Purpose: To study the impact of visual cues, speech materials and age on the frequency bandwidth necessary for optimizing speech recognition performance in listeners with normal hearing. Method: Speech recognition abilities of adults and children with normal hearing were assessed using three speech perception tests that were low-pass (LP) filtered and presented in quiet and noise. The speech materials included the Multimodal Lexical Sentence Test (MLST) that was presented in auditory-only and auditory-visual modalities for the purpose of determining the listener's visual benefit. In addition, The University of Western Ontario Plurals Test (UWO) assessed listeners' ability to detect high frequency acoustic information (e.g., /s/ and /z/) in isolated words and The Maryland CNC test that assessed speech recognition performance using isolated single words. Speech recognition performance was calculated as percent correct and was compared across groups (children and adults), tests (MLST, UWO, and CNC) and conditions (quiet and noise). Results: Statistical analyses revealed a number of significant findings. The effect of visual cues was significant in adults and children. The type of speech material had significant impact on the frequency bandwidth required for adults and children to optimize speech recognition performance. The children required significantly more bandwidth to optimize performance than adults across speech perception tests and conditions of quiet and noise. Adults and children required significantly more bandwidth in noise than in quiet across speech perception tests. Conclusion: The results suggest that children and adults require significantly less bandwidth for optimizing speech recognition performance when assessed using sentence materials which provide visual cues. Children, however, showed less benefit from visual cues in the noise condition than adults. The amount of bandwidth required by both groups decreased as a function of the speech material. In other words, the more ecologically valid the speech material (e.g., sentences with visual cues versus single isolated words), the less bandwidth was required for optimizing performance. In all, the optimal bandwidth (except for the noise condition of the UWO test) is achievable with current amplification schemes.

Alpha-Beta transition in quartz is studied using the Raman scattering. The Raman frequencies of some lattice modes are analyzed at various temperatures close to the alpha beta transition in quartz. For this analysis, the experimental data from the literature is used and the soft mode behavior of those Raman phonons is investigated . On the basis of the predictions of some models, the temperature dependencies for the Raman frequencies of the lattice modes which move towards zero (soft mode) and their bandwidths close to the transition temperature Tc are explained for the alpha-beta transition in quartz. In addition, by using the experimental volume data from literature, calculation of the temperature dependence of the Raman frequencies through the Gr&uuml / neisen parameter have been studied near the phase transition.

The key requirements of a reliable neural signal recording system include low power to support long-term monitoring, low noise, minimum tissue damage, and wireless transmission. The neural spikes are also detected and sorted on-chip/off-chip to implement closed-loop neuromodulation in a high channel count setup. All these features together constitute an empirical neural recording system for neuroscience research. In this prospectus, we propose to develop a neural signal acquisition system with wireless transmission and feature extraction. We start by designing a prototype entirely built with commercial-off-the-shelf components, which includes recording and wireless transmission of synthetic neural data and feature extraction. We then conduct the CMOS implementation of the low-power multi-channel neural signal recording read-out circuit, which enables the in-vivo recording with a small form factor. Another direction of this thesis is to design a self-powered motion tracking read-out circuit for wearable sensors. As the wearable industry continues to advance, the need for self-powered medical devices is growing significantly. In this line of research, we propose a self-powered motion sensor based on reverse electrowetting-on-dielectric (REWOD) with low-power integrated electronics for remotely monitoring health conditions. We design the low-power read-out circuit for a wide range of input charges, which is generated from the REWOD sensor.

Cette thèse a pour objectif d’instrumenter un contenant familier dans le domaine du biomédical et de la chimie (un tube à essai) avec des éléments piézoélectriques à ondes longitudinales (L) et d’implémenter, en les optimisant, diverses méthodes ultrasonores pour mesurer les viscosités rapidement, sans changer de banc de mesure et cela de quelques Hz à plusieurs dizaines de mégahertz au voisinage de la température ambiante. Grâce au système mis en place il est possible en quelques minutes de déterminer le comportement rhéologique du liquide, étudié en mesurant sa viscosité de cisaillement. Par ailleurs, la gamme de viscosité atteinte est extrêmement large puisque les mesures sont possibles de quelques dizaines de mPa.s à plusieurs centaines de Pa.s. Enfin, au-delà de résultats quantitatifs en terme de viscosité, le banc de mesure peut être aussi utilisé pour suivre de façon qualitative des cinétiques de réaction (polymérisation par exemple). / The main goal of this thesis is to set specific piezoelectric elements emitting longitudinal waves (L) on a well-known container in the field of biomedical and chemistry (a test tube) and to implement with some optimizations various ultrasonic methods to measure viscosities quickly, without changing the measurement bench. The measurement has to be done from a few Hz to several tens of megahertz around room temperature. Up to now it is possible to determine in a few minutes the rheological behavior of the liquid studied thanks to the evaluation of its shear viscosity. Furthermore, the viscosity range reached is extremely wide: the measurements are possible from a few tens of mPa.s to several hundred Pa.s. Finally, beyond quantitative results in terms of viscosity, the measurement bench can also be used to qualitatively monitor reactions (polymerization for example).