Audible [Extra Quality]

Main exposures: Audible television. Children wore a digital recorder on random days for up to 24 months. A software program incorporating automatic speech-identification technology processed the recorded file to analyze the sounds the children were exposed to and the sounds they made. Conditional linear regression was used to determine the association between audible television and the outcomes of interest.

audible

Results: Each hour of audible television was associated with significant reductions in age-adjusted z scores for child vocalizations (linear regression coefficient, -0.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.29 to -0.22), vocalization duration (linear regression coefficient, -0.24; 95% CI, -0.27 to -0.20), and conversational turns (linear regression coefficient, -0.22; 95% CI, -0.25 to -0.19). There were also significant reductions in adult female (linear regression coefficient, -636; 95% CI, -812 to -460) and adult male (linear regression coefficient, -134; 95% CI, -263 to -5) word count.

To help reduce the risk to our crews and everyone else who is on the road, we employ a number of safety practices including the use of audible attenuators on short-term, stationary, or slow-moving maintenance operations. The attenuators are designed to warn drivers of crews ahead and take the impact of a crash if a driver does not slow down or move over for the crew.

An attenuator is a trailer that is pulled behind a truck equipped with flashing lights and signage signaling the presence of crews. If a driver does not appear to slow down or move over for the crew, the attenuator operator has the ability to turn on additional flashing lights that shine at a higher frequency. If a driver is still not responding to the extra lighting, the attenuator operator can then activate an audible sound in a final attempt to get the attention of the driver.

The Iowa DOT currently has 39 audible attenuator systems in place and 32 more systems should be in place this year. Each system is built by Iowa DOT staff and costs approximately $10,000. While the current systems are manually triggered by an operator driving the attenuator truck, Fleming says testing will begin this spring on an automated version of the system that will be triggered when a vehicle approaches a work zone too quickly or too closely.

Cell phone video shot by one of our supervisors shows a crew patching I-80 in the Des Moines area who were forced to activate the audible attenuator to not only warn inattentive drivers of the crew's presence but also warn our crews that they were in imminent danger of being hit.

Pallid bats (Antrozous pallidus) are another of Oregon's high desert bat species. They have a wide range, spanning from Canada to Mexico. While pallid bats typically produce inaudible, high-frequency echolocation calls, this behavior changes while rearing pups. When in the vicinity of summertime maternity roosts, pallid bats will lower the frequencies of their calls to within the range of human hearing. 041b061a72