Journal of physiological anthropology and applied human science最新文献

Our auditory system has to organize and to pick up a target sound with many components, sometimes rejecting irrelevant sound components, but sometimes forming multiple streams including the target stream. This situation is well described with the concept of auditory scene analysis. Research on speech perception in noise is closely related to auditory scene analysis. This paper briefly reviews the concept of auditory scene analysis and previous and ongoing research on speech perception in noise, and discusses the future direction of research. Further experimental investigations are needed to understand our perceptual mechanisms better.

Experimental studies on the relationship between quasi-musical patterns and visual movement have largely focused on either referential, associative aspects or syntactical, accent-oriented alignments. Both of these are very important, however, between the referential and areferential lays a domain where visual pattern perceptually connects to musical pattern; this is iconicity. The temporal syntax of accent structures in iconicity is hypothesized to be important. Beyond that, a multidimensional visual space connects to musical patterning through mapping of visual time/space to musical time/magnitudes. Experimental visual and musical correlates are presented and comparisons to previous research provided.

Recent work on the identification and perception of fricatives has focussed on the use by listeners of spectral moments derived from the whole spectrum and there appears to be no work in the literature on the use of prominent spectral peaks. In this study, we map the response of a single listener to narrow bands of noise that "mimic" the spectral peaks of English voiceless fricatives. The stimuli are based on the critical-band rate scale (Zwicker and Fastl, 1990) which divides the audible frequency range up to 15,500 Hz into 24 abutting critical bands. The results suggest that listeners have knowledge that enables them to connect a narrow-band spectral peak with a particular fricative consonant. We demonstrate that such knowledge, particularly in conjunction with a normalization metric that takes account of an individual speaker's vocal tract characteristics (F0 of the vowel following the fricative), could be used to good effect, particularly in noisy conditions which impair the use of the whole spectrum.

The purpose of introducing sounds is to afford a comfortable acoustic environment and to design good soundscapes. This study aims at rating the preference of subjects for the introduced sounds suitable to the public spaces and also investigates the methodology to select the sounds by subjective and objective procedures. Seventeen kinds of the introduced sounds were evaluated with nine adjectives in the presence of visual location information. Also, adequate sound levels were calculated by adjusting the volume of introduced sounds in the presence of the actual background sounds of locations and visual information. The concept of harmony with the surroundings was reviewed by analyzing the correlation among 9 adjectives which express introduced sounds. And the effectiveness of existed sound quality index was analyzed so as to select the introduced sounds quantitatively. By the evaluation of the adequate level of the introduced sounds, it is proposed that the lower introduced sound level would be better for the noisy circumstances.

This paper explores the difference among generations in evaluating interior lighting environment, and provides some knowledge for interior lighting design, which can accommodate all generations. Fifteen Computer Graphic pictures, which had the same dimensions (W3000 mmxH2800 mmxD6300 mm) but a different luminous environment are evaluated. Pictures are presented on a screen with a liquid crystal projector in a shaded dark room.A Semantic Differential technique with 12 subjective scales with 5 steps was used for the evaluation. Participants were chosen from 3 age groups: young, middle age, and elderly people.A difference among generations in evaluating interior lighting environment emerged. These tendencies could not be explained solely by visibility. It seems that the personal experience is closely related to the evaluation and preference of luminous environment.

This study investigated the physiological and psychological effects of sanitary napkins (SN) on women in hemorrhage treatment during the menstrual phase. Mesh and non-woven napkins were employed, and the effects were studied during the follicular and menstrual phases; mesh SN presented a higher textural surface-roughness. In both phases, the increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly dependent on the application intervals. The low-frequency component of systolic blood pressure variability significantly increased, while the salivary secretion rate decreased with the use of mesh SN during the follicular phase compared with non-woven SN. In addition, the heart rate during the menstrual phase significantly increased in subjects after the replacement of mesh SN compared with non-woven SN. In cases of wearing the unpleasant mesh SN, electroencephalography (EEG) manifested bilateral enhancements in beta and alpha2 waves in the frontal areas increased arousal level during both phases. From the above findings, napkin use increased physiological loading and wearing napkins with higher textural surface-roughness tended to increase activities of the autonomic nervous system and brain arousal level.

The Wavelet Interpolation Method (WIM) was applied to the longitudinal records of individuals' heights and weights from 6 to 17 years of age (1983 to 1994) in an athlete group (male: 45, female: 50) and a control group (male: 85, female: 85). The criterion of maturity was derived from age at Maximum Peak Velocity (MPV) of height in the control group. Ages at MPV of height and weight were compared between the athletes and control subjects. The WIM was also applied to mean heights from 6.5 to 17.5 years of all the subjects classified by maturation rate in order to derive a model of growth velocity types. Among the athletes, the males were early-maturing and the females tended to be late-maturing. The difference between the ages at MPV of height and weight in males and females was less in the athletes group than in the control group. For the growth velocity model, in the athlete group, three types could be confirmed among the males, and five among the females. By making use of the type models, it was possible to clarify the spans of adolescence as classified by maturation rates, and it was concluded that the period following the age at MPV seems appropriate for the introduction of regular athletic training for each level of maturity.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the actual conditions of the thermal environment and the symptoms of patient and staff (nurses and nurses' aides) during winter in a hospital. We measured the ambient temperature and humidity in sickrooms, nurse stations, and corridors. The subjects included 36 patients and 45 staff members. The existence of low humidity environments (relative humidity was less than 40%) in a hospital during winter was confirmed, and the levels of low humidity reached those known to promote the spread of influenza viruses. Thermal comfort of patients was not directly connected to the low humidity in sickrooms. However, 54.9% and 73.4% of patients were conscious of itchy skin and thirst, respectively. The majority of the staff members were working with itchy skin and thirst. These results suggested that extreme low humidity in a hospital during winter presents problem that should be solved quickly.

"I know me" is an interactive artwork that produces images based on EEG measurements from human participants. Although artists have previously made some interactive image works, we considered using human physiological information as input because it reflects human feelings better. In this research we were interested in information about human's mental states, such as anger or sadness. Brain activity was observed with EEG, subjected to Fourier analysis and converted into an animation based on a Lissajous curve. We generated images corresponding to alpha or beta waves activity in real time and showed them to the observer. The observer understood his own mental condition from looking at the images, and could potentially control his own mental state with this interactive device.

In the Japanese post WWII urban planning and design field, concerns for formal features regarding the sequential street-front visual image in new high-density urban spaces have been a rather subordinated subject. Famous New Town schemes such as Tsukuba Science City (1963), or Minato Mirai 21 (1965) for instance, are typical inland and reclaimed land examples that summarize the validity and limitations of functional zoning systems applied to these artificial urban developments for the last half century. In those examples, the interaction between space mobility and land use has not been explored sufficiently in order to create attractive street-front images, yet such interaction is essential to the way the cityscape and its character are perceived by the eye. However, current insight regarding the sustainable New Town paradigm has brought a renewed perspective regarding design policy of the pedestrian precinct. This study investigates the formal features of the sequential street-front image of Dutch late-medieval town examples which could help re-formulate the existing design policies regarding the quality of pedestrian space especially in the artificial reclaimed land design field. The purpose is to find out how the principles of those old high-density artificial environmental design models generate such effective interaction between mobility and land usage, creating an enriched aesthetic visual image of street-front space as a result.