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Biomedical subjects

B Leshowitz

Publications and source records attributed to B Leshowitz.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Application of decision theory to DUI assessment.

The application of decision theory to screening of driving under the influence (DUI) offenders is illustrated in an evaluation study that investigated the validity of a structured interview and a survey instrument. These findings are examined graphically using the relative operating characteristic (ROC). This graph relates the proportion of true-positive cases to the proportion of false-positive cases for various placements of the decision cut-off score. The ROC's two principal parameters, test sensitivity and examiner bias, are used to provide a complete quantitative description of the performance of two screening instruments. A major goal of this study is to show how a new measure of examiner bias, the "cost ratio," improves the evaluation of DUI screening programs.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1979

The infrared light transmission hearing aid.

Recognizing the inherent weakness of the conventional hearing aid, we have developed a totally new design for hearing aids utilizing infrared (IR) light transmission. The hearing aid transmits the auditory message not as an acoustic wave, but as an infrared light beam. The invisible light beam carries the signal directly from a microphone near the speaker to the listener without any appreciable loss of level or fidelity, thereby providing true suppression of room noise. In preliminary tests, the IR aid has been shown to deliver intelligible sound under many noisy conditions where the conventional personal hearing aid is of little value. In this report, progress is reported in two related areas: (i) measurement of the hearing handicap of potential candidates for the IR aid, and (ii) engineering development of IR systems for personal and group hearing situations.

Acoustics↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Fostering critical thinking skills in students with learning disabilities: an instructional program.

An instructional unit was developed to enhance the critical thinking skills of middle school and high school students with learning disabilities by teaching them the principles of scientific reasoning. Student-teacher dialogues were used to engage the students in an active process of critical inquiry. Students analyzed everyday information presented in brief magazine articles and advertisements by applying the principles of the scientific method. The students made statistically significant improvements in their ability to (a) identify the principal claim made in an article or advertisement, (b) graph the relevant data, and (c) evaluate the claims made in the article and explain their support or rejection of the claims based on data. After the instructional unit, the overall performance of the special education students exceeded that of a control group composed of regular education students who had not received instruction in critical thinking.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Development of an infrared hearing aid.

This infrared hearing aid transmits an auditory message as an invisible, silent, IR light beam. By sending the signal directly to a listener's receiver, the aid suppresses background noise. For most hearing-impaired listeners, the improvement in speech reception under ordinary listening conditions is immediate and dramatic. The results of several demonstrations with elderly individuals in group listening situations show that incorporation of IR sound transmission in public address systems would markedly increase the accessibility of public facilities for the majority of hearing-impaired individuals.

Aged↗