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 1/16/2006 Audiology Online Takes You Around the Web in 60 Seconds! –Vol. 2 No. 2 Audiology Online uses the latest in internet scanning and retrieval technology to find news and web sites from around the world. This information is then compiled and summarized by our President & Editor-in-Chief, Paul Dybala, Ph.D., so that you can take a virtual trip around the “hearing health world wide web" in 60 seconds! This edition of “Around the Web” (ATW) includes: Creative ideas on how safely use iPods and other MP3 players, Dr. Gustav Mueller helps us answer the question – “Would a T-Rex hear you scream?”, an “audiologist” bleeds from the ears on David Letterman, your finger as an earphone and other uses for bone conduction, the first American child to receive an Auditory Brainstem Implant, the Canadian Medical Association publishes a paper on how to use a Super Soaker water gun for cerumen removal and much more! If you have an item to add to this list, please send it to the Editor via the Contact Us section of the web site. Hearing under assault – 01/03/2006 http://www.detnews.com/ The word is getting out to people who listen to loud music! The article features audiologists Jerry Punch, Ph.D. and Dean Garsteki, Ph.D. And now a public service announcement from Pete Townsend – 01/04/2006 http://www.informationweek.com/ Pete Townsend tells the story of how he lost his hearing. The Village Voice provides solution for iPod earbuds – 12/30/2005 http://www.villagevoice.com/ Several suggestions are made on how to make iPods “safe” to listen to – e.g. the 30 minute video iPod – “the 30-Min Video iPod has an extra safety feature: Around minute 29, Apple CEO Steve Jobs walks across the iPod's LCD screen and, when not shouting about how the iPod is going to explode, threatens to take his clothes off, then actually undresses.” There are other “creative” solutions. Warning: Adult language used in this article. Computerized Dynamic Posturography – 01/04/2006 http://www.spaceref.com/ A staple of balance testing, did you know that CDP was developed by NASA? Hearing impairment can lead to problems for children – 01/02/2006 http://www.centredaily.com/ A public information article about children and hearing loss written by audiologist, Beverly Huff. If you fell over in a prehistoric forest, would a T-Rex hear you scream? http://www.newscientist.com/ http://tech.virgin.net/ http://www.tiscali.co.uk/ New Scientist, virgin.net and a few other web sites note that according to Dr. Otto Gleich from the University of Regensburg in Germany, if Tyrannosaurus Rex was alive today, he would not be able to hear you scream due to the limited frequency range of the large dinosaur’s cochlea. No, really. Would a T-Rex hear you scream? http://www.springerlink.com/ Gliech, O., Dooling, R.J. & Manley, G.A. (2005). Audiogram, body mass, and basilar papilla length: correlations in birds and predictions for extinct archosaurs. Naturwissenschaften, 92(12), 595-598. I followed up on the proposed frequency hearing range of a T-Rex and found the above paper published by Dr. Otto Gleich. Dr. Gleich takes the cochlear dimensions (including the estimated length of the basilar membrane) from the Archaeopteryx and from several other dinosaur species. The Archaeopteryx is the oldest known prehistoric bird and is considered to be the link between modern birds and dinosaurs. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/ Dr. Gleich combined data from several studies to look at the relationship between the body mass of birds and the length of the basilar membrane. He then used this data to extrapolate the frequency range of hearing for prehistoric birds, i.e. the Archaeopteryx and other dinosaurs. Here is what Dr. Gliech and his colleagues had to say in the article: For Archaeopteryx, where body mass (0.486 g) and the size of the basilar papilla (2.4 mm) are within the range of living birds, these correlations predict a best frequency of hearing of 2.4-3.2 kHz and a high-frequency limit of 5.5-6.9 kHz. For the large dinosaurs (body mass 1.4 and 75 tons; basilar papilla 8.0 to 10.7 mm), the extrapolation of the regression analyses suggests lower frequencies of best hearing (0.7-1.5 kHz) and a high-frequency limit of hearing below 3 kHz (1.8-3.0 kHz). (p. 597) I brought up this question to Dr. Gustav Mueller (http://www.gusmueller.net) who referred me to page 173 the Audiology Desk Reference Vol. II that he co-authored with Dr. Jay Hall. The figure on that page shows the peak of the shouted female voice is at about 1.5 kHz. He also analyzed his own screams (I will not mention what he was screaming about) and noted that the peak was at about middle C or 1.024 kHz. It would seem therefore that of a human were screaming there would be plenty of speech information available to the larger dinosaurs based on the data from Dr. Gleich and his colleagues. I also emailed Dr. Gleich when I first found the story on virgin.net (the story has since been removed from virgin.net) to see if he had any comments. His reply was:
Thank you for your email and bringing this to my attention. I do not know Virgin.net and obviously they misinterpreted our finding. In our paper we provide evidence for limited high frequency hearing in large Archosaurs. We never related anything in this study to human speech and obviously virgin.net got something wrong. I completely agree with you that a lot of speech information is available below 3 kHz. Hope this clarifies things. Dr. Otto Gleich So, to answer the question: Yes, the T-Rex would hear you scream, probably up until the point where he ate you! Career Center: Excellent career for 2006 – 01/05/2006 http://www.usnews.com/ Audiology is listed as a “favorite” career by the journalist for US News and World Report. Deaf at the Dragon http://www.cornelldailysun.com/ I live in Dallas, Texas and the Green Elephant on Yale Boulevard is a popular hangout for SMU students. Cornell University in Ithaca, New York has the Green Dragon and waitress Erin Geld talks about what it is like to have a hearing loss and work there. Interviews with Dr. Brown from HearUSA Business of Success web site podcast, two-part interview http://businessofsuccess.typepad.com/ Wall Street Reporter in Real Audio http://www.wallstreetreporter.com/ The Late Show with David Letterman – 1/5/06 - Tips for Ears and iPods http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/ Kenneth C. Sutton, Ph.D, Columbia University is an "audiologist" who is brought on to talk about the dangers of iPods. “Dr. Sutton” was not listed in the AAA or ASHA member directories, nor as a licensed audiologist in the state of New York. This was confirmed by a David Letterman fan who stated that the person in the segment is a “regular” skit actor. Physical therapy helps hearing – 1/11/06 http://abclocal.go.com/ A short story on the innovative auditory training program, Listening and Auditory Communication Enhancement (LACE) being developed by audiologist, Robert Sweetow, Ph.D. from UCSF. Hearing loss is a growing problem for veterans – 1/9/2006 http://www.signonsandiego.com/ A story on the effects of hearing loss due to noise exposure in the military. Two numbers mentioned in this article: Number of veterans who filed for disability benefits because of hearing loss in 2004: 378,902. Amount that the Department of Veteran Affairs paid for such cases in 2004: $633,800,000. A number that was not mentioned in this article was the amount spent per veteran for 2004 – if you do the math it comes out to $1672 or pretty close to the average cost of a single hearing aid. Phonak uses cycling to “Race for Better Hearing” http://www.phonak-cycling.ch/ The team is complete with the Phonak green and yellow colors and ear logo jerseys! This is a top level team with members who have placed in the top ten at the Tour de France. First American child to receive auditory brainstem implant – 01/08/2006 http://www.lufkindailynews.com/ Jorden is 3 years old and the son of Olympic gold medal winner Vonetta Flowers. Jorden is also the 1st American child (under the age of 12) to receive an auditory brainstem implant. Military pilots share technology with rock stars – 01/11/06 http://msnbc.msn.com/ The story is how some “phenomenal” in the ear monitors developed in cooperation with Westone are used to muffle cockpit noise and protect hearing. Why use a headset when your finger will work just fine! http://www.nttdocomo.com/ Headphones for your mobile devices are such a pain to carry around, right? Why not use a wrist worn vibration device that allows you to stick your finger in your ear so that you can listen to your phone via bone conduction? This is called the “Finger Whisper”. Never mind that this prevents you from talking “hands free”. SmiMP3 - Bone conduction headphones MP3 player for use while swimming https://store.finisinc.com/ Listen to music while you swim laps. Fully waterproof! Brushing your teeth with bone conduction http://www.engadget.com/ The idea is - get kids to brush their teeth by using bone conduction to allow them to listen to music via the toothbrush! The Bone Fone http://www.musicgizmos.com/ The unique speaker placement put the vibrations of sound on your chest and caused the music to, “...resonate through your bones – all the way to the sensitive bones of your inner ear”. Modern bone conduction headphones – 12/28/2005 http://www.musicgizmos.com/ Just pay $125 for a direct connection, “...straight into the brain for perfect, pure sound”. Super soaker water gun used as cerumen removal device – 12/06/2005 http://www.cmaj.ca/ This was written up in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. This journal has a whole section of humorous (but true) medical stories. A Super Soaker Max-D 5000 was used much like a water pik to irrigate out a person’s ear. Be sure to read the footnotes! |
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