Frequency responses of hearing aids and their effects on the speech perception of eight hard-of-hearing subjects

This dissertation examines the relationship between frequency response and word-discrimination performance of hearing-impaired persons. Three questions are addressed: does the restoration of the normal field-to-eardrum transfer function improve word discrimination; is the restoration of the normal shape of the audibility curve (uniform hearing level at all frequencies) beneficial to hearing-impaired listeners; and can speech discrimination be improved by an extension of the present narrow-band response in hearing aids.

Evaluation of sentence perception of adults with hearing loss when using a video teleconferencing system

This study evaluate the speech perception of hearing-impaired adults (with varying degrees of deafness) when using a video teleconferencing system (an integrated service digital network).

Speech perception by the chinchilla: discrimination of /I/ and /A/ in various consonantal contexts

This paper discusses a study done with chinchillas and their ability to organize speech sounds into auditory concepts.

Dimensional tradeoffs in the perception of complex tone sequences

This paper reviews a study of four complex tones and sound perception among the tones.

Perception and cognition in deaf children

This dissertation examines conceptual functioning of hearing impaired persons. Specifically the study addresses perceptual and conceptual functioning in both deaf and hearing children and whether there is a difference in performance as a function of hearing status, as attributable to age differences, or as a function of the school environment.

Perception of speech through a 500 Hz low-pass filter: sensory aids and communication strategies

This paper reviews a study to investigate how a hearing impaired person can learn to discriminate speech distorted by a low pass filter in a sensory aid.

The effect of talker age and gender on speech perception of pediatric cochlear implant users

Most clinically-employed speech materials for testing hearing impaired individuals are recordings made by adult male talkers. The author examined the possible effect of talker age and gender on the speech perception of children through the use of 1) two speech perception tests, each with four talker types (adult males, adult females, 10-12 year olds, 5-7 year olds), and 2) two groups of pediatric listeners: normal-hearing (NH) and cochlear implant users (CI).

Student musicians' perception of loudness and how it correlates to the measured level

The purpose of this project was to evaluate student musicians’ perception of loudness and see how it relates to the measured sound level when playing an instrument alone and when playing in an orchestra. Perhaps by examining this relationship, strategies can be developed to educate musicians on the risk of excessive noise exposure and hearing protection options.

Evaluation of auditory-visual speech perception in individuals diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer's type

Auditory-visual speech perception testing was completed using wordandconsonant-level stimuli in individuals with known degrees of dementia of theAlzheimer’s type. The correlations with the cognitive measures and the speechperception measures (A-only, V-only, AV, VE or AE) did not reveal significantrelationships.

The effect of talker age and gender on speech perception of pediatric hearing aid users

Even though pediatric hearing aid (HA) users listen most often to female talkers, clinically-used speech tests primarily consist of adult male talkers' speech. Potential effects of age and/or gender of the talker on speech perception of pediatric HA users were examined using two speech tests, hVd-vowel identification and CNC word recognition, and using speech materials spoken by four talker types (adult males, adult females, 10-12 year old girls, and 5-7 year old girls). For the nine pediatric HA users tested, word scores for the male talker's speech were higher than those for the female talkers, indicating that talker type can affect word recognition scores and that clinical tests may over-estimate everyday speech communication abilities of pediatric HA users.

The Court of Justice of the European Union as a fundamental rights tribunal: challenges for the effective delivery of fundamental rights in the area of freedom, security and justice. CEPS Paper in Liberty and Security in Europe No. 49, 29 August 2012

This paper reflects on the challenges facing the effective implementation of the new EU fundamental rights architecture that emerged from the Lisbon Treaty. Particular attention is paid to the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and its ability to function as a ‘fundamental rights tribunal’. The paper first analyses the praxis of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and its long-standing experience in overseeing the practical implementation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Against this analysis, it then examines the readiness of the CJEU to live up to its consolidated and strengthened mandate on fundamental rights as one of the prime guarantors of the effective implementation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. We specifically review the role of ‘third-party interventions’ by non-governmental organisations, international and regional human rights actors as well as ‘interim relief measures’ when ensuring effective judicial protection of vulnerable individuals in cases of alleged violations of fundamental human rights. To flesh out our arguments, we rely on examples within the scope of the relatively new and complex domain of EU legislation, the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ), and its immigration, external border and asylum policies. In view of the fundamental rights-sensitive nature of these domains, which often encounter shifts of accountability and responsibility in their practical application, and the Lisbon Treaty’s expansion of the jurisdiction of the CJEU to interpret and review EU AFSJ legislation, this area can be seen as an excellent test case for the analyses at hand. The final section puts forth a set of policy suggestions that can assist the CJEU in the process of adjusting itself to the new fundamental rights context in a post-Lisbon Treaty setting.