Inexpensive alternatives to a number of classic introductory physics sound laboratories are presented including interference phenomena, resonance conditions, and frequency shifts. These can be created using earbuds, economical supplies such as Giant Pixie Stix® wrappers, and free software available for PCs and mobile devices. We describe two…

This study investigates the acoustic characteristics of Thai tones produced by Chinese students learning Thai through the "Tone Application", and conducts an attitude test towards the use of the Tone Application. A comparison of Thai tones pronounced by the participants with 40 native Thai speakers was also conducted. The acoustic…

Music and mathematics require abstract thinking and using symbolic notations. Controversy exists regarding transfer from musical training to math achievements. The current study examined the effect of two integrated intervention programs representing holistic versus acoustic approaches, on fraction knowledge. Three classes of fourth graders…

As a result of the association of autism with speech and language difficulties, autistic school children can be subject to interventions ostensibly intended to remedy these problems. However, my study, based in five mainstream primary schools in England, which incorporated the views and experiences of school staff (n = 36), autistic children…

Situated within an increasing trend of globalization and internationalization, many universities pride themselves on the number of international students they recruit. At Canadian universities, there are more international students from China than any other country. However, Chinese international students tend to demonstrate lower spoken English…

The changing nature of education has forced educators to rethink the role of classrooms in student learning. Prior research has shown that the environmental and structural design of education centers impact student learning. With a dozen variables to deal with, classroom designers are faced with the daunting task of selecting one plan from the…

Context and discourse intonation have major influence on intended meaning in English-medium product advertisements on radio and television in Nigeria. Previous studies on Nigerian English phonology have confirmed the appropriate use of stress and intonation as the main challenge which many Nigerian speakers of English as a second language hardly…

We have developed an online oscilloscope program which allows users to see waveforms by utilizing their computer microphones, selecting from our library of over 30 audio files, and opening any *.mp3 or *.wav file on their computers. The oscilloscope displays real-time signals against time. The oscilloscope has been calibrated so one can make…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to use prosodic and syllable-structure variation to probe the underlying representation of laryngeal kinematics in languages traditionally considered to differ in voicing typology (German vs. Dutch and French). Method: Transillumination and videofiberendoscopic filming were used to investigate the devoicing…

Because different musical scales use different sets of intervals and, hence, different musical pitches, how do music listeners learn those that are in their native musical system? One possibility is that musical pitches are acquired in the same way as phonemes, that is, via distributional learning, in which learners infer knowledge from the…

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to determine the strength of interspeaker and intraspeaker articulatory-to-acoustic relations of vowel contrast produced by talkers with dysarthria and controls. Methods: Six talkers with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), six talkers with Parkinson's disease (PD), and 12 controls repeated a…

The primary objective of the activity presented here is to allow students to explore the frequency components of various simple signals, with the ultimate goal of teaching them how to remove unwanted noise from a voice signal. Analysis of the frequency components of a signal allows students to design filters that remove unwanted components of a…

Purpose: Children with (central) auditory processing disorder [(C)APD] exhibit many cognitive difficulties and receive negative psychosocial consequences from their disorder. Diagnosis of (C)APD relies on multidisciplinary assessment, including psychological testing. There is a strong need for valid and reliable questionnaires to identify children…

Many college students set out on Study Abroad Programs to other countries in which the variant of the foreign language spoken in the region differs from the variant to which learners have been exposed. This study explores the perception of L2 Western Andalusian Spanish aspiration of word-final /s/ by L1 American English listeners, in relation to…

Purpose: We investigated whether rhythm discrimination is mainly driven by the native language of the listener or by the fundamental design of the human auditory system and universal cognitive mechanisms shared by all people irrespective of rhythmic patterns in their native language. Method: In multiple experiments, we asked participants to listen…