-
Intensive & Critical Care Nursing Jun 2024This study aimed to investigate the voice use of nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs) and their perception of acoustic environments.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to investigate the voice use of nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs) and their perception of acoustic environments.
SETTING AND SAMPLE
The research was conducted in four different hospitals in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 60 ICU nurses were recruited for their voice use monitoring and 100 nurses participated in the survey.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Firstly, voice-related parameters such as voice level (SPL, dB), fundamental frequency (F0, Hz), and voicing time percentage (Dt, %) were measured using a vocal monitor. To collect data, a non-invasive accelerometer was attached to the participants' necks during their working hours. Secondly, the perception of the ICU acoustic environment was assessed using semantic differential.
RESULTS
The results showed that nurses spoke approximately 0.9-4 dB louder to patients and colleagues in ICUs compared to quiet rooms, and their fundamental frequency (F0) significantly increased during work. The voice levels of nurses were influenced by background noise levels, with a significant correlation coefficient of 0.44 (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the background noise levels ranged from 58.1 to 73.9 dBA, exceeding the guideline values set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The semantic differential analysis identified 'Stress' and 'Irritation' as the two main components, indicating the prevalence of negative experiences within ICUs.
IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE
This study highlights the potential risk of voice disorders among ICU nurses. The findings also underscore the importance of implementing strategies to reduce noise levels in ICUs to reduce voice disorders among nurses.
Topics: Humans; Phonation; COVID-19; Pandemics; Voice Disorders; Intensive Care Units; Nurses
PubMed: 38232571
DOI: 10.1016/j.iccn.2023.103620 -
Linguistics Nov 2023In this work we are presenting a database structure to encode the phenomenon of differential possession across languages, considering noun possession classes and...
In this work we are presenting a database structure to encode the phenomenon of differential possession across languages, considering noun possession classes and possessive constructions as independent but linked. We show how this structure can be used to study different dimensions of possession: semantics, noun valence, and possessive constructions. We present preliminary survey results from a global sample of 120 languages and show that there is a universal semantic core in both inalienable and non-possessible noun classes. Inalienables are centered on body parts and kinship. Non-possessibles are centered on animals, humans, and natural elements.
PubMed: 38144363
DOI: 10.1515/ling-2022-0021 -
European Journal of Investigation in... Dec 2023According to the neo-functional developmental theory, newborns and infants exhibit complex psycho-bodily functioning. The Basic Experiences of the Self (BEsS) refer to...
According to the neo-functional developmental theory, newborns and infants exhibit complex psycho-bodily functioning. The Basic Experiences of the Self (BEsS) refer to how they fulfil their essential life needs by organising their psycho-bodily functions in a typical configuration. As part of our research study, we developed a prototype psychometric tool called the BEsS Assessment Form (BAF) to assess the BEsS in infants aged zero to three years. We collected video recordings of their spontaneous behaviour and used the BAF to evaluate function polarity. In the BAF, thirty pairs of words represent functions in their dyadic polarity. To estimate the level of function polarity, we used the Osgood semantic differential scale, which ranges from seven to one. The study's results confirm that functions can be assessed by grading along the opposite polarity spectrum. Moreover, in accordance with the theory, the functions can be grouped into four domains: the emotional, postural motor, physiological, and cognitive-symbolic planes. Our findings suggest that the characteristics of BEsS are significantly influenced by the activation of the physiological and postural motor functions, which are related to the early regulation of the autonomic nervous system and can be used to evaluate infant arousal.
PubMed: 38131897
DOI: 10.3390/ejihpe13120198 -
Seizure Jan 2024A clinical decision tool for Transient Loss of Consciousness (TLOC) could reduce currently high misdiagnosis rates and waiting times for specialist assessments. Most...
OBJECTIVE
A clinical decision tool for Transient Loss of Consciousness (TLOC) could reduce currently high misdiagnosis rates and waiting times for specialist assessments. Most clinical decision tools based on patient-reported symptom inventories only distinguish between two of the three most common causes of TLOC (epilepsy, functional /dissociative seizures, and syncope) or struggle with the particularly challenging differentiation between epilepsy and FDS. Based on previous research describing differences in spoken accounts of epileptic seizures and FDS seizures, this study explored the feasibility of predicting the cause of TLOC by combining the automated analysis of patient-reported symptoms and spoken TLOC descriptions.
METHOD
Participants completed an online web application that consisted of a 34-item medical history and symptom questionnaire (iPEP) and spoken interaction with a virtual agent (VA) that asked eight questions about the most recent experience of TLOC. Support Vector Machines (SVM) were trained using different combinations of features and nested leave-one-out cross validation. The iPEP provided a baseline performance. Inspired by previous qualitative research three spoken language based feature sets were designed to assess: (1) formulation effort, (2) the proportion of words from different semantic categories, and (3) verb, adverb, and adjective usage.
RESULTS
76 participants completed the application (Epilepsy = 24, FDS = 36, syncope = 16). Only 61 participants also completed the VA interaction (Epilepsy = 20, FDS = 29, syncope = 12). The iPEP model accurately predicted 65.8 % of all diagnoses, but the inclusion of the language features increased the accuracy to 85.5 % by improving the differential diagnosis between epilepsy and FDS.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that an automated analysis of TLOC descriptions collected using an online web application and VA could improve the accuracy of current clinical decisions tools for TLOC and facilitate clinical stratification processes (such as ensuring appropriate referral to cardiological versus neurological investigation and management pathways).
Topics: Humans; Seizures; Syncope; Unconsciousness; Epilepsy; Surveys and Questionnaires; Diagnosis, Differential
PubMed: 38091849
DOI: 10.1016/j.seizure.2023.11.022 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2023Alterations of verbalized thought occur frequently in psychotic disorders. We characterize linguistic findings in individuals with schizophrenia based on the current... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
Alterations of verbalized thought occur frequently in psychotic disorders. We characterize linguistic findings in individuals with schizophrenia based on the current literature, including findings relevant for differential and early diagnosis.
METHODS
Review of literature published via PubMed search between January 2010 and May 2022.
RESULTS
A total of 143 articles were included. In persons with schizophrenia, language-related alterations can occur at all linguistic levels. Differentiating from findings in persons with affective disorders, typical symptoms in those with schizophrenia mainly include so-called "poverty of speech," reduced word and sentence production, impaired processing of complex syntax, pragmatic language deficits as well as reduced semantic verbal fluency. At the at-risk state, "poverty of content," pragmatic difficulties and reduced verbal fluency could be of predictive value.
DISCUSSION
The current results support multilevel alterations of the language system in persons with schizophrenia. Creative expressions of psychotic experiences are frequently found but are not in the focus of this review. Clinical examinations of linguistic alterations can support differential diagnostics and early detection. Computational methods (Natural Language Processing) may improve the precision of corresponding diagnostics. The relations between language-related and other symptoms can improve diagnostics.
PubMed: 38078276
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1287706 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2023Developmental stuttering is a fluency disorder that may be caused by neurological, genetic, or familial factors. However, a general perception that stuttering is caused...
PURPOSE
Developmental stuttering is a fluency disorder that may be caused by neurological, genetic, or familial factors. However, a general perception that stuttering is caused by psychological problems could lead to negative attitudes toward stuttering, causing prejudice or discrimination against people who stutter (PWS). Thus, our study aimed to investigate whether certain beliefs in etiology of stuttering are related to the negative perception of stuttering.
METHODS
A web-based survey of 413 native Japanese adults, aged 20-69, who did not suffer from stuttering, schizophrenia, or depression, was conducted in August 2021. The participants were recruited through the Web monitor panel. Participants were divided into three uniform groups based on their response to a 27-item questionnaire about their implicit belief regarding the etiology of stuttering: belief in the biological model (stuttering-biological group), belief in the psychological model (stuttering-psychological group), and the control group (those who responded to perception of healthy adult males). Participants were also asked to respond to 25 items of semantic differential scales about perception of stuttering or healthy adult males. Responses were summarized into several factors by factor analysis, and factor scores were compared among the three groups. The stuttering-biological group had the fewest participants, comprising 80 individuals. Overall, a total of 240 participants, 80 from each group, were included in the analysis.
RESULTS
Some pairs of stereotypes included in semantic differential scales revealed differences between the groups; PWS, irrespective of the participants of the biological or psychological group, were considered as having negative stereotyping properties such as being "tense," "anxious," or "afraid." Additionally, three concepts from the factor analysis of these 25 items were analyzed using an analysis of variance, and significant differences were found; the mean factor score of the "danger" stereotype was lower in the stuttering-biological group compared to the stuttering-psychological group.
CONCLUSION
Although the simplification of the biological model is not recommended, anti-stigma campaigns to educate people that stuttering is caused by multidimensional factors, not just psychological ones, could change the general public's negative perceptions of stuttering.
PubMed: 38034304
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1279169 -
PloS One 2023In recent years, with the development of deep learning technology, deep neural networks have been widely used in the field of medical image segmentation. U-shaped...
In recent years, with the development of deep learning technology, deep neural networks have been widely used in the field of medical image segmentation. U-shaped Network(U-Net) is a segmentation network proposed for medical images based on full-convolution and is gradually becoming the most commonly used segmentation architecture in the medical field. The encoder of U-Net is mainly used to capture the context information in the image, which plays an important role in the performance of the semantic segmentation algorithm. However, it is unstable for U-Net with simple skip connection to perform unstably in global multi-scale modelling, and it is prone to semantic gaps in feature fusion. Inspired by this, in this work, we propose a Deep Tensor Low Rank Channel Cross Fusion Neural Network (DTLR-CS) to replace the simple skip connection in U-Net. To avoid space compression and to solve the high rank problem, we designed a tensor low-ranking module to generate a large number of low-rank tensors containing context features. To reduce semantic differences, we introduced a cross-fusion connection module, which consists of a channel cross-fusion sub-module and a feature connection sub-module. Based on the proposed network, experiments have shown that our network has accurate cell segmentation performance.
Topics: Neural Networks, Computer; Algorithms; Data Compression; Reproduction; Semantic Differential; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
PubMed: 38032913
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294727 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2023The ability to speak is grounded in general memory and control processes and likely changes across the lifespan. However, our knowledge on how word production abilities...
INTRODUCTION
The ability to speak is grounded in general memory and control processes and likely changes across the lifespan. However, our knowledge on how word production abilities naturally evolve from childhood to old age remains marginally investigated. Our aim was to shed further light on this issue by exploiting the contrast between two ways to elicit word production: referential picture naming and inferential naming from definition.
METHODS
We collected accuracy and production latencies in a picture naming task and in a naming from definition task from 130 participants ranging from 10 to 80 years old. Measures of vocabulary size, digit span memory, semantic and phonemic fluencies and processing speed were also collected. We used multivariate adaptative regression splines and regression models to characterize lifespan patterns of the two tasks.
RESULTS
Patterns of increase in performance were similar for picture naming and naming from definition only from childhood to young adulthood. In the second half of the lifespan, significant decrease of performance was found in older adults for picture naming (from around 60 years-old) but not for naming from definition. Clearly, word production elicited with an inferential task (naming from definition) yields different age-related patterns than usually described in the literature with a referential task (picture naming).
DISCUSSION
We discuss how cognitive processes such as visual-conceptual processes and lexical prediction may explain the differential pattern of results in aging in referential and inferential production tasks. We argue for more lifespan studies and the need to investigate language production beyond picture naming, in particular with respect to aging.
PubMed: 38022984
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1237523 -
Language and Speech Nov 2023Constructed languages, frequently invented to support world-building in fantasy and science fiction genres, are often intended to sound similar to the characteristics of...
Constructed languages, frequently invented to support world-building in fantasy and science fiction genres, are often intended to sound similar to the characteristics of the people who speak them. The aims of this study are (1) to investigate whether some fictional languages, such as Orkish whose speakers are portrayed as villainous, are rated more negatively by listeners than, for example, the Elvish languages, even when they are all produced without emotional involvement in the voice; and (2) to investigate whether the rating results can be related to the sound structure of the languages under investigation. An online rating experiment with three 7-point semantic differential scales was conducted, in which three sentences from each of 12 fictional languages (Neo-Orkish, Quenya, Sindarin, Khuzdul, Adûnaic, Klingon, Vulcan, Atlantean, Dothraki, Na'vi, Kesh, ʕuiʕuid) were rated, spoken by a female and a male speaker. The results from 129 participants indicate that Klingon and Dothraki do indeed sound more unpleasant, evil, and aggressive than the Elvish languages Sindarin and Quenya. Furthermore, this difference in rating is predicted by certain characteristics of the sound structure, such as the percentage of non-German sounds and the percentage of voicing. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to theories of language attitude.
PubMed: 38018568
DOI: 10.1177/00238309231202944 -
Brain Topography Jul 2024More than 10% of births are preterm, and the long-term consequences on sensory and semantic processing of non-linguistic information remain poorly understood. 17 very...
More than 10% of births are preterm, and the long-term consequences on sensory and semantic processing of non-linguistic information remain poorly understood. 17 very preterm-born children (born at < 33 weeks gestational age) and 15 full-term controls were tested at 10 years old with an auditory object recognition task, while 64-channel auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were recorded. Sounds consisted of living (animal and human vocalizations) and manmade objects (e.g. household objects, instruments, and tools). Despite similar recognition behavior, AEPs strikingly differed between full-term and preterm children. Starting at 50ms post-stimulus onset, AEPs from preterm children differed topographically from their full-term counterparts. Over the 108-224ms post-stimulus period, full-term children showed stronger AEPs in response to living objects, whereas preterm born children showed the reverse pattern; i.e. stronger AEPs in response to manmade objects. Differential brain activity between semantic categories could reliably classify children according to their preterm status. Moreover, this opposing pattern of differential responses to semantic categories of sounds was also observed in source estimations within a network of occipital, temporal and frontal regions. This study highlights how early life experience in terms of preterm birth shapes sensory and object processing later on in life.
Topics: Humans; Female; Male; Evoked Potentials, Auditory; Child; Semantics; Auditory Perception; Electroencephalography; Acoustic Stimulation; Infant, Premature; Brain; Infant, Newborn; Recognition, Psychology
PubMed: 38010487
DOI: 10.1007/s10548-023-01022-2