جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « Loudness » در نشریات گروه « پزشکی »

Bachground: Noise is one of the most important harmful factors in the environment. There are limited studies on the effect of noise loudness on brain signals and attention. The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between exposure to different loudness levels with brain index, types of attention, and subjective evaluation.

Four noises with different loudness levels were generated. Sixty‑four male students participated in this study. Each subject performed the integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test (IVA-2) test before and during exposure to noise loudness signals while their electroencephalography was recorded. Finally, the alpha‑to‑gamma ratio (AGR), five types of attention, and the subjective evaluation results were examined.

During exposure to loudness levels, the AGR and types of attention decreased while the NASA‑Tax Load Index (NASA‑TLX) scores increased. The noise exposure at lower loudness levels (65 and 75 phon) leads to greater attention dysfunction than at higher loudness. The AGR was significantly changed during exposure to 65 and 75 phon and audio stimuli. This significant change was observed in exposure at all loudness levels except 85 phon and visual stimuli. The divided and sustained attention changed significantly during exposure to all loudness levels and visual stimuli. The AGR had a significant inverse correlation with the total score of NASA‑TLX during noise exposure.

These results can lead to the design of methods to control the psychological effects of noise at specific frequencies (250 and 4000 Hz) and can prevent non‑auditory damage to human cognitive performance in industrial and urban environments.

In the early stages, most Parkinson’s patients display some degrees of voice and speech disorders. Speech disorders can negatively affect individuals’ social interactions and life; thus, treatment plans for the disorders in the early stages might be further beneficial than the late stages. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effects of an intervention on Persian-speaking patients with early mild Parkinson’s Disease (PD). The intervention was the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT).

This was an interventional study and included 23 patients with PD. The study participants were randomly assigned into one of two groups; 13 patients in the intervention group (PD-I), and 10 in No-Intervention (PD-NI) group. Normal Persons (NP) or the control group included 13 healthy participants who were neurologically normal and presented no speech and voice disorders. Besides, they were matched with the PD-I group concerning education, age, gender.

There was a significant impairment in Maximum Phonation Time (MPT), vocal loudness in vowel /a/, in reading, and during a monologue speech in the PD group, compared with the NP group (P≤0.001). The LSVT resulted in a significant improvement in all measures in the PD-I group (P≤0.001); however, no significant change was observed between the PD-I and PD-NI groups’ scores in first assessment (P≥0.201). In contrast, the PD-NI group’s results in all measurements of final assessment were significantly lower than those in the PD-I (P≤0.001) and NP (P≤0.001) groups. The MPT also exhibited a considerable improvement in the PD-I group, compared with the controls.

The LSVT, as a therapeutic technique based on the motor learning theory was beneficial in improving the vocal loudness of Persian-speaking patients with PD in the early stages of their disease.

There is challenge to find an effective treatment for tinnitus. Few studies were done on the effects of acupuncture on tinnitus. This study evaluated the effect of acupuncture on chronic non-pulsatile tinnitus.
This randomized double-blind clinical trial was conducted from December 2014 to September 2015. Patients suffering from chronic non-pulsatile tinnitus were randomly allocated into two groups: acupuncture vs. placebo. They were treated in 15 sessions and at the end of the fifteenth sessions and 3 weeks after completion of the treatment, visual analog scale (VAS) for tinnitus loudness and tinnitus severity index (TSI) questionnaires were completed.
The case group included 26 males and 18 females, and in the control group there were 27 males and 17 females: with mean age of 49.11±1.07 and 55.20±8.33 years, respectively (p=0.005). TSI and VAS before treatment were 43.84±2.81 and 9.56±0.43 in cases and 43.52±2.94 and 9.54±0.45 in controls, respectively. Both measures improved after 15 sessions in cases to 24.82±1.04 and 2.88±0.33, and to 33.16±1.24 and 7.86±0.23 in controls. The changes of TSI and VAS were significant in all groups (p Acupuncture is effective in reducing the loudness and severity of tinnitus and can be a useful treatment for nonpulsatile chronic tinnitus