Maria J. Bieńkowska

Model of Attenuation of Sound Stimuli in Prenatal Music Therapy

Studies on the process of acoustic stimulation in prenatal period require to assess the beneficial condition for child development, as well as characteristic sounds which could negatively affect the development of auditory system, brain or even entire body. It can be provided with the simplified model of sound attenuation in the uterus, which can be represented by first order passive low pass filter. On the basis of total harmonic distortion analysis for a single sound, a proposal indicating the sound reduction in the intrauterine environment is formulated. It is hypothesised that the sound stimuli in the uterus is not the same sound as the music in the source.

Impact of Music on the Effectiveness of Performing Mathematical-Logical Tasks

The article is the result of studies on the effects of music on human characteristics, with particular emphasis on the effectiveness of the performance of mathematical and logical operations. The material describes briefly some problems in the field of music therapy and presents results of a pilot study concerning possible improving of the intellectual work efficiency. A group of students who was faced with performance-related stress (standardized psychological tests and mathematical tasks) under music (Mozart and Beethoven) and no music condition was examined. Analyses showed that there was no significant difference in time of solving the tasks in silent and Mozart’s music condition. Also, time of performing exercises was longer during Beethoven stimulation than during silent condition. It may be concluded that commonly applied Mozart’s work does not always give the expected results and the other work can have stronger (but not necessarily better) effect on human being.

Boys’ Age Modeling Using Voice Features

The paper presents the results of boys’ age modeling on the basis of the features of their voice. The research group has been divided according to age and the threshold has been 14 years. 98 boys have been examined (57 aged less than 14 years, 41 aged 14 years or more). Voice data has been acquired and processed. The obtained coefficients have been subjected to Principal Component Analysis and then linear models have been built, estimeting the boys’ age. The obtained results are promising and are especially good in case of the group of younger boys, where the median absolute error has been less than 6 months and the median relative error has been equal to 2.1%.

Evaluation of Puberty in Girls by Spectral Analysis of Voice

In this paper, a method for girls’ pubertal status evaluation is presented. The proposed algorithm uses voice features. Spectral analysis, Support Vector Machine and Random Forest Trees were employed. The obtained results are promising. Sensitivity reached 89.38%, when all features were included in the calculations (SVM). The highest specificity was achieved when only standard deviations were used (80.14% for the RF). Accuracy was greater than 80% for both classifiers when all features were used.

Contextual Database of Radiological Images: Liver Parameters

In this paper data from a contextual database of radiological images were analyzed in order to extract the parameters related to the volume and dimensions of the liver alongside with its intensity in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT). Pearson correlation of P = 0.99, p < 0.01 between mean value of pixels computed for the whole liver and for the biggest liver area in the 2D slice was obtained. High correlations (P = 0.71, p < 0.001) were received for the area of the largest 2D region of interest (ROI) and the overall volume of liver, independently of the image source. The results are even higher for CT studies only (P = 0.79, p = 0.001). The estimation of the whole liver parameters based on only one slice can significantly shorten the time needed for the preliminary diagnosis and help in the computer aided diagnosis (CAD) systems development.

Signal to Noise Ratio in Intrauterine Environment During Acoustic Stimulation

Acoustic stimulation in prenatal period is the issue that interest growing group of people. In this paper the ratio of maternal internal sounds (noise) and attenuated sounds from external environment (signal) is considered. There is indicated that only narrow range of frequencies is not drowned by internal sounds. The problem of a distance of sound source was also considered. It was noticed that the application of sound source on maternal abdomen does not increase the sound level in the uterus.

Longitudinal Voice Study (LoVoiS) Methodology and Preliminary Research Results

The paper describes an approach to the kids and youth pubertal evaluation using voice signal. The results of preliminary study conducted on a group of 109 children (58 boys and 51 girls aged 10–18 years) has been presented. The analysis of the voice fundamental frequency proves that this parameter strongly depends on the age (for boys) and on the time of the first menarche (for girls). Such a method for girls and boys maturation assessment is very important for, among others, anthropologist in their studies on social inequalities and observing secular trends.

Pre and Post Menarche—Girls’ Bodies Parameters Comparison

The article presents changes in body composition in adolescent girls. A review of available measurement techniques is preceded by an analysis of the physiology of puberty, whose social significance is very high, especially in the present stage of development of civilization. Measurement techniques are classified depending on the used equipment, with attention to the bioelectrical impedance. Girls aged 9.3 to 18.6 y. from schools in Cieszyn were analysed. On the basis of their status of maturation they were divided into two groups: before menarche and after menarche. The comparison of body composition of pre– and post–menarcheal girls had shown the change in all body components. However, increased weight associated with the development and maturation is mainly the result of the growth of fatness, which was reflected in both the anthropometric parameters (waist, hip circumferences, skinfolds) and BIA analysis.