Musicians retain the ability to distinguish speech in noisy conditions far longer than non-musicians. That's the key finding of a just-published study by two Canadian researchers, who report playing music seems to delay the decay in an aging brain's central auditory processing system. "This finding suggests that continued practice throughout life may alleviate some of the age-related decline in speech perception often experienced by older adults," Benjamin Rich Zendel and Claude Alain of the Rotman Research Centre and University of Toronto report in the journal Psychology and ... Read More
Noise Complaints Draw Opposition to Wind Farms
January 6, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Mike Eaton and his wife live in northeastern Oregon for the peace and quiet. But ever since wind turbines arrived on the ridge above their home two years ago, the Eatons' slice of heaven has been a nightmare. "It makes me seasick and nauseous," said Eaton, who carries a cane. "I take medication for it, but it just keeps it slightly balanced so I'm not vomiting all the time, to be honest with you." The constant swoosh-swoosh of wind turbines cutting through a downwind gust can be excruciating for Eaton. For others, like Dan Williams, who live nearby just a few miles south of the Columbia ... Read More
Listening for the Key to Reverse Aging
August 23, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
"I feel weak today. I felt much stronger yesterday — like Benjamin Button in reverse," remarked a breathless Michael Scott, managerial dimwit from NBC's The Office. This is one of a few recent nods the show has made to academy-award nominated film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; the latest, seen this season, shows Dwight and Angela discussing provisions of a baby contract, with one clause outlining what to do if their child is born an old man. What prompts Button's water-cooler popularity, and much to the chagrin of its tagline writer ("Life isn't measure in minutes, but in ... Read More
With Music, Ignorance May Be Bliss
March 25, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
Last month, we reported that providing contextual information may diminish viewers’ enjoyment of modern art. A commenter suggested that dynamic may apply to music as well, noting that a class he took on the music of Aaron Copland “lessened my appreciation of the composer’s work.” A study just published in the journal Psychology of Music suggests his experience was far from unique. It finds that reading a what-to-listen-for guide before hearing a piece of music seems to make the actual aesthetic experience less pleasurable. “Descriptions may interfere with the directness and ... Read More
Perfect Quiet
June 25, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
On numerous visits to Manhattan, I have found myself poking around the city trying to find a moment of quiet and once located a hint of it in Central Park during a windless, late-night snowfall. There I stood absolutely still in the lemon glow of the city, a sky full of snow. The city still roared from all sides, a thousand noises compressed down to just one. I counted that distant, mild roar as quiet, a welcome relief from the more pressing noises of the daytime city. During the day, though, heavy traffic tends to run around 85 decibels, a level that takes just eight continuous hours to ... Read More
Of Hearing Loss in Mice and Men
April 15, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
Nothing makes Today In Mice happier than to see humans and rodents working on parallel tracks to crack science's toughest challenges. So we were delighted to see that a pair of recent studies, one on humans and one on mice, has come to the same conclusion: Progressive hearing loss, a common but poorly understood condition that effects one in 500 children by the age of 10, is related to a newly discovered gene that affects the sensory hair cells in the inner ear. The first research team, comprising scientists from the Hospital Ramón y Cajal in Madrid, Spain, followed families who ... Read More
Money Talks — But What If You Can’t Hear?
May 22, 2008 • By • Leave a Comment
People with disabilities encounter scores of little man-made obstacles every day, many of which are built on the foundation of ignorance laid by the nondisabled. Two years ago, Jim and Jeanene Meisser began chipping away at one such obstacle by chartering a bank on a principal unique to such an effort: accessibility. The bank aims to serve the estimated 31 million Americans considered deaf or hard of hearing. Their Lake Shore Bank plan is based on the sort of employee education and one-on-one interactions that have given way to automation. The Meissers, husband and wife, envision a ... Read More
