• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.134-139
• /
• 2005

Purpose : To evaluate the usefulness of acoustic noise attenuator on auditory fMRI examination. Materials and methods : The acoustic noise attenuator consists of mask, earmuff and silicon earplug. The soft polyurethane sheet and polyurethane form , which has a good soundproof characteristic were used for mask and earmuff. Auditory fMRI experiments of 500 Hz pure tone stimulation were performed in three different cases; first all of mask, earmuff and earplug, secondly earmuff and earplug only and finally without attenuator in 4 normal hearing volunteers. For data acquisition, BOLD MR imaging technique was employed at a 1.5T MR scanner equipped with high performance gradient system. The raw data were analyzed using a SPM-99 analysis software and the activation maps were obtained. Results : In case of all items of acoustic attenuator used, the results revealed that activation was focused on primary auditory area. When only earmuff and earplug were used, the results showed that the activation spread over primary auditory and secondary associative areas. Last, when no device used, only weak activation was observed on the right auditory cortex. Conclusion : It is expected that the acoustic noise attenuator, which consists of earplugs, earmuffs and mask, is a very useful device in auditory fMRI study.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.163-175
• /
• 2008

Twelve Japanese students living in South Korea have been examined for their perceptual identification of an initial consonant in Korean syllables with or without a white noise. A confusion matrix was then subject to analyses of additive clustering, individual difference scaling, and probability of information transmission, the results of which were also compared to those of South Koreans. The Japanese in the present experiment confused /다/and/타/ most frequently, followed by /가/ and /카/, /자, 차, 짜/, /타/ and /따/, and so on. The results of additive clustering analysis of the Japanese significantly differed from those of the South Koreans. Individual difference scaling revealed dimensions of sonorant, aspiration and coronal. While South Koreans showed binary values on aspiration and tenseness dimensions, the Japanese did continuous values on such dimensions. An information transmission probability analysis revealed that the Japanese participants could not perceive very well such larynx features as tenseness and aspiration compared to the South Korean participants. The former group, however, perceived very well place of articulation features such as labial and coronal. The present results suggest that an approach dealing with structures of base representations is important in understanding the phonological categories of languages.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.20-28
• /
• 2016

Curved squeal noise may result when railway vehicles run on curved tracks. Contact between the wheels and the rails causes a stick-slip phenomenon, which generates squeal noise. In order to identify the mechanism of the squeal noise systematically, a scaled test rig has been fabricated. Knowledge of the contact forces between the wheels and the rail rollers is essential for investigating the squeal noise characteristics; however, it is difficult to measure there contact force. In this study, contact forces have been calculated indirectly according to the modal behavior of the subframe that supports the rail roller and the responses at specific positions of that subframe. In order to verify the estimated contact forces, the displacements at the contact points between the wheels and rail rollers have been calculated from the estimated forces; the resulting values have been compared with the measured displacement values. The SPL at the specific location has been calculated using the estimated contact forces and this also has been compared with the SPL, measured in a semi-anechoic chamber. The comparisons in displacements and SPLs show good correlation.

• Proceedings of the KOR-BRONCHOESO Conference
• /
• 1978.06a
• /
• pp.8.3-8
• /
• 1978

In normal auditory systems, the difference between the bone conduction thresholds obtained with the test ear opened and occluded in low frequency signals below 1, 000Hz is about 10~25 dB. But no difference in these thresholds suggests the presence of a lesion in the conductive mechanism. Sullivan added the differences in these thresholds at 250Hz, 500Hz and 1,000Hz and called "Occlusion Index". In oder to study the audiological significance, we have measured the occlusion index in 40 ears of normal persons, 20 ears of chronic otitis media patients and 20 ears of sensori-neural hearing impairment patients. We also measured the static compliance in 40 normal ears and observed the correlation with the occlusion index. The results are as follows: 1. Occlusion index was 33. $10\pm10.63dB$ in normal group, $3.10\pm3.03dB$ in chronic otitis media; group, $28.10\pm15.17dB$ in sensori-neural group. 2. Static compliance in normal group was $0.61\pm0.31cc$ (0.22~1.75cc) 3. Occlusion index showed inverse proportion to static compliance.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
• /
• v.16 no.4 s.95
• /
• pp.427-437
• /
• 2005

In this paper, the perceived audio level metering algorithm of digital audio sound to be able to operate in real-time is proposed. Through analyzing a conventional recommendation ITU-RBS1387-I for objective audio quality analysis, FFT-based loudness metering algorithm is implemented and the real-time method of that algorithm was advised and proved. The proposed method is based on look-up table. In order to prove the proved method, using 23 pure tones and 30 preselected digital audio samples, its performance and operation time is evaluated. Its performance, compared with an original algorithm's, have a good figure of less than $2\;\%$ error even if look-up table related with spectral spreading have large level resolution of $10\;\cal{dB}$. The proposed algorithm take only 1/21 of original algorithm's measuring time. Also, in the proposed algorithm auditory pitch group energy calculation take 1/450 of original algorithm's and excitation calculation take 1/3.57. In conclusion, the proposed algorithm is expected to be implemented into DSP-based real-time loudness meter.

• Proceedings of the KOR-BRONCHOESO Conference
• /
• 1976.06a
• /
• pp.85.1-85
• /
• 1976

Audiological evaluation was performed for 184 female weavers (351 ears), who were 18~25 years old and have been working under exposure of 103~105 ㏈a of machinary noise. With the duration of employment, they were divided into five groups; under 1 year, 1~2 years, 2~3 years, 3~4 years and over 4 years. The following results were obtained: 1. The incidence ;of noise induced hearing loss was 39.7% (36.2% of ears) and rapidly increased during first 1~2 years. 2. The average maximum hearing loss on the pure tone audiograms appeared at 4,000Hz with .about 40 ㏈ of hearing level. The average hearing level at high frequencies(3,000Hz~8,000Hz) showed below 25㏈ of hearing level in all groups and had the tendency to increase slightly with the duration of working, but the most of hearing losses developed during first one year except at 8,000Hz. 3. The average hearing level at speech frequencies was within normal range but the cases of hearing level over 25 ㏈ at 2,000Hz was 27.1%. 4. The cases with maximum hearing loss at 4,000Hz were 72.7%, but the cases of maximum hearing loss at the other frequencies (3,000Hz, 6,000Hz .and 8,000Hz) were also observed and they increased slightly in numbers with the duration of working. The noise induced hearing loss under the exposure of 103~105㏈a for 5 years, seemed to develope during first 1~2 years and there after slightly .increased hearing loss was showed but no remarkable changes were observed.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.55 no.1
• /
• pp.52-64
• /
• 2023

This study aimed to examine the types and characteristics of otorhinolaryngology examinations performed by clinical laboratory technologists and to investigate the working environment and scope of work of otorhinolaryngology laboratory personnel using online questionnaires. Based on the research results, constructive policy measures for the University-Association-Society were also presented. Most of the survey respondents were in their 40s (34.1%). Females accounted for 80.2% of respondents and 30.8% of them had a career spanning 15 years or more. We found that laboratory personnel had a wide scope of work, high work stress and frequently suffered occupational diseases. We observed that, to reduce stress and increase satisfaction, an expansion of the workforce was necessary. Compared to other occupations, 72% of clinical laboratory technologists occupied more senior positions, occupational distribution depended on senior positions (P<0.001). Clinical laboratory technologists performed about 26 types of otorhinolaryngology examinations. The most frequent test performed daily was pure tone audiometry, and polysomnography took the longest test time, with an average of 8 hours. In conclusion, clinical laboratory technologists were in charge of various specialized otorhinolaryngology examinations. Considering the importance of clinical laboratory technologists in otorhinolaryngology, the University-Association-Society should put in additional effort into nurturing otorhinolaryngology examination experts.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.41-49
• /
• 2023

Objectives: To obtain audiologic basic data to diagnose the noise induced hearing loss of workers in fisheries. Methods: The charts of the referred fishermen with noise induced hearing loss from November 2022 to February 2023 at a general hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry, auditory brainstem response test and auditory steady state response test were conducted. Results: All of them were men over 60 years of age, and the average duration of exposure to noise was 38.9 ± 10.8 years, and the average symptom duration of hearing loss was 13.4 ± 4.3 years. Although the hearing thresholds in the high frequencies were higher than thresholds in the low frequencies, the audiogram showed a down-sloping pattern without rebound at 8 kHz. 10.5% of the cases had thresholds greater than 75 dB in high frequencies, but 57.9% had thresholds greater than 40 dB in low frequencies. Other hearing test results of fishermen were similar to those of general noise-induced hearing loss. Conclusions: Although the fishermen were exposed to noise for a long time, they recognized hearing loss late. The hearing threshold in lower frequencies of the fishermen was higher than expected. Further studies will be needed to analyze the audiologic characteristics of noise-induced hearing loss of the fishermen after confirming noise exposure by conducting a survey on the working environment, such as the noise level and working hours.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.53 no.2
• /
• pp.210-214
• /
• 2010

Purpose : Cisplatin is highly effective for the treatment of solid tumors in children. However, the clinical use of cisplatin is limited by its ototoxicity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ototoxicity in children treated with cisplatin. Method : We performed a single institution retrospective analysis of pediatric oncology patients who received cisplatin therapy between January 2001 and January 2008. Thirty-seven patients with sufficient medical and audiologic data were included in this study. Results : The median age at the time of diagnosis was 10.7 (range 3.8-6.7) years. There were 16 males and 21 females. The underlying diseases were osteosarcoma (15 cases), medulloblastoma (14 cases), germ cell tumors (7 cases), and hepatoblastoma (1 case). The median individual dose was $100mg/m^2$/cycle (56-200). The median cumulative dose was $480mg/m^2$ (200-1,490). Sixteen patients (43%) received cranial radiotherapy. Of the 37 patients, 17 developed hearing loss, leading to an overall incidence of 46%. Logistic regression showed that age at treatment (P =0.04) and cumulative dose of cisplatin (P =0.005) were the significant risk factors in predicting hearing loss in children treated with cisplatin. In all the patients who had hearing loss, there was neither improvement nor aggravation during the follow-up (3-8 months). Conclusion : The cumulative dose of cisplatin (>$500mg/m^2$) and younger age at treatment (<12 years) were 2 most important risk factors for ototoxicity in patients treated with cisplatin. Serial audiometric evaluations are needed in the patients with risk factors during and after cisplatin treatment.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.137-146
• /
• 2003

Objectives : Impaired hearing is a prevalent occupational hazard, not only in industry, but also in the armed forces. In military life, noise has unusual characteristics, and constitutes a serious hazard to hearing. The aim of this study was to analyze the hearing threshold data in order to compare the hearing loss among shipyard workers, representing different workers, and a military service background. Methods : A cross-sectional audiological survey, combined with a questionnaire study, was conducted on a stratified random sample of 440 shipyard workers, with long-term exposure to noise. The employees were divided into four groups, according to their working and military service backgrounds, in relation to their exposure to noise. Results : As expected, the working and military noise exposure group (Group I) had significantly poorer hearing than the other groups. The high frequencies (2-8 kHz) showed the greatest difference in terms of poorer fearing in both ears. The prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) was highest in Group I. A logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the dependence of the NIHL in relation to age, smoking, drinking, working duration, ear protection, past history of ear diseases, and working and military sonics backgrounds, on the noise exposure The important factors found to be related to the NIHL, in relation to noise exposure were: age, work duration, and working and military service backgrounds. The adjusted odds ratio estimates for NIML in the right ear were 4.5 times greater (95% CI 1.7-11.6) for the military noise exposed group, and 7.9 times greater (95% CI 2.0-31.3) for the working noise exposed group than in the controls. The hearing thresholds at the pure-tone average and 4 kHz were significantly increased with age and work duration with both the working and military service backgrounds. Conclusions : From these results, specific preventive programs were planned, which should be assessed by epidemiological surveillance of the military noise exposed population.