Consonance of Complex Tones with Harmonics of Different Intensity

The starting point of this study is the theory of tonal consonance by Plomp and Levelt. The major reference point is the theory of Critical Band and its use for evaluating consonance of simple tones. On the basis of such empirical criterion, our aim consists in providing a method of estimating the value of consonance of complex tones, by taking account not only of the number of harmonics, but also of the intensity of the partials which contribute to forming the tone. By introducing a specific algorithm, the level of consonance of a chord of complex tones is expressed in terms both of frequency differences and sound intensity of the partials. The results give rise to a series of considerations and applications, ranging from displaying the order of consonance of all intervals within the octave up to evaluating the hierarchy of chords in the frame of a musical scale.

读“Neutral Tones”有感

Neutral Tones这首诗歌表达了男女之间的情感,该文从韵律入手,评析反复阅读后得到的独有感受。

Study on the feasibility of five tones combined with electric acupuncture therapy for drug rehabilitation

Objective:To explore the feasibility of five tones combined with electro-acupuncture for drug rehabilitation.Methods:Search and screen the literature related to drug rehabilitation with musical electrico-acupuncture in PubMed,CNKI,CQVIP and Wanfang data to May 2019,and summarize and analyze the literature.Results:Either music therapy or acupuncture therapy has therapeutic responses respectively,and the combined use of both is more effective than the single-use.Conclusion:The combination of five tones and acupuncture is highly feasible for drug rehabilitation.

HMM BASED RECOGNITION OF CHINESE TONES IN CONTINUOUS SPEECH

This paper describes a method for recognizing Chinese tones in continuous speech. The first and second order differentials of the fundamental frequency logarithmically converted are used as feature parameters. A left-to-right hidden Markov modeling with five states, each of which is modeled by a single Gaussian distribution, expresses each of Chinese tones. Non-voiced portions are coded by random values normally distributed to uniformly deal with all the time frames in an utterance. Speaker dependent tone recognition was conducted for ten speakers. The average rate of 81.8% was obtained for these speakers.

Improve English Speaking Skills for Vietnamese Students Through Teaching Tones and Their Communicative Values:A Case Study at Thu Dau Mot University

For those who are going to work with English at an advanced level as English-majored students,teachers or researchers,a deeper understanding about intonation is very important.At this level,intonation deals with more complicated features such as prominence,key,termination,tone,pitch sequence,and orientation in interactions.As a matter of fact,knowledge of these aspects is of crucial importance for advanced learners of English:It can help language users gain more confidence and proficiency in speaking the target language as well as in arriving at a complete understanding of English interactions.Based on the qualitative and quantitative data,the survey reveals the effect of teaching tones on developing speaking skills for advanced students of the language.Regarding the practical applications,this study serves to build up students’awareness and provide useful practice of the knowledge of tones they have to deal with in speech,thus outlining ways to improve speaking skills for students in Vietnamese contexts.

A Preliminary Study on Teaching Korean students Chinese tones: Taking Korean High School Students as an Example

This paper takes the learners who have a one-year experience of learning Chinese in Korean high schools as the investigated and studied sample,concludes the teaching methods of the first,second,third,and fourth Chinese tones,and focuses on the methods of tone teaching.

A PERCEPTUAL STUDY ON MANDARIN TONES BY NATIVE KAM SPEAKERS IN RONGJIANG

This paper aims at investigating the Mandarin tone perception of native Kam speakers in Rongjiang area through the categorical perception experiment,and comparing with the results of the native Mandarin speakers.The results show that the native Kam speakers are able to differentiate phonemic categories among the four Mandarin tones in pairs at the linguistic level.At the behavioral level,the tone perception of T1-T2,T1-T3(T3 as baseline),T1-T4,T2-T4 and T3-T4(T3 as baseline)continua is shown to be categorical,but the degree of categorization is significantly lower than that of the Mandarin speakers.In T1-T3(T1 as baseline),T2-T3 and T3-T4(T4 as baseline)continua,the kam speakers fail to establish categorical perception,exhibiting continuous perception instead.The results indicate that complex tone system of the Kam language does not facilitate the categorical perception of Mandarin tones by Kam speakers.

Auditory cortical responses evoked by pure tones in healthy and sensorineural hearing loss subjects： functional MRI and magnetoencephalography

Background Blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging （fMRI） and magnetoencephalography are new techniques of brain functional imaging which can provide the information of excitation of neurons by measure the changes of hemodynamics and electrophysiological data of local brain tissue. The purpose of this study was to study functional brain areas evoked by pure tones in healthy and sensorineural hearing loss subjects with these techniques and to compare the differences between the two groups. Methods Thirty healthy and 30 sensorineural hearing loss subjects were included in this study. In fMRI, block-design paradigm was used. During the active epoch the participants listened to 1000 Hz, sound pressure level 140 dB pure tones at duration 500 ms, interstimulus interval 1000 ms, which presented continuously via a magnetic resonance-compatible audio system. None stimulus was executed in control epoch. In magnetoencephalography study, every subject received stimuli of 1000 Hz tone bursts delivered to the bilateral ear at duration 8 ms, interstimulus intervals 1000 ms. Sound pressure level in healthy subjects was 30 dB; in sensorineural hearing loss subjects was 20 dB above everyone＇ s hearing threshold respectively. All subjects were examined with 306-channel whole-scalp neuromagnetometer. Results In fMRI, all subjects showed significant activations in bilateral Heschl＇s gyri, anterior pole of planum temporale, planum temporale, precentral gyri, postcentral gyri, supramarginal gyri, superior temporal gyri, inferior frontal gyri, occipital lobes and cerebellums. The healthy subjects had more intensive activation in bilateral Heschl＇s gyri, anterior pole of planum temporale, inferior frontal gyri, left superior temporal gyri and right planum temporale than the hearing loss subjects. But in precentral gyri, postcentral gyri and occipital lobes, the activation is more intensive in the hearing loss subjects. In magnetoencephalography study, both in the hearing loss and the healthy subjects, the most evident audio evoked fields activated by pure tone were N100m, which located precisely on the Heschl＇s gyrus. Compared with the hearing loss subjects, N100m of the healthy subjects was stronger and had longer latencies in right hemisphere. Conclusions Under proper pure tone stimulus the activation of auditory cortex can be elicited both in the healthy and the sensorineural hearing loss subjects. Either at objective equivalent stimuli or at subjectively perceived equivalent stimuli, the auditory responses were more intensive in healthy subjects than hearing loss subjects. The tone stimuli were processed in a network in human brain and there was an intrinsic relation between the auditory and visual cortex. Blood oxygen level dependent fMRI and magnetoencephalography could reinforce each other.

Responses of bacterial strains isolated from drinking water environments to N-acyI-L-homoserine lactones and their analogs during biofilm formation

Often as a result ofbiofilm formation, drinking water distribution systems （DWDS） are regularly faced with the problem of microbial contamination. Quorum sensing （QS） systems play a marked role in the regulation of microbial biofilm formation; thus, inhibition of QS systems may provide a promising approach to biofilm formation control in DWDS. In the present study, 22 bacterial strains were isolated from drinking water-related environments. The following properties of the strains were investigated： bacterial biofilm formation capacity, QS signal molecule N-acyl-L-homoserine lactones （AHLs） production ability, and responses to AHLs and AHL analogs, 3-chloro-4-（dichloromethyl）-5-hydroxy-2（5H）- furanone （MX） and 2（5H）-furanone. Four AHLs were added to developed biofilms at dosages ranging from 0.1 nmol.L J to 100nmol.L1. As a result, the biofilm growth of more than 1/4 of the isolates, which included AHL producers and non-producers, were significantly promoted. Further, the biofilm biomasses were closely associated with respective AHLs concentrations. These results provided evidence to support the idea that AHLs play a definitive role in biofilm formation in many of the studied bacteria. Meanwhile, two AHLs analogs demon- strated unexpectedly minimal negative effects on biofilm formation. This suggested that, in order to find an applicable QS inhibition approach for biofilm control in DWDS, the testing and analysis of more analogs is needed.

Reduction of epinephrine in the lumbar spinal cord following repetitive blast-induced traumatic brain injury in rats

Traumatic brain inju ry-induced unfavorable outcomes in human patients have independently been associated with dysregulated levels of monoamines,especially epinephrine,although few preclinical studies have examined the epinephrine level in the central nervous system after traumatic brain injury.Epinephrine has been shown to regulate the activities of spinal motoneurons as well as increase the heart rate,blood pressure,and blood flow to the hindlimb muscles.Therefore,the purpose of the present study was to determine the impact of repeated blast-induced traumatic brain injury on the epinephrine levels in seve ral function-s pecific central nervous system regions in rats.Following three repeated blast injuries at 3-day intervals,the hippocampus,motor cortex,locus coeruleus,vestibular nuclei,and lumbar spinal cord were harvested at post-injury day eight and processed for epinephrine assays using a high-sensitive electrochemical detector cou pled with high-performance liquid chromatography.Our results showed that the epinephrine levels were significantly decreased in the lumbar spinal cord tissues of blast-induced traumatic brain injury animals compared to the levels detected in age-and sex-matched sham controls.In other function-specific central nervous system regions,although the epinephrine levels were slightly altered following blast-induced tra u matic brain injury,they were not statistically significant.These results suggest that blast injury-induced significant downregulation of epinephrine in the lumbar spinal cord could negatively impact the motor and cardiovascular function.This is the first repo rt to show altered epinephrine levels in the spinal cord following repetitive mild blast-induced traumatic brain injury.

Misinterpretation of sleep-induced second-degree atrioventricular block

A number of publications have claimed that Mobitz type Ⅱ atrioventricular block(AVB)may occur during sleep.None of the reports defined type Ⅱ AVB and representative electrocardiograms were either misinterpreted or missing.Relatively benign Wenckebach type Ⅰ AVB is often misdiagnosed as Mobitz type Ⅱ which is an indication for a pacemaker.Review of the published reports indicates that Mobitz type II AVB does not occur during sleep when it is absent in the awake state.Conclusion:There is no proof that sleep is associated with Mobitz type Ⅱ AVB.

Clinical characteristics and analysis of vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss in different ages

BACKGROUND Numerous studies have found that patients experiencing sudden sensorineural hearing loss(SSHL),with or without accompanying vertigo,often show impaired vestibular function.However,there is a dearth of studies analyzing vestibularevoked myogenic potentials(VEMPs)in SSHL patients across various age groups.AIM To investigate vestibular condition in SSHL patients across various age demographics.METHODS Clinical data of 84 SSHL patients were investigated retrospectively.Audiometry,cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials(c-VEMPs),and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials(o-VEMPs)were conducted on these patients.Parameters assessed included the latencies of P1 and N1 waves,as well as the amplitudes of P1–N1 waves.Moreover,the study evaluated the influence of factors such as sex,affected side,configuration of hearing loss,and presence of accompanying vertigo.RESULTS Among the 84 SSHL patients,no significant differences were observed among the three groups in terms of gender,affected side,and the presence or absence of vertigo.Group II(aged 41–60 years)had the highest number of SSHL cases.The rates of absent o-VEMPs in the affected ears were 20.83%,31.58%,and 22.72%for the three age groups,respectively,with no statistically significant difference among them.The rates of absent c-VEMPs in the affected ears were 8.3%,34.21%,and 18.18%for the three age groups,respectively,with significant differences.In the unaffected ears,there were differences observed in the extraction rates of o-VEMPs in the unaffected ears among the age groups.In the three age groups,no significant differences were noted in the three age groups in the latencies of P1 and N1 waves or in the amplitude of N1–P1 waves for c-VEMPs and o-VEMPs,either on the affected side or on the unaffected side,across the three age groups.CONCLUSION The extraction rate of VEMPs is more valuable than parameters.Regardless of the presence of vertigo,vestibular organs are involved in SSHL.Notably,SSHL patients aged 41–60 appear more susceptible to damage to the inferior vestibular nerve and saccule.

Auditory pre-attentive processing of Chinese tones

Background Chinese tones are considered important in Chinese discrimination. However, the relevant reports on auditory central mechanisms concerning Chinese tones are limited. In this study, mismatch negativity （MMN）, one of the event related potentials （ERP）, was used to investigate pre-attentive processing of Chinese tones, and the differences between the function of oddball MMN and that of control MMN are discussed. Methods Ten subjects （six men and four women） with normal hearing participated in the study. A sequence was presented to these subjects through a loudspeaker, the sequence included four blocks, a control block and three oddball blocks. The control block was made up of five components （one pure tone and four Chinese tones） with equiprobability. The oddball blocks were made up of two components, one was a standard stimulus （tone 1） and the other was a deviant stimulus （tone 2 or tone 3 or tone 4）. Electroencephalogram （EEG） data were recorded when the sequence was presented and MMNs were obtained from the analysis of the EEG data. Results Two kinds of MMNs were obtained, oddball MMN and control MMN. Oddball MMN was obtained by subtracting the ERP elicited by standard stimulation （tone 1） from that elicited by deviant stimulation （tone 2 or tone 3 or tone 4） in the oddball block; control MMN was obtained by subtracting the ERP elicited by the tone in control block, which was the same tone as the deviant stimulation in the oddball block, from the ERP elicited by deviant stimulation （tone 2 or tone 3 or tone 4） in the oddball block. There were two negative waves in oddball MMN, one appeared around 150 ms （oddball MMN 1）, the other around 300 ms （oddball MMN 2）. Only one negative wave appeared around 300 ms in control MMN, which was corresponding to the oddball MMN 2. We performed the statistical analyses in each paradigm for latencies and amplitudes for oddball MMN 2 in discriminating the three Chinese tones and reported no significant differences. But the latencies and amplitudes for control MMN in discriminating the three tones all were significantly different. Conclusions There are evident waveforms for oddball and control MMN obtained in normal hearing persons, indicating that the change of Chinese tones could be detected in the pre-attentive stage. Because control MMN can eliminate reflects for physical characteristics of sound, it is the genuine memory-based pre-attentive processing. Since control MMN can reflect the differences of Chinese tones processing better than oddball MMN, it is more sensitive in evaluating pre-attentive processing in Chinese tones discrimination.

Analysis of the Effect of Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation of Acupoints Combined with Rehabilitation Training in The Treatment of Upper Limb Dysfunction After Stroke

Objective:To analyze the effect of combining transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation(TEAS)with rehabilitation training in patients with upper limb dysfunction after stroke(ULDAS).Methods:A total of 130 ULDAS patients who were hospitalized and rehabilitated in Wuxi Xinwu District Rehabilitation Hospital from May 2021 to May 2023 were selected and randomly divided into Group A(65 cases,rehabilitation training)and Group B(65 cases,rehabilitation training+TEAS).The effects of the two groups were compared.Results:After treatment,the upper limb functional indexes of Group B were better than those of Group A(P<0.05).The rate of muscle tone grades 0-4 in Group B was higher than those of Group A(P<0.05).Conclusion:The function of upper limbs and muscle strength of ULDAS patients improved by combining TEAS with rehabilitation training.

A perceptual study on the domain of tones in Standard Chinese

A perceptual experiment was conducted in which stimuli sliced from 12 StandardChinese syllables spoken in isolation were identified by 10 native speakers of Beijing dialect.The results of the experiment indicate that when the pre-onset or post-offest of a tone is extended to a large extent, the initial voiced consonant, the medial, the nasal coda, and the vocalic ending are not related to the tonal pitch; even when the post-offset is extended to a short extent, the nasal coda and the vocalic cnding are neither related to the tona1 pitch. Thus, with regard to the tonal domain of a Standard Chinese monosyllable in isolation, not only the initial voiced consonant and the medial, but also the nasal coda and the vocalic ending are excludedi in other words, the basic contour of Standard Chincse tone in isolation is mainly related to the syllabic vowel and its adjacent transition. Because F0 in the pre-onset and post- onset are not related to the tonal pitch, there is no exact match between F0 contour and tonal pitch.

Pitch perception of harmonic complex tones based on excitation patterns

Fundamental frequency difference limens were measured to study whether pitch perception of medium-rank harmonic complex tones depends on the resolvability of the compo- nents and to study the effect of masker tone on discrimination performance. Target tone was presented alone, or mixed with the masker, which were filtered into the same bandpass frequency region （low, medium, or high） to obtain different resolvability. There were five kinds of funda- mental frequency difference and four kinds of phase combination between target and masker. Five young subjects participated in experiments, all of whom had normal hearing （thresholds ≤ 15 dB HL）. Results found fundamental frequency difference limens were increased with up-shift frequency region of the harmonics. The fundamental frequency difference between target and masker had a significant impact on the performance, while phase effects were small. Analysis suggested that resolvability of harmonics had a significant impact on the fundamental frequency difference limens, but pitch perception of medium-rank harmonics was not based on the resolv- ability. Analysis also suggested that most results of pitch perception of target-masker mixture were closely correlated with peaks on the excitation patterns.

Visual comfort is affected by urban colorscape tones in hazy weather

PeopLe＇s visual perception and recognition of urban coLorscape tones change significantly in hazy weather. A psychoLogicaL experiment is conducted in this study to investigate visual comfort related to commercial and residential buildings. Visual observations are performed on the tones of an urban coLorscape during hazy weather and air poLLution in Harbin, China. Fifty-eight color samples selected through an orthogonaL method are evaluated through a Ukert scale by 30 subjects in a Laboratory setting. Statistical analysis is performed with the maximal information coefficient and R Language. Experimental results show that the changing threshold values of color tones are related to the visual comfort LeveLs of the subjects. The influence of the three factors of color tones on visual comfort Level is reLativeLy independent, and the effects of value and chroma contrast on color comfort Level are greater than that of hue contrast in hazy weather. Furthermore, the comfort recognition threshold values of color tones in hazy weather are determined through data comparisons and analyses.

Speaker-independent recognition of Chinese tones

This paper presents a reliable speaker-independent method of recognizing Chinese tones. An unbiased center-clipping autocorrelation algorithm of pitch period extraction is proposed. A two-dimensional decision vector is used for recognizing Chinese tones by passing the pitch period sequence through the procedures of data selection, error correction, data smoothing and curve fitting. The average correct rate of tone recognition for isolated Chinese syllables is over 98%.

Auditory function in symptomatic patients recovered from SARS-CoV-2 and unexposed patients:An analytical cross-sectional study

Objective:To describe audiological symptoms,audiometric profile,and distortion product otoacoustic emission in symptomatic patients recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection(positive RT-PCR test)and asymptomatic patients(negative RT-PCR test).Methods:An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted using data obtained from clinical charts,physical examination,audiometry,and distortion product otoacoustic emission on 40 patients[case patients(CP)]recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection diagnosed by a positive RT-PCR test and 22asymptomatic participants with a negative RT-PCR test[non-case(NC)].Results:Sixty-two patients(mean age:31.1 and 28.2 years in the CP and NC groups,respectively)were included.All participants were young without significant comorbidities,risk factors for hearing loss or otological history.Vertigo(5%),tinnitus(17.5%)and aural fullness/hearing loss(35%)were found in the CP group.A statistically significant difference was found in specific frequencies(1000,4000,and 8000 Hz)and pure tone average(low and high conversational frequencies with increased threshold in the PC group compared with the NC group),which was not found in distortion product otoacoustic emission.Conclusion:Audiovestibular symptoms are frequent in symptomatic patients recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection.SARS-CoV-2 infection was consistently associated with an increased audiometric hearing threshold at specific frequencies and low tone average.

三款能够带给女性健康的设计

TONE:TONE是一款能戴在脖子上的时尚产品,它可以使用蒸汽或者LED光治疗改善用户的肤色,保证用户皮肤的健康,使用户具有良好的使用体验。EASE:EASE是一款在睡觉时也在工作的皮肤护理设备,通过了解皮肤质量和睡觉时的姿势,EASE提供不可见的红外线照明和精细蒸汽来改善皮肤状况。