“There is evidence that there are certain people with hypersensitivity, and what we perceive as normal noise they will perceive as much more invasive. We don't know why they are so neurologically sensitive, but we know they exist, and they perceive our normal noise levels as unbearable. " Dr. Hillel Schwartz.
I have been trying to think of how I can explain to people what exactly is going through my mind and other people's minds while you suffer from sensitivity to noise. Since my hearing test in ICM class was one of my inspirations for this project I wanted to create a test that can show how much background noise can distract us but emphasize it more.
Every unwanted voice is called "noise". The disturbing effect of noise depends on both the intensity and frequency of the sound waves. For example, high frequencies are more troublesome than low frequencies. Pure tones are more disturbing than sounds made up of many tones. The human ear is sensitive to the pressure of sound waves, which act on the eardrum. Therefore, the intensity of the pressure can define the intensity of the noise.
Sudden or prolonged exposure to noise damages the hair cells in the cochlea in the inner ear. These cells are particularly sensitive and may be destroyed by exposure to noise. This may result in hearing loss that may be transient or permanent. When you suffer from sensitivity to noise caused by Psychological effects you may suffer from tiredness, stress and nervousness and impairment of concentration. When hearing sensitivity is diagnosed with disorders such as Misophonia or ADHA and medical diseases it can cause Physical effects like increasing heart rate, increased blood pressure, damage to the digestive system, muscle spasm and more.
According to research by Yale University, 20 percent of the people suffer from sensitivity to noise. It is not necessarily a loud noise, even a low volume can cause an overreaction. In ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) it is caused by the difficulties of focusing on one mission, people with this disorder find it much harder to concentrate and get distracted even from low sounds.
In a psychiatric medical syndrome called misophonia, a definition in the medical field that is described as auditory sensitivity. It is related to the nervous system, and is described as a neuropsychiatric disorder that is expressed in negative emotions that come due to hearing a certain voice.
Hyperacusis is a disorder defined as hypersensitivity to certain noises, intolerance to noises or disturbance in the perception of volume. This is a phenomenon that can occur in adults and children alike and has a prevalence of 1: 50,000 and is therefore considered a relatively rare disorder. The exact mechanism behind the disorder is not entirely clear. However, in many cases it occurs after a case of middle ear infection, head injury or ENT surgery. Also, chronic exposure to noise in the workplace may increase the chance of developing hyperacusis.
Birds, for people with sensitivity to noise hearing birds is an ongoing battle. Birds range of hearing is similar to our own, and bird song covers the full range to the limits of human hearing, from the lowest hooting sounds of Great Gray Owl or Spruce Grouse to the highest songs of Blackburnian Warbler or Golden-crowned Kinglet.
One of things that I was curious about is how does hearing test for people who suffer from sensitivity or disorders to sound is defined? Thanks to Dr. Yehuda Holdstein I know understands it much better.
An important variable for classifying the various hearing disorders are gender and age, genetic background, infections and the ear structure. Hearing evaluation is based on the test battery. Each of its components provides certain information about the state of the audio system and each has advantages and disadvantages which give it a different weight at different ages and in different disease states. In all tests the stimulus that can be tested is sound at different intensities and at different frequencies. The volume of the sound wave is measured in units of pressure (power per unit area) which are converted to a logarithmic scale (decibels) to allow one graph (audiogram) to display the very wide range of intensities that the ear absorbs.
When it comes to understanding distractions, background sound is a crucial tool for diagnosis - QuickSIN (Quick Speech-In-Noise) test. Basically it requires that you repeat sentences out loud with increasing background noise to determine your Signal to Noise ratio loss. This SNR Loss will range from 0 to 26. If you score a 0, you hear better than normal in background noise. If you score a 26, it means that any background noise makes it nearly impossible to hear in background noise.
As for the visuel people we are, I thought creating a hearing test when you have to choose from 9 icons (words/numbers) you hear is much easier but what's the catch? You will hear a background noise. Which background noise? The most common one - BIRDS. I wanted to use this opportunity and put names on some of the birds crossing paths with me on a daily basis.
I recorded some of the birds I heard in the morning near my window, in the countryside, on my way to work and etc. I use the recordings and I run it in the BirNet app to recognize the species according to their sound.
In the test there are 14 sections that will help to identify difficulties with understanding speech in noise. You will hear different combinations of words first and then numbers, always in groups of three, while background birds noise is playing. If you get distracted and miss one of the words, you can press the replay button to have the last combination repeated. You choose first your gender and your age group and then you can start the test.
Since age and gender is an important factor, I wanted to use this data from users afterwards to create some sort of a graph that will indicate some conclusion about it according to their result.. It was a bit complicated for me to use backend to restore the users data in my server but I managed to make the results download in a csv file and hopefully users will agree to send me theirs.
function downloadResults() {
let resultTable = new p5.Table()
resultTable.addColumn('age')
resultTable.addColumn('gender')
resultTable.addColumn('result')
let newRow = resultTable.addRow()
newRow.setString('age', user_infos.age)
newRow.setString('gender', user_infos.gender)
newRow.setString('result', test.score.toString())
saveTable(resultTable, 'results.csv')
}As you increase the number of questions the background noise level increases and there are more distractions added such as birds flying on the screen and blurriness of the icons. I use noise to calculate the y position of the birds, because their x is always increasing (always moving right) and their y value is a noise between 0 and the maximum height of the screen, it creates an oscillation pattern from left to right of the screen and also it is a random walk.
let x = millis() //time elapsed in milliseconds, increases very quickly
x /= 4000 //increases 4000 times slower
x *= BIRD_VERTICAL_SPEED
//noise value
let noiseValue = noise(
x,
bird.id // y: each bird have a different random walk)
//perlin noise value between 0 and 1, screen to have a value between 0 and height
let newHeight = noiseValue * height
//bird.y = noise(millis()/4000*BIRD_VERTICAL_SPEED, bird.id) * height
bird.y = newHeight
bird.x += bird.speed
image(bird.img, bird.x, bird.y)
if(bird.x > width+img_bird.width/2) bird.x = -BIRD_SIZE/2
}
}
There is five possible results to this test from best to worst:
Congratulations! Your hearing is absolutely excellent :)
Based on your answers during the test, you likely have a mild to moderate hearing loss. Hearing loss is quite common. Surveys indicate that up to 10% of the world’s population suffer from hearing loss. Fortunately, studies show that addressing your hearing loss can restore a rich and fulfilling lifestyle.
Based on your answers during the test, you likely have an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Your sensitivity to background noises can make it hard for you to concentrate.
Based on your answers during the test, you likely have a Misophonia disorder. Your noise tolerance makes it impossible for you to tolerate specific sounds and that is why reactions to the disturbing sound can range from anger and nervousness to panic and a desire to run away.
Based on your answers during the test, you likely have a Hyperacusis disorder. Hypersensitivity to external noises or noise intolerance and that is why you may suffer from ringing in the ears (inner tinnitus, tinnitus). This is related to the control of voice regulation in the brain. If you suffer from discomfort to the point of real pain in the ears I recommend that you consult a hearing care professional for an in-depth hearing examination to identify your exact need.
The calculation is a score between 0 and 1, 1 = all good answers, 0 = no good answers
0 < x < 0.2 : worst, 0.8 < x 1.0 : perfect hearing and then 0.2-0.4, 0.4-0.6, 0.6-0.8.
function calculateScore() {
const valid_answers = [[0,5,6],[3,5,4],[4,6,5],[0,4,8],[3,2,4],[6,1,0],[6,8,7],[4,2,6],[7,4,6],[3,2,4],[4,3,5],[5,4,6],[2,6,1],[3,7,2]]
let score = 0
for (let i = 0; i < 14; i++) {
for (let k = 0; k < 3; k++) {
if (test.answers[i][k] === valid_answers[i][k]) score++
}
}
test.score = score / (14*3)
}
Take the test and share with me your results:
https://editor.p5js.org/Llio2493/embed/THzuM6u43 https://editor.p5js.org/Llio2493/sketches/THzuM6u43
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