Detta arbete består av en undersökning om några professionella musikers (violinister) syn på förberedelser inför en provspelning. Detta inkluderar tankar och strategier de använt för att förbereda sig på bästa sätt för att möta de utmaningar musiker ställs inför vid en provspelning, samt vilka råd de anser viktiga att förmedla till andra om innehållet i dessa förberedelser. Undersökningen gjordes genom kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra musiker ur Göteborgs Symfoniker.Följande viktiga resultat framkom i undersökningen. Ingen av informanterna hade fått någon utbildning i hur de kunde förbereda sig för en provspelning men samtliga hade värdefulla erfarenheter och råd om hur goda förberedelser bör göras. Musikernas råd och strategier kan hänföras till en eller flera av följande fyra kategorier; färdigheten på instrumentet, färdigheten att framträda, träning inför den specifika situationen samt mental inställning. De olika kategorierna betonades på olika sätt av samtliga informanter och de gav ett flertal råd inom varje kategori. / This essay contains an investigation on some professional musicians' (violinists) views on how to prepare for an audition. It includes thoughts and strategies they've used to best prepare themselves to embrace the challenges musicians face at an audition, and what advice they consider important to communicate to others in their preparations. My research was conducted through qualitative interviews with four musicians from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.These were the more important results of the investigation. None of the musicians had been taught how to prepare for an audition, but they all had valuable experience and advice on how to prepare as well as possible. The musicians' advice and strategies can be put into one or more of the following four categories: instrumental skills, performance skills, preparation for the specific situation and mental attitude. Each category was emphasized through a variety of ways by the informants, and they also provided advice applicable within each category.

The research presented in this thesis was designed to investigate whether and how the temporal synchrony and spatial congruence of non-visual cues with visual targets could work together to improve the discrimination and identification of visual targets in neurologically-healthy adult humans. The speed and accuracy of participants’ responses were compared following the presence or absence of temporally synchronous and/or spatially congruent or incongruent auditory, vibrotactile, and audiotactile cues in the context of dynamic visual search and rapidly-masked visual target identification. The understanding of the effects of auditory, vibrotactile, and audiotactile cues derived from these laboratory-based tasks was then applied to an air traffic control simulation involving the detection and resolution of potential conflicts (represented as visual targets amidst dynamic and cluttered visual stimuli). The results of the experiments reported in this thesis demonstrate that, in the laboratory-based setting, temporally synchronous and spatially informative non-visual cues both gave rise to significant improvements in participants’ performance, and the combination of temporal and spatial cuing gave rise to additional improvements in visual target identification performance. In the real-world setting, however, only the temporally synchronous unimodal auditory and bimodal audiotactile cues gave rise to a consistent facilitation of participants’ visual target detection performance. The mechanisms and accounts proposed to explain the effects of spatial and temporal cuing, namely multisensory integration and attention, are examined and discussed with respect to the observed improvements in participants’ visual target identification performance.

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Many great actors don’t work and many mediocre actors do. Why? The perfect monologue and great song isn’t enough to get you hired. Sadly, students are not prepared and equipped with the necessary skill set to take control of their careers. In this economic climate, the ability to audition could not be more imperative. In this thesis, readers will be introduced to the basics of audition technique as developed for Theatre majors at Virginia Commonwealth University as a precursor to their senior year. It will guide them through the first stage of their career. Furthermore, there are unspoken rules, etiquette, and untapped opportunities of which many young actors are simply unaware when auditioning. Through the exploration of auditioning as a technique and not just a means to an end, students will find confidence, understanding, and the tools to prepare them to be successful in gaining employment in the theatre.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T18:11:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniel Arthur Santos dos Santos.pdf: 7702158 bytes, checksum: 95a7a71a296eca1035176a80ccb6a3a3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-10-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Introduction: Although not fatal, consequences and implications of hearing loss in the individual, family and community are considerable, reflecting the development of communication skills, social and economic aspects of the individual as well as their quality of life. Research indicates that children and adolescents constantly exposed to high levels of sound pressure can develop a noise-induced hearing loss. Unlike other causes of hearing loss, this type of hearing loss can be prevented if people are taught to take some simple precautions. Through campaigns and educational programs of public awareness about the harmful effects of noise on hearing, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) believe that the general public can learn and cultivate healthy hearing habits, however, little is published about awareness and change habits in relation to risk exposure impaired, these children and adolescents, and what has been done to achieve these goals. Objective: To analyze the published literature on educational programs promoting hearing health for children and adolescents. Method: Literature review of educational programs to promote hearing health for children and adolescents, including clinical trials, literature reviews, monographs, dissertations, theses, books, and web sites with search conducted in electronic databases such with: LILACS, PUBMED, SCIELO addition to manual searches medical journals Considerations: All programs are based on content and knowledge of the functioning of hearing, hearing loss, harmful effects of constant exposure to high levels of sound pressure and hearing protection. These programs are conducted in a few meetings and always seek the interactivity and dynamism with children and adolescents through play activities, videos and audios. Some programs improved techniques and structures from others. Unfortunately, what is missing are more published studies of effectiveness and efficiency of the programs reviewed. By analyzing these educational programs, we offer ideas and possibilities, to all the people who want to work, researching, further stimulate the development, implementation and health promotion, in this case, hearing health / Introdução: Embora não seja fatal, as consequências e implicações da deficiência auditiva no individuo, na família e na comunidade são consideráveis, refletindo no desenvolvimento das habilidades comunicativas, nos aspectos sociais e econômicos do indivíduo bem como na sua qualidade de vida. Pesquisas apontam que crianças e adolescentes expostos constantemente a níveis elevados de pressão sonora podem desenvolver uma perda auditiva induzida por ruído. Ao contrário das outras causas de perda auditiva, este tipo de perda pode ser evitado se as pessoas forem ensinadas a tomarem algumas precauções simples. Por meio de campanhas e programas educacionais de conscientização pública sobre os efeitos nocivos do ruído na audição, a American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) e a World Health Organization (WHO) acreditam que a população em geral e, especialmente crianças e jovens podem aprender e cultivar hábitos auditivos saudáveis. Porém, pouco se publica sobre conscientização e mudanças de hábitos, em relação à exposição a riscos auditivos, a essas crianças e adolescentes e, o que se tem feito para alcançar tais metas. Objetivo: Analisar a literatura publicada sobre programas educacionais de promoção da saúde auditiva para crianças e adolescentes. Método: Revisão da literatura sobre programas educacionais de promoção da saúde auditiva para crianças e adolescentes, incluindo ensaios clínicos, revisão de literatura, resumos, monografias, dissertações, teses, livros e web sites, com busca realizada em bases eletrônicas de dados tais com: LILACS, PUBMED, SCIELO além de buscas manuais em revistas periódicas. Considerações: Todos os programas têm como base e conteúdo o conhecimento do funcionamento da audição, perda auditiva, efeitos nocivos da exposição constante a níveis elevados de pressão sonora e proteção auditiva. Estes programas são realizados em poucos encontros e buscam sempre a interatividade e o dinamismo com as crianças e adolescentes por meio de atividades lúdicas, vídeos e áudios. Alguns programas aperfeiçoaram as técnicas e estruturas de outros. Infelizmente, o que falta são mais estudos publicados de efetividade e eficácia dos programas revistos. Ao analisarmos estes programas educacionais, procuramos oferecer possibilidades e ideias, um norte a todas as pessoas que queiram trabalhar, pesquisar, estimular ainda mais o desenvolvimento, a implementação e a promoção em saúde, neste caso, saúde auditiva

This thesis documents a series of experiments designed to investigate the mechanisms subserving sub-second duration processing in humans. Firstly, duration aftereffects were generated by adapting to consistent duration information. If duration aftereffects represent encoding by neurons selective for both stimulus duration and non-temporal stimulus features, adapt-test changes in these features should prevent duration aftereffect generation. Stimulus characteristics were chosen which selectively target differing stages of the visual processing hierarchy. The duration aftereffect showed robust interocular transfer and could be generated using a stimulus whose duration was defined by stimuli invisible to monocular mechanisms, ruling out a pre-cortical locus. The aftereffects transferred across luminance-defined visual orientation and facial identity. Conversely, the duration encoding mechanism was selective for changes in the contrast-defined envelope size of a Gabor and showed broad spatial selectivity which scaled proportionally with adapting stimulus size. These findings are consistent with a second stage visual spatial mechanism that pools input across proportionally smaller, spatially abutting filters. A final series of experiments investigated the pattern of interaction between concurrently presented cross-modal durations. When duration discrepancies were small, multisensory judgements were biased towards the modality with higher precision. However, when duration discrepancies were large, perceived duration was compressed by both longer and shorter durations from the opposite modality, irrespective of unimodal temporal reliability. Taken together, these experiments provide support for a duration encoding mechanism that is tied to mid-level visual spatial processing. Following this localised encoding, supramodal mechanisms then dictate the combination of duration information across the senses.

No description available.

O tênis de mesa é um dos esportes de raquete mais rápidos do mundo, exigindo muito pouco tempo para planejar e executar seus movimentos. Neste sentido, detectar a quantidade de rotação da bola, velocidade e direção torna-se fundamental para produzir respostas motoras eficientes. Entretanto, existem algumas questões que ainda não foram exploradas como o quanto a disponibilidade das informações auditiva e visual interfere na acurácia da percepção da rotação da bola e no tempo necessário para perceber estas rotações. O propósito do presente estudo foi analisar a influência da informação auditiva e visual na percepção da rotação da bola e no desempenho no tênis de mesa. Os atletas profissionais foram submetidos a dois estudos: o primeiro destinado a verificar a contribuição da informação auditiva e visual na percepção da rotação da bola e no tempo necessário para essa percepção. O segundo, proposto para avaliar a influência da informação auditiva no desempenho da tarefa de contra-ataque no tênis de mesa. Participaram do estudo 22 mesatenistas de alto rendimento de ambos os sexos (21 homens e 1 mulher) com média de idade de 22,55 ± 6,15. O teste de percepção de rotação (estudo 1) analisou o número de acertos e o tempo de reação por meio de uma rotina desenvolvida no software Matlab (Apêndice D). Os atletas visualizavam a tela de um computador e respondiam em um teclado o mais rápido possível. Os atletas analisaram um movimento de forehand nas intensidades de rotação: muita rotação (bola girando a aproximadamente 140 r/s); média (bola girando a aproximadamente 105 r/s); pouca rotação (bola girando a aproximadamente 84 r/s); batida chapada (bola girando a aproximadamente 70 r/s), nas seguintes condições: a) informação auditiva; b) informação visual; c) informação auditiva e visual. Os atletas analisaram 20 bolas para cada condição sendo cinco de cada tipo de efeito. Para o teste de desempenho (estudo 2) o atleta teve que responder adequadamente com o movimento de contra-ataque de forehand em um alvo previamente marcado na mesa. Foram golpeadas 80 bolas nas mesmas intensidades de rotação mencionadas acima. Os atletas foram avaliados em duas condições: com informação auditiva e sem informação auditiva. Os resultados do estudo 1 revelaram que mesatenistas foram capazes de perceber a magnitude de rotação da bola nas três condições. O percentual de acertos foi de 77,5%, 91,14% e 96,36% para as condições de informação auditiva, visual e combinadas, respectivamente. Quanto ao tempo de reação, os resultados revelaram que na condição somente informação auditiva (2,32 ± 0,41 s) os atletas demoraram mais tempo para responder do que em relação a condição somente informação visual (2,07 ± 0,36 s), já na condição informação auditiva e visual (1,85 ± 0,35 s) os atletas se mostraram mais rápidos ainda concordando com as informações número de acertos obtidas neste estudo. Para o estudo 2 os resultados revelaram que quando os atletas contra-atacaram na condição informação auditiva, o número de acertos foi de 37,69 ± 5,43 enquanto, quando a audição dos atletas foi privada a média de acertos foi 33,15 ± 6,84. Os resultados apontaram que mesatenistas foram capazes de utilizar as informações auditiva e visual para perceber a magnitude da rotação da bola no golpe forehand, porém, no estudo 1 quando as informações foram combinadas o número de acertos aumentou 5,22% e o tempo de reação diminuiu 0,22 s. No estudo 2 Quando a informação auditiva foi privada houve uma diminuição na média do número de acertos de 4,54. / Table tennis is one of the fastest racket sports in the world, requiring very little time to plan and execute your moves. In this sense, detecting a quantity of ball spin, velocity and direction becomes fundamental to produce efficient motor responses. However, there are some questions that have not yet been explored for example how much the availability of auditory and visual information interferes with the accuracy of the perception of the rotation of the ball and the time needed to perceive these rotations. The purpose of the present study is to analyze the influence of auditory and visual information on the perception of ball rotation and performance in table tennis. The volunteers were submitted to two studies: the first one to verify the contribution of the auditory and visual information in the perception of the rotation of the ball and in the time necessary for this perception. The second, proposed to evaluate the influence of auditory information on the performance of the counter-attack task in table tennis. Twenty-two high-level table tennis players men and women (21 men and 1 woman) with a mean age of 22.55 ± 6.15 participated in the study. The rotation perception test (study 1) analyzed the number of hits and the reaction time through a routine developed in Matlab software. The athletes visualized the screen of a computer and answered in a keyboard as soon as possible. The athletes analyzed a forehand movement in the rotation intensities: fast spin (spinning ball foward at 140 r/s); medium spin (105 r/s); slow spin (84 r/s); flat hit (70 r/s), under the following conditions: a) auditory information; b) visual information; c) auditory and visual information. The athletes analyzed 20 balls for each condition, five of each type of rotation. For the performance test (study 2) the athlete had to respond adequately with the forehand counterattack movement on a previously marked target at the table. 80 balls were struck at the same intensities of rotation mentioned above. The athletes were evaluated in two conditions: with auditory information and without auditory information. The results of the study 1 revealed that table tennis players were able to perceive the magnitude of rotation of the ball in the three conditions. The percentage of correct answers was 77.5%, 91.14% and 96.36% for auditory, visual and combined information conditions, respectively. Regarding the reaction time, the results revealed that in the condition only auditory information (2.32 ± 0.41 s) the athletes took more time to respond, since in the condition only visual information (2.07 ± 0.36 s) delayed a little less and in the condition auditory and visual information (1.85 ± 0.35 s) the athletes showed themselves to be faster still agreeing with the information number of hits obtained in this study. For the study 2 the results revealed that when the athletes counterattacked in the auditory information condition, the number of hits was 37.69 ± 5.43, whereas when the hearing of the athletes was private the average hit was 33.15 ± 6.84. The results indicated that table tennis players were able to use auditory and visual information to realize the magnitude of the ball rotation in the forehand blow, however, in study 1 when the informations were combined the number of right answered increased 5.22% and the reaction time decreased by 0.22 s. In study 2 When the auditory information was depriving, there was a decrease in the average number of hits 4.54.

Three experiments investigated the ability and means by which Florida manatees determine sound source directionality. An eight-choice discrimination paradigm determined the sound localization abilities of two manatees within a 360° array of speakers. Five conditions were tested including a 3,000 and 200 ms, 95 dB, 0.2-24 kHz signal, a 3,000 ms, 80 dB, 18-24 kHz signal, a 3000 ms, 110 dB, 0.2-1.5 kHz signal and a 200 ms, 101 dB, 4 kHz tonal signal. A sixth condition attenuated the level of the 3,000 ms, 95 dB, 0.2-24 kHz signal in 3 dB increments until accuracy reached 75%. Subjects performed above the 12.5% chance level for all broadband frequencies and were able to localize over a large level range. Errors were typically located to either side of the signal source location when presented in the front 180° but were more dispersed when presented from the 135°, 180° and 225° locations. Front-to-back confusions were few and accuracy was greater when signals originated from the front 180°. Head/body related transfer functions determined how different frequencies were filtered by the manatees' head/torso to create frequency-specific interaural level differences (ILDs). Hydrophones were suspended next to each manatee ear and Fast Fourier transform (FFT) ratios compared received signals with and without the subject's presence. ILD magnitudes were derived for all frequencies, as well as specific 0.2-1.5, 0.2-5, and 18-30 kHz bands of frequencies. ILDs were found for all frequencies as a function of source location, although they were largest with frequencies above 18 kHz and when signals originated at 90° and 270°. Larger ILDs were found when the signals originated behind the subjects as compared to in front of them. Auditory evoked potential (AEP) techniques were used to map manatee sound conduction pathways in-water and in-air using 15 and 24 kHz carriers. All subjects produced AEPs at each position the transducer was placed, however specific sound conduction pathway(s) were not identified. AEP amplitudes were usually greater with the 24 kHz carrier, however patterns between carriers at identical body positions were highly variable between subjects.