Background: In language learning, reading is a skill that enables interaction with a text in whatever field of knowledge the learner is pursuing. Readers tend to use strategies such as comprehension, ...interpretation and conception of decoding written language and texts to enhance their reading capacity. This research explores the reading strategies applied by Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners and compares the reading abilities of male and female EFL students. Methods: The study interviewed three EFL students about the reading strategies they applied while reading passages and texts. Then an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) reading test was handed over to 26 randomly selected students. Results: The study found that the reading strategies used by the students interviewed involved skimming, scanning, guessing the meaning from context, identifying the mean idea, and summarizing the body of the text in question. Moreover, the study revealed that both male and female students scored low in the IELTS tests that the researchers conducted. The average mean score they reached was 7.15 out of 20. However, even in the low scoring ratio, female students (M=7.69) outperformed male students (M= 6.62) and the difference between them remained significant, P=.000. Conclusions: The study recommends that the language instructors help EFL learners in developing their reading strategies and applying them every time they read any text.
To investigate the relationship between self-reported music perception and appreciation and (1) quality of life (QoL), and (2) self-assessed hearing ability in 98 post-lingually deafened cochlear ...implant (CI) users with a wide age range.
Participants filled three questionnaires: (1) the Dutch Musical Background Questionnaire (DMBQ), which measures the music listening habits, the quality of the sound of music and the self-assessed perception of elements of music; (2) the Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire (NCIQ), which measures health-related QoL; (3) the Speech, Spatial and Qualities (SSQ) of hearing scale, which measures self-assessed hearing ability. Additionally, speech perception was behaviorally measured with a phoneme-in-word identification.
A decline in music listening habits and a low rating of the quality of music after implantation are reported in DMBQ. A significant relationship is found between the music measures and the NCIQ and SSQ; no significant relationships are observed between the DMBQ and speech perception scores.
The findings suggest some relationship between CI users' self-reported music perception ability and QoL and self-reported hearing ability. While the causal relationship is not currently evaluated, the findings may imply that music training programs and/or device improvements that improve music perception may improve QoL and hearing ability.
Background: In language learning, reading is a skill that enables interaction with a text in whatever field of knowledge the learner is pursuing. Readers tend to use strategies such as comprehension, ...interpretation and conception of decoding written language and texts to enhance their reading capacity. This research explores the reading strategies applied by Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners and compares the reading abilities of male and female EFL students. Methods: The study interviewed three EFL students about the reading strategies they applied while reading passages and texts. Then an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) reading test was handed over to 26 randomly selected students. Results: The study found that the reading strategies used by the students interviewed involved skimming, scanning, guessing the meaning from context, identifying the mean idea, and summarizing the body of the text in question. Moreover, the study revealed that both male and female students scored low in the IELTS tests that the researchers conducted. The average mean score they reached was 7.15 out of 20. However, even in the low scoring ratio, female students (M=7.69) outperformed male students (M= 6.62) and the difference between them remained significant, P=.000. Conclusions: The study recommends that the language instructors help EFL learners in developing their reading strategies and applying them every time they read any text.
BACKGROUND: The freshwater sculpins (genus Cottus) are small, bottom-living fishes widely distributed in North America and Europe. The taxonomy of European species has remained unresolved for a long ...time due to the overlap of morphological characters. Sound production has already been documented in some cottid representatives, with sounds being involved in courtship and agonistic interactions. Although the movements associated with sound production have been observed, the underlying mechanism remains incomplete. Here, we focus on two closely related species from Belgium: C. rhenanus and C. perifretum. This study aims 1) to record and to compare acoustic communication in both species, 2) to give further insight into the sound-producing mechanism and 3) to look for new morphological traits allowing species differentiation. RESULTS: Both Cottus species produce multiple-pulsed agonistic sounds using a similar acoustic pattern: the first interpulse duration is always longer, making the first pulse unit distinct from the others. Recording sound production and hearing abilities showed a clear relationship between the sound spectra and auditory thresholds in both species: the peak frequencies of calls are around 150 Hz, which corresponds to their best hearing sensitivity. However, it appears that these fishes could not hear acoustic signals produced by conspecifics in their noisy habitat considering their hearing threshold expressed as sound pressure (~ 125 dB re 1 μPa). High-speed video recordings highlighted that each sound is produced during a complete back and forth movement of the pectoral girdle. CONCLUSIONS: Both Cottus species use an acoustic pattern that remained conserved during species diversification. Surprisingly, calls do not seem to have a communicative function. On the other hand, fish could detect substrate vibrations resulting from movements carried out during sound production. Similarities in temporal and spectral characteristics also suggest that both species share a common sound-producing mechanism, likely based on pectoral girdle vibrations. From a morphological point of view, only the shape of the spinelike scales covering the body allows species differentiation.
Objective: This study was undertaken in a rural area to examine the respective relations between self-perceived hearing problems of frail elderly people and hearing threshold levels (HTL) and speech ...recognition thresholds (SRT). Method: We administered a questionnaire survey assessing self-perceived hearing problems among 35 frail elderly people of a rural area, and conducted tests for HTL and SRT. Results: The following results were obtained. 1. Average values of HTL were 28.0±15.4.9dB for the better ear and 37.4±21.2dB for the worse ear. 2. Average values of HTL in the better ear and in the worse ear from reports of self-perceived hearing problem were significantly different between "Have hearing problems" and "Occasionally have hearing problems." However, no significant difference was found between "Have no hearing problems" and "Occasionally have hearing problems". 3. Examination results by self-perceived hearing problems revealed correlation coefficients between HTL and SRT in the better ear and in the worse ear: r = .718 - .975 (p < .01) for the better ear and r = .648 (p < .05) - .745 (p < .01) for the worse ear. 4. Results indicate that analyzing HTL in the worse ear and in the better ear might increase the validity of self-perceived hearing problems in elderly people. Conclusion: When using self-reported hearing difficulties to identify hearing loss in the frail elderly in a region, results suggest the necessity of gathering information about both ears, including left-ear and right-ear hearing differences.
Octavolateral sensory organs (auditory and lateral line organs) of cave salamander Proteus anguinus are highly differentiated. In the saccular macula of the inner ear the complex pattern of hair cell ...orientation and the large otoconial mass enable particle displacement direction detection. Additionally, the same organ, through air cavities within the body, enables detection of underwater sound pressure changes thus acting as a hearing organ. The cavities in the lungs and mouth of Proteus are a resonators that transmit underwater sound pressure to the inner ear. Behaviourally determined audiograms indicate hearing sensitivity of 60 dB (rel. 1 µPa) at frequencies between 1 and 10 kHz. The hearing frequency range was between 10 Hz and 10 kHz. The hearing sensitivities of depigmented Proteus and black Proteus were compared. The highest sensitivities of the depigmented animals (N=4) were at frequencies 1.3-1.7 kHz and it was 2 kHz in black animals (N=l). Excellent underwater hearing abilities of Proteus are sensory adaptations to cave habitat.
Generally, people tend to think that absolute pitch possessors or musical experts are superior in all of their auditory and musical abilities. However, not much data has been shown to prove whether ...any differences exist in the basic hearing abilities of absolute pitch possessors or musical experts for general sounds outside the context of music. In this study, we conducted four experiments to investigate if absolute pitch possessors or music experts are superior in their basic hearing abilities with respect to frequency resolution, temporal resolution, and spatial resolution. In Experiments 1 and 2, we measured frequency discrimination thresholds and thresholds to detect a tone in notched noise to examine the characteristics of frequency resolution. In Experiment 3, we conducted a gap detection task to measure the temporal resolution. Finally, in Experiment 4, we measured interaural time difference discrimination thresholds to examine the spatial resolution abilities. The overall results show that there were no significant differences in frequency, temporal and spatial resolutions among groups with different absolute pitch capability. This indicates that absolute-pitch possessors do not have particularly ‘good ears’ in terms of resolution.
Early communication intervention has advanced to include neonatal assessment and management. Currently, however, there are limited diagnostic tools developed from a speech-language pathology and ...audiology perspective. The purpose of the study was to design a comprehensive neonatal communication assessment protocol and use it to describe the communication skills of 50 biologically at-risk neonates (852 g-3060 g birthweight). The results indicated that the subjects' general development was within normal limits, but their communication abilities displayed a serious delay. A high risk register consisting of 13 factors predicting the subjects' communication abilities was compiled. The length of time before the subjects could successfully take bottle feeds was found to be the strongest predictor of their communication development. The study is of particular relevance to the present South African context which has an increased incidence of low birth weight, thus rendering an enlarged population of biologically at-risk neonates.
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