• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.41-45
• /
• 2006

This paper deals with human spatial cognition using visual and auditory stimulation. More specially, this investigation is to observe the relationship between the head and the eye motor system for the localization of visual target direction in space and to try to describe what is the role of right-side versus left-side pinna. In the experiment of visual stimulation, nineteen red LEDs (Luminescent Diodes, Brightness: $210\;cd/^2$) arrayed in the horizontal plane of the surrounding panel are used. Here the LEDs are located 10 degrees apart from each other. Physiological parameters such as EOG (Electro-Oculography), head movement, and their synergic control are measured by BIOPAC system and 3SPACE FASTRAK. In the experiment of auditory stimulation, one side of the pinna function was distorted intentionally by inserting a short tube in the ear canal. The localization error caused by right and left side pinna distortion was investigated as well. Since a laser pointer showed much less error (0.5%) in localizing target position than FASTRAK (30%) that has been generally used, a laser pointer was used for the pointing task. It was found that harmonic components were not essential for auditory target localization. However, non-harmonic nearby frequency components was found to be more important in localizing the target direction of sound. We have found that the right pinna carries out one of the most important functions in localizing target direction and pure tone with only one frequency component is confusing to be localized. It was also found that the latency time is shorter in self moved tracking (SMT) than eye alone tracking (EAT) and eye hand tracking (EHT). These results can be used in further study on the characterization of human spatial cognition.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.60-69
• /
• 1999

The noise and vibration sources of rotary compressor for room air-conditioner are pressure pulsation of compression process, cavity resonance of inner space, structural radiation noise of shell and impact noise of discharge valve. Among them, pressure pulsation is very important noise and vibration source. Because it transferred various kinds of noise and vibration like as mentioned above. In this reason, muffler and resonator are used in order to absorb and remove these noises. But an analytical prediction using acoustic analysis does not coincident with the experimental result. The difference between analysis and actual state is due to the assumption of analysis. This paper covered with new concept of muffler design based on the turbulence kinetic energy of flow by using CFD. From this analysis, it is possible to decide the best position of discharge port of muffler. Therefore $2{\sim}3dB$ noise reduction effect is acquired in rotary compressor of 5000 BTU grade. Also new approach of resonator design is suggested. From this study, the characteristics of resonator and surge hole (a kind of resonator without pipe length) are identified. The former is useful for pure tone noise (narrow frequency band), and the latter is effective for broad frequency band. This paper shows that it is very available to use 3 dimensional analysis of resonator in order to predict more exact tuning frequency. The result is proved by a lot of experiments. From combination of fluid analysis and acoustic analysis, up stream position is effective location of resonator concerning turbulence motion of fluid.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.84-87
• /
• 2011

Branchio-otic syndrome(BOS) is a relatively uncommon genetic malformation associated with dysmorphogenesis of the first and second branchial arches and is characterized by branchial fistulae, congenital preauricular fistulae, and anomalies of the pinnae, external, middle, and inner ears, accompanied by hearing loss. Recently, we experienced a case of BOS in a 10 years old female patient and report this case with a review of literature. 10-year-old girl presented with hearing impairment, bilateral preauricular fistula and cervical fistula. The pure tone audiometry revealed that she had 60dB sensorineural hearing loss on right side and 90dB mixed hearing loss on left. Bilateral branchial fistula was found on the neck CT scan and bilateral ossicular and cochlear abnormality combined with enlarged internal auditory canal was noted on the temporal bone CT scan. To investigate the association with EYA1 gene, we performed DNA sequncing with peripheral white blood cell and found the point mutations on Exon 7, 12 and 16 of EYA1 gene. The preauricular fistula and branchial fistula was excised surgically and hearing aid was applied on her left side. There was no sign of fistula recurrence for seven years after the surgery.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.131-140
• /
• 2019

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate the interrelationship between eye movement and auditory function through the effects of eye lateralization on transient evoked otoacoustic emissions of auditory function. Methods : 25 subjects with complete set of ears were used in this study, which composed of 12 males and 13 females with pure tone threshold of below 25 dB without otolaryngology were evaluated. Each of the patient has a visual acuity of greater than 1.0 after correction, and has no problems with eye disease, eye movement, and human parallel system. In a dark silent room, the subjects sat on a chair with their heads fixed on a headrest. The tests were performed by asking the patients to look at a fixed red light dot on a light bar in front of them. This light was directed to the front, right and left sides of the subject at an angle of 40 ° In the presence of the stimulus sound in the ipsilateral ear, the transient evoked otoacoustic emissions of the ipsilateral ear was measured at the straight, right and left fixation. In order to evaluate the transient evoked otoacoustic emissions through the efferent auditory pathway, the transient evoked otoacoustic emission values of the contralateral ear were measured at the straight, right and left fixation. These measurements were taken at frequencies of 1 kHz, 1.4 kHz, 2.0 kHz, 2.8 kHz and 4 kHz, respectively. Results : Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions caused by lateral movement of the eye showed significant changes at 1.4 KHz and 2 KHz of the afferent pathway of the ipsilateral ear. Also, significant changes were observed at 1.4 KHz and 4 KHz of the efferent pathway of the contralateral ear. Conclusion : These results indicated that there is a close relationship between eye movement and auditory cochlea. In the future, further studies considering more diverse subjects and age groups will be needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.24 no.1 s.33
• /
• pp.86-92
• /
• 1991

To test if exposure history to rifle fire or cannonade training during military duty can induce hearing loss, history of personal military service and histroy of gunshot exposure were asked to 228 male college students with self -administrative questionnaire. Otoscopic examination and Rinne's test were performed if any abnormal finding was detected by pure-tone audiometry. Average hearing threshold levels of 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, 2,000 Hz, 4,000 Hz and threshold levels at 4,000 Hz were calculated for 112 students who were remained after exclusion of cases with history of ear disease, of ototoxic drug administration, and of neuropsychiatric disease, and mean of those were compared between group of students who have completed military duty (completed group) and group of those who have not (not-completed group), and between group exposed (exposed group) and group unexposed to gunshot sound (unexposed group). Mean of average hearing threshold level and mean of threshold levels at 4,000 Hz of completed group and those of exposed group were higher than those of not-completed group and unexposed group, respectively. Proportion of cases that average threshold level was greater than 40 dB or threshold levels at 4,000 Hz was greater than 50 dB were higher also in completed group and exposed group than in duty not-completed group and unexposed group, respectively Multiple linear regression analysis including age, duration of military service, degree of gunshot sound exposure as independant variables and average hearing threshold level as dependant variable, was performed in order to estimate the effect of age on hearing, and any considerable effect of age on hearing could not be found. In conclusion, hearing impairment can be induced by rifle fire or cannonade training.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
• /
• v.15 no.12 s.105
• /
• pp.1378-1388
• /
• 2005

Spatial control of sound is essential to deliver better sound to the listener's position in space. As it can be experienced in many listening environments. the quality of sound can not be manifested over every Position in a hall. This motivates us to control sound in a region we select. The primary focus of the developed method has to do with the brightness and contrast of acoustic image in space. In particular, the acoustic brightness control seeks a way to increase loudness of sound over a chosen area, and the contrast control aims to enhance loudness difference between two neighboring regions. This enables us to make two different kinds of zone - the zone of quiet and the zone of loud sound - at the same time. The other perspective of this study is on the direction of sound. It is shown that we can control the direction of perceived sound source by focusing acoustic energy in wavenumber domain. To begin with, the proposed approaches are formulated for pure-tone case. Then the control methods are extended to a more general case, where the excitation signal has broadband spectrum. In order to control the broadband signal in time domain, an inverse filter design problem is defined and solved in frequency domain. Numerical and experimental results obtained in various conditions certainly validate that the acoustic brightness, acoustic contrast, direction of wave front can be manipulated for some finite region in space and time.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.65-73
• /
• 1995

Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss(SNHL) is defined as a sensorineural hearing loss which develops over a period of hours or few days without a definitive causes. The etiology, prognosis, and treatment of SNHL are uncertain. We reviewed records of 76 patients to investigate the efficacy of the stellate ganglion block(SGB)in SNHL. The control group(40 patients) was managed with the medication such as hypaque, heparin, steroid, nicotinic acid, and vitamine. The SGB group(27 patients) was managed with the same medication and SGB (1~2 times/day). The efficacy of treatment was evaluated by mean dB of 500, 1000, 2000 Hz on follow up pure tone audiogram. Recovery rate above 15dB was not different between SGB and the control group (52.4 v.s. 52.0%), though SGB group has much poor prognostic factors. Recovery rate was higher in a case that was treated early. Especially, the recovery rate was 100% when SGB begins within 2 weeks from the onset. Headache and profound type of audiogram were poor prognostic factors. In conclusion, SGB within 2 weeks from the onset is recommanded to improve the recovery rate.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.146-155
• /
• 2003

This study was conducted for investigating the status of management of preemployment health examination and to have an effect on the worker's employment. Health managers of 103 companies in Incheon metropolitan city and Gyeonggi were interviewed by telephone. Of 103 companies, 67(65.1%) said they don't hire the applicants who have an active pulmonary tuberculosis, 80(77.7%) companies said they health HBV carrier is acceptable but active HBV carrier is not 29(28.2%) companies said they don't hire the applicants who have a hypertension or diabetes mellitus, 42(40.8%) companies said they don't hire the applicants who have a hearing disturbance. If HIVD is suspicious in X-ray lumbar-sacral region, 37(78.7% of 47 companies) said they do not hire the applicants. 29(35% of 83 companies) said they cancel the employment of the applicants who are suspicious of noise induced hearing loss on preplacement health examination. From our survey, preemployment health examination was utilizing mainly as a tool for the selection of health employees who don't have a disease. Furthermore, in many companies, additional test items are being included and getting more strict the selection criteria for preemployment health examination. For the right use of preemployment health examination, author suggested that further studies were needed to select the adequate test items and establish the reasonable criteria for preemployment health examination.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.199-206
• /
• 2020

Background: In a wide range of industries, noise-induced hearing loss remains one of the most prevalent occupational problems. This study aimed to assess the noise exposure level and associated factors of hearing loss among textile workers in Yangon Region, Myanmar. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a Textile mill (Thamine), Yangon Region, from April to December 2018. In total, 226 workers who were randomly selected from 3 weaving sections participated in face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. A digital sound level meter and pure-tone audiometer were used for the assessment of noise exposure level and hearing loss, respectively. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the associated factors of hearing loss. Results: In total workers, 66.4% were exposed to ≥85 dB(A) of noise exposure, and the prevalence of hearing loss was 25.7%. Age ≥35 years, below high school education, hearing difficulty, tinnitus, hypertension, > 9 years of service duration in a textile mill were positively associated with hearing loss. After adjusting confounding factors, age ≥35 years (adjusted odds ratio = 6.90, 95% confidence interval = 3.45-13.82) and tinnitus (adjusted odds ratio = 2.88, 95% confidence interval = 1.13-7.37) were persistently associated with hearing loss. Conclusion: Providing occupational hazard education and enforcement of occupational safety regulations should be taken to decrease the noise exposure level. The regular audiometry test should be conducted for assessment of hearing threshold shift. The employer needs to implement a hearing conservation program in workplace when noise exposure reaches or exceeds 85 dB(A) for 8 hours.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.65-70
• /
• 2000

It is blown that the loudness is one of the most important metrics in assessing the sound quality and a calculation method for loudness has been standardized for steady sounds. In this study, a new loudness model is suggested for dealing with the transient sound for a unified analysis of various practical sounds. A signal processing technique is introduced for this purpose, which is required for the band subdivision and the prediction of band-level change of transient sounds. In addition, models for the post-masking and the temporal integration are adopted in the analysis of the loudness of transient sounds. In order to solve the problem of the conventional loudness model in the pure-tone signal processing, a critical band filter is employed in the analysis, which consists of 47 critical filters having a filter spacing of a half of the critical bandwidth. For testing the effectiveness of the present model, the predicted responses are compared with the experimental data and it is observed that they are in good agreements.