Machine Learning Diagnoses Pneumonia by Listening to Coughs #ASA183

Machine Learning Diagnoses Pneumonia by Listening to Coughs #ASA183

A new algorithm could spot early signs of respiratory diseases in hospitals and at home.

Media Contact:
Ashley Piccone
AIP Media
301-209-3090
media@aip.org

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 5, 2022 – Pneumonia is one of the world’s leading causes of death and affects over a million people a year in the United States. The disease disproportionately impacts children, older adults, and hospitalized patients. To give them the greatest chance at recovery, it is crucial to catch and treat it early. Existing diagnosis methods consist of a range of blood tests and chest scans, and a doctor needs to suspect pneumonia before ordering them.

A machine learning algorithm identifies cough sounds and determines whether the subject is suffering from pneumonia. Credit: Jin Yong Jeon

Jin Yong Jeon of Hanyang University will discuss a technique to diagnose pneumonia through passive listening in his session, “Pneumonia diagnosis algorithm based on room impulse responses using cough sounds.” The presentation will take place Dec. 5 at 4:20 p.m. Eastern U.S. in Summit C, as part of the 183rd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America running Dec. 5-9 at the Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel.

Jeon and fellow researchers developed a machine learning algorithm to identify cough sounds and determine whether the subject was suffering from pneumonia. Because every room and recording device is different, they augmented their recordings with room impulse responses, which measure how the acoustics of a space react to different sound frequencies. By combining this data with the recorded cough sounds, the algorithm can work in any environment.

“Automatically diagnosing a health condition through information on coughing sounds that occur continuously during daily life will facilitate non-face-to-face treatment,” said Jeon. “It will also be possible to reduce overall medical costs.”

Currently, one company has plans to apply this algorithm for remote patient monitoring. The team is also looking to implement it as an app for in-home care, and they plan to make the experience simpler and more user-friendly.

“Our research team is planning to automate each step-by-step process that is currently performed manually to improve convenience and applicability,” said Jeon.

———————– MORE MEETING INFORMATION ———————–
Main meeting website: https://acousticalsociety.org/asa-meetings/
Technical program: https://eppro02.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASAFALL22&proof=true

ASA PRESS ROOM
In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.

LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS
ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are 300 to 500 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.

PRESS REGISTRATION
ASA will grant free registration to credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting or virtual press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org.  For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.

Can a Playlist be Your Therapist? Balancing Emotions Through Music #ASA183

Can a Playlist be Your Therapist? Balancing Emotions Through Music #ASA183

Music app provides therapy by consoling, relaxing, uplifting users

Media Contact:
Ashley Piccone
AIP Media
301-209-3090
media@aip.org

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 5, 2022 – Music has the potential to change emotional states and can distract listeners from negative thoughts and pain. It has also been proven to help improve memory, performance, and mood.

The Emotion Equalization App surveys your mood and energy to create a corresponding therapeutic playlist. Credit: Man Hei Law

At the upcoming meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Man Hei Law of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology will present an app that creates custom playlists to help listeners care for their emotions through music. The presentation, “Emotion equalization app: A first study and results,” will take place at the Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel on Dec. 5 at 3:15 p.m. Eastern U.S. in the Rail Head room, as part of ASA’s 183rd meeting running Dec. 5-9.

“As humanity’s universal language, music can significantly impact a person’s physical and emotional state,” said Law. “For example, music can help people to manage pain. We developed this app as an accessible first aid strategy for balancing emotions.”

The app could be used by people who may not want to receive counseling or treatment because of feelings of shame, inadequacy, or distrust. By taking listeners on an emotional roller-coaster ride, the app aims to leave them in a more positive and focused state than where they began.

Users take three self-led questionnaires in the app to measure their emotional status and provide the information needed to create a playlist. Current emotion and long-term emotion status are gauged with a pictorial assessment tool that helps identify emotions in terms of energy level and mood. Energy level can run from high, medium, to low and mood can register as positive, neutral, or negative. A Patient Health Questionnaire and a General Anxiety Disorder screening are also used to establish personalized music therapy treatments.

By determining the emotional state of the user, the app creates a customized and specifically sequenced playlist of songs using one of three strategies: consoling, relaxing, or uplifting. Consoling music reflects the energy and mood of the user, while relaxing music provides a positive, low energy. Uplifting music is also positive but more high energy.

“In our experiments, we found out that relaxing and uplifting methods can significantly move listeners from negative to more positive emotional states. Especially, when listeners are at a neutral mood, all three proposed methods can change listeners’ emotions to more positive,” said Law.

———————– MORE MEETING INFORMATION ———————–
Main meeting website: https://acousticalsociety.org/asa-meetings/
Technical program: https://eppro02.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASAFALL22&proof=true

ASA PRESS ROOM
In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.

LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS
ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are 300 to 500 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.

PRESS REGISTRATION
ASA will grant free registration to credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting or virtual press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org.  For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.

Shhhh … Speaking More Quietly in Restaurants Means Everyone Can Be Heard #ASA183

Shhhh … Speaking More Quietly in Restaurants Means Everyone Can Be Heard #ASA183

In restaurants and at parties, the tendency is to talk louder to get your message across. Unfortunately, it does just the opposite.

Media Contact:
Ashley Piccone
AIP Media
301-209-3090
media@aip.org

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 5, 2022 – In a crowded restaurant, diners usually talk with their companions at their own table. But the sound of their conversations bounces off walls and reflects to other patrons, creating background noise. Each individual speaker wants to be heard over that noise, so they end up talking a little bit louder, which again increases the overall din. Eventually – barring an interruption – the system gets loud enough to reach the limit of the human voice.

A busy restaurant grows louder and louder because of the Lombard effect. Image Catalog via Flickr

Braxton Boren of American University will discuss this cycle, called the Lombard effect, and how it can be disrupted in his presentation, “A game theory model of the Lombard effect in public spaces.” The presentation will take place Dec. 5 at 12:40 p.m. Eastern U.S. in the Summit B room, as part of the 183rd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America running Dec. 5-9 at the Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel.

Game theory metaphors, such as the prisoner’s dilemma or the unscrupulous diner’s dilemma, can provide a good model for the Lombard effect. Boren used such mathematical models to construct the payoffs and incentives for the Lombard effect across different sound frequencies of the human voice.

“This effect is an example of the Tragedy of the Commons, which is a term often used in environmental science and economics for the way that individuals are incentivized to misuse public goods,” he said. “In the case of the Lombard effect, the quiet background (which allows for conversations to be intelligibly understood) is the commons, and each speaker in the room is incentivized to take a little bit more of that quiet space for his/her own conversation.”

Technology solutions, like smart earbuds, may eventually be able to individualize conversations by homing in on a single speaker. Understanding the acoustics and altering the absorption of walls in a space could also minimize the Lombard effect.

“Based on our understanding of this phenomenon, it is possible to design rooms that increase or decrease Lombard-related crowd noise in public settings,” said Boren. “But in a loud situation, I encourage people to try talking quietly while everyone else around them is shouting. Then, when that doesn’t work, go home and rest your ears!”

———————– MORE MEETING INFORMATION ———————–
Main meeting website: https://acousticalsociety.org/asa-meetings/
Technical program: https://eppro02.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASAFALL22&proof=true

ASA PRESS ROOM
In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.

LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS
ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are 300 to 500 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.

PRESS REGISTRATION
ASA will grant free registration to credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting or virtual press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org.  For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.

Media Invited to Explore Urban Acoustics with a “Sound Walk” of Nashville #ASA183

Media Invited to Explore Urban Acoustics with a “Sound Walk” of Nashville #ASA183

Listening to the sound of a city can create healthier living environments

Media Contact:
Ashley Piccone
AIP Media
301-209-3090
media@aip.org

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 1, 2022 – With constant traffic, construction, and large groups of people, cities are sometimes notoriously loud. This urban noise pollution can be harmful for residents and visitors, so it is essential to create healthy sonic environments wherever possible.

Credit: Jim Nix via flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

​Toward this end, the 183rd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America will include an urban sound walk, in which media are invited to explore the Nashville area, its sounds, and efforts that have been taken to design projects that enhance the sonic environment and mitigate noise in the city in the process.

The sound walk will take place on December 8 from 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. Central Time, beginning at the Civic Design Center. It is an outreach activity of the Acoustical Society of America and part of the meeting running December 5 to 9 at the Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel. Registration for the sound walk is free, and more information can be found here. Participants should arrive by 10:00 a.m. to hear some short introductory information and make sure not to miss the walk.

Many cities around the world are reinvigorating their urban cores to make them more livable and sustainable as live, work, and play mixed-use communities. With these various uses and heterogeneous populations comes a plethora of activities such as outdoor dining and entertainment, active streetscapes alive with pedestrians and street performers, fitness centers, spas, night clubs, restaurants, and other recreational spaces in the middle of residential areas.

In the middle of all this activity and sound, some people in urban areas would like to experience quiet. Soundscape design is focused on addressing these situations while a building is designed or an urban plan is considered. It uses innovative acoustical measurement and analysis techniques, engages stakeholders in an equitable manner, and provides simulations of sounds. This process empowers the public to make informed decisions about the future of their environment.

Following the walk, ASA will host a “Smart Sound Planning for Cities” workshop from 11:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Central Time at the Civic Design Center. The course explains how the principles of soundscape design and planning can be used in to create sustainable, walkable, livable urban environments and help to create a culture of participation among the citizens. Urban design and planning can be used to reduce, buffer, or mitigate unwanted or potentially harmful noise; enhance and preserve desired sounds and sonic niches; and add new sounds to stimulate new activities in an urban setting. The workshop will cover emerging measurements, metrics, and design processes for modeling and simulating sounds in complex urban contexts. Methods for characterizing and mapping soundscapes, the health effects of noise, and effective methods to intervene in the soundscape will also be covered. Participants will learn how to speak with local experts to inform smart city sound planning.

Participants can join for the one-hour sound walk or the full five-hour intensive workshop. The former is an opportunity for media and anyone interested in urban soundscapes, while the latter is intended for city planners, architects, officials, and others whose work lies on the interface between sound and the community. However, all are welcome to the full workshop to learn more about modern management of sound in and around cities.

———————– MORE MEETING INFORMATION ———————–
Main meeting website: https://acousticalsociety.org/asa-meetings/
Technical program: https://eppro02.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASAFALL22&proof=true

ASA PRESS ROOM
In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.

LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS
ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are 300 to 500 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.

PRESS REGISTRATION
ASA will grant free registration to credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting or virtual press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org.  For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.

ASA Press Conferences Livestreamed from Nashville, Dec. 6 #ASA183

Media can register in-person and virtually to learn about topics including dust devils on Mars, chorusing seal pups, 3D-printed violins, and quiet, supersonic travel.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 29, 2022 – Press conferences at the 183rd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America will be held Tuesday, Dec. 6, at the Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel in the Crescent Room. The in-person presentations will also be livestreamed and recorded.

Topics will focus on a wide range of newsworthy sessions from the upcoming meeting, which runs Dec. 5-9. This includes music apps to stabilize emotions, machine learning methods to identify cholera outbreaks, and the soundscape of hydrothermal vents.

To register for in-person attendance, email media@aip.org. To watch the livestream virtually, please visit our registration page. Video recordings of the press conference sessions will be available upon request.

Press Conference Schedule – Tuesday, Dec. 6 (topics/times subject to change)

10:00 am ET / 9:00 am CT

  • Baby Seals Show Off Vocal Skills, Andrea Ravignani, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics; Session 5aAB2: Vocal learning, chorusing seal pups and the evolution of rhythm, Friday, Dec. 9, 8:50 am CT
  • Cultivating a Music Studio to Sound Like an Indoor Forest, Peter D’Antonio, RPG Acoustical Systems LLC; Session 2pAA10: The Evolution of Blackbird Studio C, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 4:20 pm CT
  • Listen to the Toilet — It Could Detect Disease, Maia Gatlin, Georgia Institute of Technology; Session 1pCA9: The Feces Thesis: Using Machine Learning to Detect Diarrhea, Monday, Dec. 5, 3:35 pm CT

12:00 pm ET / 11:00 am CT

  • Machine Learning Diagnoses Pneumonia by Listening to Coughs, Jin Yong Jeon, Hanyang University; Session 1pCA8: Pneumonia Diagnosis Algorithm based on Room Impulse Responses Using Cough Sounds, Monday, Dec. 5, 3:20 pm CT
  • Martian Dust Devil Analogues in the Mojave Desert, Louis Urtecho, NASA JPL/California Institute of Technology; Session 3aPAa6: Automated detection of dust-devil-induced pressure signatures, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 9:40 am CT
  • Can a Playlist be Your Therapist? Balancing Emotions Through Music, Man Hei Law, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Session 1pMU6: Emotion Equalization App: A First Study and Results, Monday, Dec. 5, 2:15 pm CT

2:30 pm ET / 1:30 pm CT

  • Helping Acoustic Concepts Resonate with Students, Andrew Piacsek, Central Washington University; Session 3aPAb9: Students are sitting in a room, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 11:10 am CT
  • Whispers from the Deep Sea: The Subtle Sounds of Hydrothermal Vents, Brendan Smith, Dalhousie University; Session 4aAO3: The soundscape of two deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites, Thursday, Dec. 8, 8:30 am CT
  • Why Those Sounds From Your Upstairs Neighbor Are So Annoying, Markus Mueller-Trapet, National Research Council Canada; Session 2aAAa7: Noise from above: a summary of studies regarding the perceived annoyance due to impact sounds, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 10:05 am CT
  • 3D-Printed Violins Bring Music into More Hands, Mary-Elizabeth Brown, AVIVA Young Artists Program; Session 2aSA4: Old Meets New: 3-D Printing and the Art of Violin-Making, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 9:35 am CT

4:30 pm ET / 3:30 pm CT

  • Supersonic Travel, Without the Sonic Boom, Gautam Shah, NASA Langley Research Center; Session 2aNS5: NASA Quesst Mission – Community Response Testing Plans, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 9:50 am CT
  • Improving Child Development by Monitoring Noisy Daycares, Kenton Hummel, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Session 4aAA6: Applying unsupervised machine learning clustering techniques to early childcare soundscapes, Thursday, Dec. 8, 10:25 am CT
  • Shhhh… Speaking More Quietly in Restaurants Means Everyone Can Be Heard, Braxton Boren, American University; Session 1aNS9: A Game Theory Model of the Lombard Effect in Public Spaces, Monday, Dec. 5, 11:40 am CT

———————– MORE MEETING INFORMATION ———————–
Main meeting website: https://acousticalsociety.org/asa-meetings/
Technical program: https://eppro02.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASAFALL22&proof=true

ASA PRESS ROOM
In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.

LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS
ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are 300 to 500 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.

PRESS REGISTRATION
ASA will grant free registration to credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting or virtual press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org.  For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.

Media Invited to Acoustical Society of America Meeting in Nashville, Dec. 5-9

Livestreamed press conferences highlight latest advancements in science of sound #ASA183

Contact:
AIP Media Line
301-209-3090
media@aip.org

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 10, 2022 – The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) will hold its 183rd meeting Dec. 5-9 at the Grand Hyatt Nashville Hotel. ASA183 will be an in-person meeting with several hybrid sessions where remote attendance will also be possible.

The scientific conference brings together acoustical experts and researchers from around the world to share experiments and applications on topics as diverse as dust devils on Mars, therapeutic music apps, 3D printed violins, and using machine learning to detect diarrhea and prevent cholera outbreaks – just to name a few. Conference highlights can be found on social media by searching the #ASA183 hashtag.

Reporters are invited to attend the meeting at no cost (registration details below) and participate in a series of press conferences featuring a selection of newsworthy sessions. Reporters may also register to join the press conferences virtually. Times and topics will be announced in the coming weeks, and journalists may pre-register here: https://live.webcastplatform.com/go/asa.

——————— SAMPLING OF INTERESTING SESSIONS ——————–

  • 1pMU6 – Emotion equalization app: A first study and results.
  • 2aSA4 – Old meets new: 3-D printing and the art of violinmaking
  • 3aPAa6 – Automated detection of dust-devil-induced pressure signatures
  • 5aAB2 – Vocal learning, chorusing seal pups, and the evolution of rhythm.
  • 3pAA1 – Modern movie sound: reality and simulated reality.
  • 1pCA9 – The feces thesis: Using machine learning to detect diarrhea.
  • 1pCA8 – Pneumonia diagnosis algorithm based on room impulse responses using cough sounds
  • 2aAAa7 – Noise from above: A summary of studies regarding the perceived annoyance due to impact sounds

More information on these and all other meeting sessions is available via ASA’s meeting page and in the technical program:
Main meeting website: https://acousticalsociety.org/asa-meetings/
Technical program: https://eppro02.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASAFALL22&proof=true

———————– MORE MEETING INFORMATION ———————–
Main meeting website: https://acousticalsociety.org/asa-meetings/
Technical program: https://eppro02.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASAFALL22&proof=true

ASA PRESS ROOM
In the coming weeks, ASA’s Press Room will be updated with newsworthy stories and the press conference schedule at https://acoustics.org/asa-press-room/.

LAY LANGUAGE PAPERS
ASA will also share dozens of lay language papers about topics covered at the conference. Lay language papers are 300 to 500 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience. They will be accompanied by photos, audio, and video. Learn more at https://acoustics.org/lay-language-papers/.

PRESS REGISTRATION
ASA will grant free registration to credentialed and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend the meeting or virtual press conferences, contact AIP Media Services at media@aip.org.  For urgent requests, AIP staff can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips, or background information.

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), JASA Express Letters, Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. See https://acousticalsociety.org/.