Pausing is a natural part of human speech. Pausing is used to segment speech, negotiate meaning, and allow for breathing. In oral speech, pausing, along with other suprasegmental features, plays a critical role in creating meaning as comprehensible speech is seen as a goal for language learners around the world. In order to be comprehensible, language learners need to learn to pause correctly in their speaking. Though this notion is widely accepted by applied linguists and many language teachers, the effect of pausing on intelligibility of spontaneous oral discourse has not been established by empirical data. This study isolates pause duration in spontaneous oral discourse in order to establish its connection to the intelligibility of non-native speech. In this study, North American undergraduate students' reactions to non-native pause duration in spontaneous oral discourse were examined. The task involved measuring the NESs' processing, comprehension, and evaluation of three different versions of an international teaching assistant's presentation: One with unmodified pause duration, one with pause duration shortened by 50%, and a third passage with pause duration lengthened by 50%. Results showed a positive correlation between pause duration and number of listeners able to identify main ideas. Finally, listener reaction was measurably more positive to the unmodified passage than to the passages with lengthened or shortened pauses.

The aim of this paper is to report on students´ attitudes and their awareness towards different English accents. With changes in the latest Swedish syllabus for English (Lgr11), the aim is no longer to sound in a specific way by speaking with a certain accent. This has been the case since 2000, but the Nativeness principle is still powerful. However, we discuss that a clear pronunciation is important for students and teachers a requisite for being understood and avoiding confusion. Students in four different schools, secondary and upper secondary schools, took part in our research by answering a questionnaire. We found that many students were aware of different accents, but also that students preferred the Inner Circle accents with AmE and BrE being the most popular ones. Also, we found a difference between secondary and upper secondary students where teacher influence was more important to the former and personal preferences to the latter.Keywords: Accent, pronunciation, comprehension, intelligibility, ESL, EIL, EFL, ELF, English as a Global Language

Bakgrund: Psykisk ohälsa, där utmattningssyndrom är en av diagnoserna är ett ökande problem. Många av de som drabbas överges och får inte den vård de behöver och har rätt till. Tid för samtal och egenvård är en viktig del i rehabiliteringen där primärvården och företagshälsovården är de huvudsakliga vårdgivarna. Syfte: Avsikten med studien var att undersöka vilken erfarenhet som sjuksköterskor inom primär- och företagshälsovård har av patienter med utmattningssyndrom. Metod: Åtta sjuksköterskor från primär- och företagshälsovård intervjuades med semistrukturerade frågor. Intervjumaterialet analyserades med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Ett tema lyssna samt två kategorier grindvakt och skapa begriplighet skapades. Alla sjuksköterskor beskrev att de initialt hade långa samtal men deras erfarenheter skiljde sig åt. Några sjuksköterskor beskrev att det var till nytta för patienterna medan andra berättade att de inte jobbade med den här patientgruppen. Konklusion: Genomgående beskriver alla sjuksköterskor att det de gör innebär att de lyssnar på patienterna samtidigt som flera av dem inte explicit uttrycker det som ett stöd. Det kan tolkas som att den relationella delen av omvårdnaden är osynlig för sjuksköterskorna som inte uppfattar att deras lyssnande är av värde för patienterna. / Background: Mental illness where fatigue syndrome is one of the diagnoses is an increasing problem. Many persons with fatigue syndrome experience abandonment and do not achieve the help they need and are entitled to. Time for conversation and self-care is an important part of rehabilitation where primary healthcare and occupational healthcare have a prominent role Aim: This study's purpose was to explore what experience that nurses in primary and occupational healthcare had of patients with fatigue syndrome. Method: Eight nurses from primary and occupational healthcare were interviewed using semi-structured questions. The interview material was analyzed using content analysis. Results: A theme listening and two categories gatekeeper and create comprehensibility emerged. All nurses had initially long conversations with the patients, but their experience differed. Some of the nurses told that they were important to the patients and others indicated that they were not working with this patient group. Conclusion: All nurses describes that what they do means that they are listening to the patients at the same time that several of them not explicit express it as a support. That can be interpreted as the relation part of nursing are invisible for the nurses who does not perceive their listening valuable for the patients.

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I denna uppsats presenteras en jämförande studie av tre gators rumsliga begriplighet (intelligibility). Studieobjekten är Trollebergsvägen, Karl XI-gatan och Öresundsvägen i Lund. Öresundsvägen är föremål för exploatering under kommande år. Här kommer det att skapas en mängd olika byggnader där olika grupper i samhället kan bosätta sig och leva. En rad nya företag kommer att etablera sig. I uppsatsen används det kvantitativa verktyget Space syntax tillsammans med kvalitativa fallstudier för att mäta den rumsliga orienteringsförmågan på dessa gator. Bill Hillier har funnit ett samband mellan integration och connectivity som han menar påverkar begripligheten av en viss rumslig struktur för människan. Han har kallat korrelationen för intelligibility- rumslig begriplighet. I uppsatsen jämförs Space syntax analyser med fallstudier för att utröna om Hilliers teori stämmer och för att därmed försöka bidra till utvecklingen av verktyg för att mäta rumslig navigering i urbana miljöer. Resultat är att använda båda analysmetoderna tillsammans vid mätningen av intelligibility. / In this paper we introduce a comparative study on three streets’ intelligibility. The study objects are Trollebergsvägen, Karl XI gata and Öresundsvägen in Lund, Sweden. Öresundsvägen is under negotiation for development in coming years. Here, there will be a variety of building structures allowing mixed social groups to live side by side and also businesses established close to the inhabitants. We have used the quantitative method Space syntax and the qualitative data of case studies to measure the intelligibility of these streets. Since Bill Hillier has found a correlation between integration and connectivity to affect the intelligibility that local and global streets produce, we will compare Space syntax analysis with the qualitative case studies in order to investigate and evaluate Hillier’s claims. In doing so we do two Space syntax analysis of integration and connectivity of the city with tables showing values for the streets. Results of this study shows that these two types of analysis would give a better understanding of intelligibility when are used.

<p>This Master’s thesis presents results from two clinical hearing aid studies. Wide dynamic range compression (WDRC), a hearing aid amplification algorithm widely used in the hearing aid industry, is compared against a novel hearing aid called the Neuro-Compensator (NC), which employs a neural-based amplification algorithm based on a computational model of the auditory periphery. The NC strategy involves preprocessing an incoming auditory signal, such that when the signal is presented to a damaged cochlea, auditory nerve output is reconstructed to look similar to the auditory nerve output of a healthy cochlea for the original auditory signal. The NC and WDRC hearing aid technologies are compared across a multitude of auditory domains. Objective measures of speech intelligibility in quiet and in noise, music perception, sound localization, and subjective measures of sound quality are obtained. It was hypothesized that the NC would restore more normal auditory abilities across auditory domains, due to its proposed strategy of restoring more normal auditory nerve output. Results from the clinical hearing aid studies quantified domains in which the NC was superior to WDRC, and vice versa.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Researchers have long known that general aviation (GA) aircraft exhibit some of the most intense and potentially damaging sound environments to a pilot's hearing. Yet, another potentially more ominous result of this noise-intense environment is the masking of the radio communications. Radio communications must remain intelligible, as they are imperative to the safe and efficient functioning of the airspace, especially the airspace surrounding our busiest airports, Class B and Class C. However, the high amplitude, low frequency noise dominating the GA cockpit causes an upward spreading of masking with such inference that it renders radio communications almost totally unintelligible, unless the pilot is wearing a communications headset. Even with a headset, some researchers have stated that the noise and masking effects overcome the headset performance and still threaten the pilot's hearing and overall safety while in the aircraft. In reaction to this situation, this experiment sought to investigate the effects which active noise reduction (ANR) headsets have on the permissible exposure levels (PELs), speech intelligibility, workload, and ultimately the pilot's performance inside the cockpit. Eight instrument-rated pilot participants flew through different flight tasks of varying levels and types of workload embedded in four 3.5 hour flight scenarios while wearing four different headsets. The 3.5 hours were considered long duration due the instrument conditions, severe weather conditions, difficult flight tasks, and the fatiguing effects of a high intensity noise environment. The noise intensity and spectrum in the simulator facility were specifically calibrated to mimic those of a Cessna 172. Speech intelligibility of radio communications was modified using the Speech Transmission Index (STI), while measures of flight performance and workload were collected to examine any relationships between workload, speech intelligibility, performance, and type of headset. It is believed that the low frequency attenuation advantages afforded by the ANR headset decreased the signal-to-noise ratio, thereby increasing speech intelligibility for the pilot. This increase may positively affect workload and flight performance. Estimates of subjective preference and comfort were also collected and analyzed for relevant relationships. The results of the experiment supported the above hypotheses. It was found that headsets which incorporate ANR technology do increase speech intelligibility which has a direct inverse influence on workload. For example, an increase in speech intelligibility is seen with a concomitant decrease in pilot workload across all types and levels of workload. Furthermore, flight task performance results show that the pilot's headset can facilitate safer flight performance. However, the factors that influence performance are more numerous and complex than those that affect speech intelligibility or workload. Factors such as the operational performance of the communications system in the headset, in addition to the ANR technology, were determined to be highly influential factors in pilot performance. This study has concluded that the pilot's headset has received much research and design attention as a noise attenuation device. However, it has been almost completely overlooked as a tool which could be used to facilitate the safety and performance of a general aviation flight. More research should focus on identifying and optimizing the headset components which contribute most to the results demonstrated in this experiment. The pilot's headset is a component of the aviation system which could economically improve the safety of the entire system. / Ph. D.