Contributions of various transmission paths to speech privacy of open ceiling meeting rooms in open-plan offices

Installing open ceiling meeting rooms inside a large open-plan office provides a solution to increase speech privacy and to reduce speech disturbance in the office. The open ceiling meeting rooms have advantages of low cost construction and flexibility, but have lower speech privacy than that of enclosed rooms due to the open ceiling. Existing research shows that many factors should be taken into account to achieve good speech privacy in open-plan offices and improving only one of these factors may result in little improvement, so it is important to distinguish contributions of different acoustic transmission paths of open ceiling meeting rooms in open-plan offices. This paper proposes an impulse response separation method to quantify contributions of various acoustic paths of open ceiling rooms on speech privacy in open-plan offices. The method is verified with simulations based on the Odeon software and the experiments carried out in 3 different types of rooms. Finally, the proposed method is applied to the Fabpod, a semi enclosed meeting room located in a large indoor office at the Design Research Institute of the RMIT University, to obtain the contributions of different acoustic transmission paths to its speech privacy. The method proposed in this paper and the knowledge obtained are useful for architects to improve the acoustic performance of the next generation Fabpods which are now under design at RMIT University.     

The effect of ambient noise on speech intelligibility in classrooms

Intelligibility tests were performed by teachers and pupils in classrooms under a variety of (road traffic) noise conditions. The intelligibility scores are found to deteriorate at (indoor) noise levels exceeding a critical value of — 15 dB with regard to a teacher's long-term (reverberant) speech level. The implications for external noise levels are discussed: typically, an external noise level of 50 dB(A) would imply that the critical indoor level is exceeded for about 20 per cent of teachers.     

Extended speech intelligibility index for the prediction of the speech reception threshold in fluctuating noise

The extension to the speech intelligibility index (SII; ANSI S3.5-1997 (1997)) proposed by Rhebergen and Versfeld [Rhebergen, K.S., and Versfeld, N.J. (2005). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117(4), 2181-2192] is able to predict for normal-hearing listeners the speech intelligibility in both stationary and fluctuating noise maskers with reasonable accuracy. The extended SII model was validated with speech reception threshold (SRT) data from the literature. However, further validation is required and the present paper describes SRT experiments with nonstationary noise conditions that are critical to the extended model. From these data, it can be concluded that the extended SII model is able to predict the SRTs for the majority of conditions, but that predictions are better when the extended SII model includes a function to account for forward masking.     

Effect of masking noise on cognitive performance and annoyance in open plan offices

Even for low noise levels, employees working in open-plan offices declare they are disturbed by different sound sources and especially by intelligible speech. This paper presents two experiments that aim at studying the effects of sound sources on task performance and cognitive load. In the first experiment, thirty-five individuals were assigned a serial memory task in four noise conditions: printers, intelligible speech, non-intelligible speech and phone rings. Noise annoyance was assessed by measuring task performance and cognitive workload (NASA-TLX). Although there was no significant difference between intelligible speech, unintelligible speech and phone ring tone signals in terms of annoyance, the performance in a memory task decreased in the presence of intelligible speech. In the second experiment, the relevance of a new intelligibility index was evaluated. This index was derived from eSII as defined by Rhebergen et al. (2006) to deal with fluctuating noise as speech babble. Fifty-five subjects performed a serial memory task in four STIt (time varying Speech Transmission Index calculated for every 12.5 ms in dynamic environment) conditions (from 0.38 to 0.69) while STI values were kept constant (around 0.36). No significant difference appeared between the decreases in performance observed with multiple levels of intelligibility. However, a significant difference between two groups of individuals appeared in performance measurements. The group of better performers seemed to be less affected by the high level of intelligibility condition than the other ones.     

Prediction of speech intelligibility for public address systems in traffic tunnels

Traffic tunnels are generally hostile acoustic environments, both in terms of reverberation and ambient noise levels. Public address (PA) systems used to convey spoken warnings must meet stringent design requirements in order to produce sufficiently intelligible speech. To be able to predict PA system performance at tunnel design time, two different speech transmission index (STI) calculation procedures were implemented. The first procedure predicts the STI based on ray-tracing simulations. Comparison with measured STI data showed that this simulation approach yields accurate intelligibility estimates. However, the procedure is time-consuming and too complex to be used by non-specialists. For this reason, a second (simpler and more efficient) procedure was developed, based on fixed non-linear regression, statistically deriving prediction functions from measured data and ray-tracing results. This procedure was compared to the approach based on ray tracing, and found to yield STI predictions closely matching those of the ray-tracing model.     

Effects of unattended speech on performance and subjective distraction: The role of acoustic design in open-plan offices

Unattended background speech is a known source of cognitive and subjective distraction in open-plan offices. This study investigated whether the deleterious effects of background speech can be affected by room acoustic design that decreases speech intelligibility, as measured by the Speech Transmission Index (STI). The experiment was conducted in an open-plan office laboratory (84 m²) in which four acoustic conditions were physically built. Three conditions contained background speech. A quiet condition was included for comparison. The speech conditions differed in terms of the degree of absorption, screen height, desk isolation, and the level of masking sound. The speech sounds simulated an environment where phone conversations are heard from different locations varying in distance. Ninety-eight volunteers were tested. The presence of background speech had detrimental effects on the subjective perceptions of noise effects and on cognitive performance in short-term memory and working memory tasks. These effects were not attenuated nor amplified within a three-hour working period. The reduction of the STI by room acoustic means decreased subjective disturbance, whereas the effects on cognitive performance were somewhat smaller than expected. The effects of room acoustic design on subjective distraction were stronger among noise-sensitive subjects, suggesting that they benefited more from acoustic improvements than non-sensitive subjects. The results imply that reducing the STI is beneficial for performance and acoustic satisfaction especially regarding speech coming from more distant desks. However, acoustic design does not sufficiently decrease the distraction caused by speech from adjacent desks.     

Contributions of cochlea-scaled entropy and consonant-vowel boundaries to prediction of speech intelligibility in noise

Recent evidence suggests that spectral change, as measured by cochlea-scaled entropy (CSE), predicts speech intelligibility better than the information carried by vowels or consonants in sentences. Motivated by this finding, the present study investigates whether intelligibility indices implemented to include segments marked with significant spectral change better predict speech intelligibility in noise than measures that include all phonetic segments paying no attention to vowels/consonants or spectral change. The prediction of two intelligibility measures [normalized covariance measure (NCM), coherence-based speech intelligibility index (CSII)] is investigated using three sentence-segmentation methods: relative root-mean-square (RMS) levels, CSE, and traditional phonetic segmentation of obstruents and sonorants. While the CSE method makes no distinction between spectral changes occurring within vowels/consonants, the RMS-level segmentation method places more emphasis on the vowel-consonant boundaries wherein the spectral change is often most prominent, and perhaps most robust, in the presence of noise. Higher correlation with intelligibility scores was obtained when including sentence segments containing a large number of consonant-vowel boundaries than when including segments with highest entropy or segments based on obstruent/sonorant classification. These data suggest that in the context of intelligibility measures the type of spectral change captured by the measure is important.     

Effect of masker type and age on speech intelligibility and spatial release from masking in children and adults

Speech recognition in noisy environments improves when the speech signal is spatially separated from the interfering sound. This effect, known as spatial release from masking (SRM), was recently shown in young children. The present study compared SRM in children of ages 5-7 with adults for interferers introducing energetic, informational, and/or linguistic components. Three types of interferers were used: speech, reversed speech, and modulated white noise. Two female voices with different long-term spectra were also used. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were compared for: Quiet (target 0 degrees front, no interferer), Front (target and interferer both 0 degrees front), and Right (interferer 90 degrees right, target 0 degrees front). Children had higher SRTs and greater masking than adults. When spatial cues were not available, adults, but not children, were able to use differences in interferer type to separate the target from the interferer. Both children and adults showed SRM. Children, unlike adults, demonstrated large amounts of SRM for a time-reversed speech interferer. In conclusion, masking and SRM vary with the type of interfering sound, and this variation interacts with age; SRM may not depend on the spectral peculiarities of a particular type of voice when the target speech and interfering speech are different sex talkers.     

Performance of children aged 9 to 17 years on a test of speech intelligibility in noise using sentence material with controlled word predictability.

Performance of children aged 9 to 17 years on the SPIN test (Speech Perception in Noise) is described. The 11- and 13-year-olds performed significantly poorer than 15- and 17-year-olds, and this difference occurred primarily for high-predictability sentences presented at a O-dB signal-to-babble ratio. Performance of nine-year-olds was significantly poorer than performance of 11-year-olds. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed.     

Numerical predictions of noise due to subsonic jets from nozzles with and without chevrons

Numerical simulations of round, compressible, turbulent jets using the Shear Stress Transport (SST k-ω) model have been carried out. The three-dimensional calculations have been done on a tetrahedral mesh with 0.9 million cells. Two jets, one cold and hot, have been simulated. The Mach number for both the cases is 0.75. Overall sound pressure levels (SPL) at far-field observer locations have been calculated using Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation. The numerical predictions have been compared with experimental results available in the literature. Axial and radial variation of the mean axial velocity, axial variation of , radial variation of and overall SPL levels are compared. The potential core length is predicted well, but the predicted centerline velocity decay is faster than the measured value. The URANS calculations are not able to predict the absolute values for the overall SPL, but predict the trends reasonably well. The calculations predict the trends and absolute values of the variations of the spectral amplitude well for the aft receivers, but not for the forward receivers. Effect of chevrons on the noise from the jet is also investigated for cold and hot jets. In each case, two chevron taper angles, namely, 0° and 5° are considered. The latter nozzle produces the most significant modification to the baseline spectra and is less effective at high frequencies in abating the noise. The present calculations predict a reduction in the overall SPL for the chevron nozzle with 0° taper angle and a slight increase for chevron nozzle with 5° taper angle, for both cold and hot jets.     

Estimation of increases in noise levels due to installation of transverse rumble strips on urban roads

Increases in noise due to the installation of transverse rumble strips were investigated, by first measuring noise due single vehicles crossing a pilot test field with and without a rumble strip. After that, a procedure was proposed and carried out to estimate increases in noise due to the traffic of vehicles, based on the measurements previously mentioned. This procedure was checked against expressions from the literature that estimate traffic noise as well as measurements in three arterial urban roads without rumble strips installed. Its accuracy was compatible with the ones obtained by applying the literature expressions, the errors lying below 3 dB(A). Then, by taking the aforementioned roads as case studies, estimations were carried out for the increases that would occur in noise levels if rumble strips were installed on them, leading to values between 6 and 7 dB(A). Although such values are dependent on the configuration of the rumble strip employed, the proposed procedure presents generality and could be applied to estimate increases in traffic noise due to installation of rumble strips, by departing from measurements of noise due to single vehicles obtained for a given rumble strip configuration.     

Health and ecological hazards due to natural radioactivity in soil from mining areas of Nasarawa State,Nigeria

Nasarawa State is located in north central Nigeria and it is known as Nigeria's home of solid minerals. It is endowed with barite, copper, zinc, tantalite and granite. Continuous releases of mining waste and tailings into the biosphere may result in a build-up of radionuclides in air, water and soil. This work therefore aims to measure the activity concentration levels of primordial radionuclides in the soil/sediment samples collected from selected mines of the mining areas of Nasarawa State. The paper also assesses the radiological and radio ecological impacts of mining activities on the residents of mining areas and their environment. The activity concentrations of primordial radionuclides (²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K) in the surface soils/sediment samples were determined using sodium iodide-thallium gamma spectroscopy. Seven major mines were considered with 21 samples taken from each of the mines for radiochemistry analysis. The human health hazard assessment was conducted using regulatory methodologies set by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, while the radio ecological impact assessment was conducted using the ERICA tool v. 1.2. The result shows that the activity concentrations of ⁴⁰K in the water ways of the Akiri copper and the Azara barite mines are 60 and 67?% higher than the world average value for ⁴⁰K, respectively. In all mines, the annual effective dose rates (mSv y^?1) were less than unity, and a maximum annual gonadal dose of 0.58 mSv y^?1 is received at the Akiri copper mine, which is almost twice the world average value for gonadal dose. The external hazard indices for all the mines were less than unity. Our results also show that mollusc-gastropod, insect larvae, mollusc-bivalve and zooplankton are the freshwater biotas with the highest dose rates ranging from 5 to 7 µGy h^?1. These higher dose rates could be associated with zinc and copper mining at Abuni and Akiri, respectively. The most exposed terrestrial reference organisms are lichen and bryophytes. In all cases, the radio ecological risks are not likely to be discernible. This paper presents a pioneer data for ecological risk from ionizing contaminants due to mining activity in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Its methodology could be adopted for future work on radioecology of mining.     

The effect of physiological noise in phase functional magnetic resonance imaging: from blood oxygen level-dependent effects to direct detection of neuronal currents

Recently, the possibility to use both magnitude and phase image sets for the statistical evaluation of fMRI has been proposed, with the prospective of increasing both statistical power and the spatial specificity. In the present work, several issues that affect the spatial and temporal stability in fMRI phase time series in the presence of physiologic noise processes are reviewed, discussed and illustrated by experiments performed at 3 T. The observed phase value is a fingerprint of the underlying voxel averaged magnetic field variations. Those related to physiological processes can be considered static or dynamic in relation to the temporal scale of a 2D acquisition and will play out on different spatial scales as well: globally across the entire images slice, and locally depending on the constituents and their relative fractions inside the MRI voxel. The 'static' respiration-induced effects lead to magneto-mechanic scan-to-scan variations in the global magnetic field but may also contribute to local BOLD fluctuations due to respiration-related variations in arterial carbon dioxide. Likewise, the 'dynamic' cardiac-related effects will lead to global susceptibility effects caused by pulsatile motion of the brain as well as local blood pressure-related changes in BOLD and changes in blood flow velocity. Finally, subject motion may lead to variations in both local and global tissue susceptibility that will be especially pronounced close to air cavities. Since dissimilar manifestations of physiological processes can be expected in phase and in magnitude images, a direct relationship between phase and magnitude scan-to-scan fluctuations cannot be assumed a priori. Therefore three different models were defined for the phase stability, each dependent on the relation between phase and magnitude variations and the best will depend on the underlying noise processes. By experiments on healthy volunteers at rest, we showed that phase stability depends on the type of post-processing and can be improved by reducing the low-frequency respiration-induced mechano-magnetic effects. Although the manifestations of physiological noise were in general more pronounced in phase than in magnitude images, due to phase wraps and global Bo effects, we suggest that a phase stability similar to that found in magnitude could theoretically be achieved by adequate correction methods. Moreover, as suggested by our experimental data regarding BOLD-related phase effects, phase stability could even supersede magnitude stability in voxels covering dense microvascular networks with BOLD-related fluctuations as the dominant noise contributor. In the interest of the quality of both BOLD-based and nc-MRI methods, future studies are required to find alternative methods that can improve phase stability, designed to match the temporal and spatial scale of the underlying neuronal activity.     

Phytochemicals in Capsicum oleoresin from different varieties of hot chilli peppers with their antidiabetic and antioxidant activities due to some phenolic compounds

Due to its wide use in nutritional therapy, a capsicum oleoresin extraction from hot chilli pepper was optimized using ultrasound assisted extraction. Under optimal conditions, a 0.1 g sample in 10 mL of a 20% water in methanol solution was extracted at 50 °C for 20 min to remove phytochemicals consisting of oleoresin, phenolics, carotenoids, flavonoids, capsaicinoids (pungency level), reducing sugars. Antioxidant and antidiabetic activities of the crude extracts from 14 chilli pepper varieties were examined. The antioxidant and antidiabetic activities of some phenolic compounds were also tested individually. The results showed that these chilli pepper samples are a rich source of phytochemicals with antioxidant and antidiabetic activities. High antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride, 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazolin-6-sulfonic acid) and ferric ion reducing antioxidant power assays. The crude extracts had a lower level of sugars induced by the inhibitory effect of α-amylase activity. Thus, their enzymatic inhibitory effect might have resulted from a synergism among the phytochemicals concerned. Therefore, a diet with this type of food may have beneficial health effects.     

Study of fossil tracks due to VH and VVH groups of cosmic ray nuclei in olivine crystals from Luna-16 and Luna-24

The olivine crystals from lunar regolith samples taken by the Soviet unmanned spacecrafts Luna-16 and Luna-24 were investigated. Eleven 0.5 –1.0 mm size olivine crystals were mounted in epoxy, polished and then etched in modified WO₄ solution. The Fe-group track densities up to 10⁸ tracks.cm⁻² (Fe-group) were measured under optical microscope. The tracks of length greater than 30 microns due to Z ≥ 36 cosmic ray nuclei are counted for VVH tracks density for all the crystals. The VVH / VH track densities ratio for these lunar olivine crystals varies from 1.25×10⁻⁴ to 2×10⁻³. It corresponds to the averaged depth of these crystals in lunar soil of 2–8 cm during galactic cosmic ray exposure. Lunar crystals are well suited for VVH track studies due to a very high track density. Two crystals were annealed at 430°C for 32 hrs. This procedure eliminates iron group tracks completely and leaves etchable tracks of nuclei with Z 50 even in the olivine crystals with Fe-group tracks up to 1–2×10⁸ tracks cm⁻². We were able to measure two tracks with the length 195 and 210μm which were produced by Th---U group of Galactic cosmic ray nuclei.     

Semiexperimental equilibrium structure of 1-methylisatin from gas-phase electron diffraction data and structural changes in isatin due to 1-methyl and 5-fluoro substituents as predicted by coupled cluster computations

ABSTRACT

The molecular structure of 1-methylisatin (1) has been studied by gas-phase electron diffraction (GED) and quantum chemical computation up to the coupled cluster (CCSD(T)) level of theory. The semiexperimental equilibrium structure (C_s point group symmetry) has been determined from the GED data taking into account anharmonic vibrational corrections calculated in curvilinear coordinates with the B2PLYP force field. To observe fine structural effects due to the presence of different kinds of substituents, the accurate molecular structures of isatin (2) and 5-fluoroisatin (3) were also computed at the CCSD(T) level. The (O=)C–C(=O) carbon–carbon bonds of the pyrroline moiety in 1–3 are found to be remarkably longer than the typical single C–C bond. The electron donating methyl group causes a decrease of the C?N?C angle and an elongation of the N?C bond lengths in the pyrroline ring by 0.7° and up to 0.008?Å, respectively, whereas the electron withdrawing fluorine atom increases the ipso CCC angle by 2.5° in comparison to that in unsubstituted isatin.