on the frequency. The mean suppression level of the component of the frequency fDP = 2f1 − f2 might be approximated by a linearly decreasing function of the f2 frequency of primary tones. The slope of this function was negative and increased with an increase of the contralateral stimulation level. The higher was the contralateral noise level the greater was the suppression. For the fDP level below about 15 dB SPL, suppression was observed in a substantial number of measurement cases (in about 85% of all measured cases on average). When the fDP level was higher than 15 dB SPL, only suppression (not enhancement) was observed.

5

Psychofizyczne i fizyczne metody badań słuchu

Wicher A., Sęk A.

Postępy Fizyki

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2013

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T. 64, z. 3-6

110--115

PL

Psychofizyczne metody badań słuchu dotyczą określenia zależności pomiędzy fizycznymi parametrami fali akustycznej a wrażeniem dźwiękowym, powstającym na skutek stymulacji układu słuchowego sygnałem akustycznym.

6

A fast method for the determination of psychophysical tuning curves: further refining

Sęk A., Wicher A., Drgas S.

Archives of Acoustics

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2007

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Vol. 32, No. 3

707--728

EN

Psychophysical tuning curves (PTCs) are usually measured by determining the level of a narrowband noise required just to mask a fixed, low-level tone, for several masker centre frequencies. PTCs are often used to assess the frequency selectivity of the auditory system and they have also been used to detect “dead regions” in the cochlea, especially to define the frequency boundaries of the dead regions. However, the traditional method of PTC determination is too-time consuming for use in clinical practice. This paper is concerned with further evaluation and refining of a fast method for determining PTCs, based on the use of a sweeping band of noise. The fixed sinusoidal signal is turned on and off at regular time intervals and is masked by a band of noise, whose centre frequency sweeps over a range of two octaves during four minutes. A Békésy method is used to determine the masker level required for threshold; the subject presses a button to indicate that the signal is inaudible, and releases it when the signal is audible, and the masker level is adjusted accordingly by a computer. The fast method was evaluated using normally hearing subjects and showed good agreement with the results obtained with the use of the traditional method. The shapes of the PTCs, the slopes of the lowand high-frequency skirts, and the positions of the minima were very similar when the fast and the traditional methods were used. However from the point of view of clinical usage the determination of the PTC tip, that is the masker centre frequency at which the masker level is lowest is the most important issue. The position of the PTC minimum with reference to the tone frequency indicates the presence of a dead region. Therefore, in this study several methods of the PTC minimum estimation were evaluated and compared. It has turned out that a fitting method of a single PTC by means of a square function yielded the best results. The method gave the smallest standard deviation, the highest kurtosis and the narrowest range of the PTC minima.

7

Intelligibility of speech processed by a spectral contrast enhancement procedure and a binaural procedure

Sęk A., Skrodzka E., Ozimek E., Wicher A.

Archives of Acoustics

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2004

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Vol. 29, no. 1

25-34

EN

The study reported was undertaken as an attempt to improve the intelligibility of selected speech signals (numerical test) masked by a speech-shaped noise, by a proposed algorithm of the speech signal processing based on the spectral contrast enhancement and binaural procedure. The spectral contrast enhancement involved the transformation of the speech signal spectrum to achieve an increase in the level of the amplitude between subsequent minima and maxima of individual formants. The binaural procedure involved the determination of the interaural time difference (ITD) and the interaural intensity difference (IID) in order to select and enhance the fragments reaching the listener from the front. The intelligibility of speech processed by the algorithm was compared to that of the unprocessed speech for different spatial separations between the signal and the noise sources and for a few signal to noise ratios. The results have shown that the intelligibility of the speech presented against the noise significantly depends on the angle between the directions of the signal and the noise. The intelligibility of speech is much larger when the noise and the speech reach the observer from different directions, i.e. when their sources are spatially separated. In general, the algorithm improves the intelligibility of numerical tests presented at the background of the noise by a few percent and the greatest improvement has been observed for low signal to noise ratios. The algorithm performance was different for each hearing impaired subject with binaural hearing loss. To get an objective assessment of the algorithm performance it should be optimised and tested on a larger group of subjects for more diverse sound material.

8

Auditory filters in sensorineural hearing impaired subjects

Skrodzka E. B., Wicher A., Ozimek E., Sęk A. P.

Archives of Acoustics

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2002

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Vol. 27, no. 3

159-174

EN

The study is devoted to determination of the shape of the auditory filters in subjects with sensorineural hearing loss. Apart from the classical sensorineural hearing loss, changes in the auditory filter shapes have been analysed in the subject diagnosed with dead regions. The dead region is an area on the basilar membrane over which the functioning of the inner hair cells and/or neurones innervating them has ceased. This type of hearing impairment means that the information on the sounds whose frequencies correspond to the dead region of the basilar membrane are to a very limited degree if at all, transmitted to higher levels of the auditory path. This transmission, if happens, is performed through the auditory filters at the centre frequency other than that of the signal. This phenomenon and the fact that in the dead region the hearing loss is theoretically infinite, affect the transmittance of the auditory filters. Results of the study reported here have shown that in general, the subjects with sensorineural hearing loss develop broadening of the auditory filter accompanied by reducing of its dynamics. This fact explains a considerable decrease in speech intelligibility presented at a background of a noise. In the subject with the dead regions the broadening of the filters was the greatest in the region of the dead one. The results also indicate the lack of correlation between the shape and width of the auditory filter and the shape of the audiogram.

9

Binauralna percepcja sygnałów FM w przypadku miedzyusznej różnicy częstotliwości modulacji]

Wicher A., Ozimek E.

Prace Naukowe Instytutu Telekomunikacji i Akustyki Politechniki Wrocławskiej. Konferencje

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2001

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Vol. 83, nr 27

109-112

EN

The main objective of this study was to determine the binaural interaction in modulation frequency domain for FM signals. The results have show that for interaural differences in modulation frequency, except for fast frequency deviation, the subjects perceived additionally slow frequency deviation with rate corresponding to interaural modulation frequency. The range of this deviation depended on interaural differences in modulation rate.

10

Binaural perception of amplitude and frequency modulated signals

Ozimek E., Wicher A.

Archives of Acoustics

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2000

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Vol. 25, no. 2

131-145

EN

The investigations focused on the binaural perception of amplitude modulated (AM) and frequency modulated (FM) signals. They are comprised of two experiments. In the first experiment binaurally perceived (matched) modulation depth for AM signals was determined under diotic conditions (i.e. for the same values of modulation depth coefficient, m, presented to the left (ml) and right (mr) ears) and under dichotic conditions (i.e. for different values of these coefficients ml [różne od] mr). The measurements were made for the interaural differences in modulation depth coefficient [delta]m, changing from 0 to 100% and a few selected modulating frequencies (4, 64 and 128 Hz) and carrier frequencies (250 and 1000 Hz). In the second experiment binaurally perceived (matched) frequency deviation of FM signals was determined under diotic conditions (i.e. for the same values of frequency deviation, [delta]f, presented to the left (delta f_l) and right (delta fr) ear (delta fl =delta fr) and under dichotic conditions (i.e. for different values of this deviation (delta fl delta delta fr)). The measurements were made for the interaural differences of frequency deviation changing from 0 to 20 Hz; a few selected modulating frequencies (32, 64 and 128 Hz) and carrier frequencies (500 and 1000 Hz). It was found in Experiment I that for small interaural differences in modulation depth, delta m, the binaurally perceived modulation depth, m, is equal to the arithmetic mean of the depths presented to the left and right ears, whereas for large values of delta m, the value of m is smaller than the mean. The results of Experiment II revealed that the binaurally perceived frequency deviation is a linear function of interaural differences of this deviation and is equal to the arithmetic mean of deviations presented to the left and right ears.

11

Symmetry and asymmetry as a physical and perceptual feature of the complementary pair of bearing sinusoids. Part II. Pitch matching experiments

Rutkowski L., Wicher A.

Archives of Acoustics

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1998

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Vol. 23, no. 1

67--85

EN

Two experiments were designed and performed in that the pitch of complementary pairs of beats signals, referred to as SL and SH, was evaluated. In experiment 1, the changeable signal consists of a pair of signals of equal sound pressure level and of the same separation of frequencies as this between SL and SH. Experiment 2 was made in the AM mode with a changeable signal whose amplitude envelope is identical with that of the SL/SH pair; the carrier frequency could be varied during the experiment. The results of the experiment 1 do not confirm the asymmetry in the evaluation of the pitch of the pairs of SL/SH signals with respect to the average frequency of the beats, a feature that has been reported earlier in the literature. On the order hand, the outcome of the experiment 2 point to certain asymmetry, moreover, the data reveal a large pitch difference of the SL/SH pairs; this difference (for which no explanation has been offered yet) is often much larger than that measured in experiment 1. The observed asymmetry, which is due to frequency variations determined with the frequency envelope (Part I) resulting from the broadband character of the beatings, does not quite justify the range of asymmetries reported in literature.