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Background:The study investigated the cause of varying estimates of frequency difference limens (DLs) in delayed comparison tasks involving pitch retention in auditory working memory (AWM). Using procedures adapted from the method of constant stimuli (MCS) and the single-interval adjustment matrix (SIAM), we sought to determine via 3 experiments whether the disparity in frequency DLs obtained using each procedure was due to the method of measurement (Experiment 1), the response format (Experiment 2), or performance feedback (Experiment 3). Material and methods:Five adults (ages 21 to 38 years) with hearing within normal limits participated in Experiments 1 and 2, and seven adults (ages 20 to 30 years) with hearing within normal limits participated in Experiment 3. Delayed comparison tasks were used to evaluate frequency DLs under SIAM and MCS.Results: Our preliminary results suggest that DL values for pitch discrimination are more influenced by response format than by the measurement procedure or performance feedback. Regardless of the method used, DL values were greater in the condition containing intervening stimuli compared to the condition lacking intervening stimuli. Conclusions:Preliminary findings suggest there is consistency in the listener's adopted criterion (i.e., judgment rationale) across the psychoacoustic methods investigated. Performance measures suggest that SIAM is as accurate as MCS, but it is noteworthy that two SIAM measurement runs using the "same/different" response format is more efficient than four runs with MCS. Future application of the SIAM procedure for measuring DL values might, with larger sample sizes, identify additional factors that contribute to performance and the listener's adopted criterion, since data collection time is appreciably shorter with SIAM.

Purpose The purpose of this investigation was to quantify the extent to which forced vital capacity (FVC) in competitive swimmers may differ from nonswimmers and determine if compression race suits reduced FVC when compared to practice swimsuits. Identification of the differences in FVC between swimmers and nonswimmers as well as pulmonary function differences secondary to swimsuit construction may inform assessment of the competitive swimmer with paradoxical vocal fold motion (PVFM). Method Using a prospective, mixed within- and between-groups, repeated measures design with 10 female competitive swimmers and 13 female nonswimmers, FVC was measured and compared between the two groups. Further FVC assessment was completed with the swimmers to identify FVC differences between a practice suit and a compression racing suit. Results FVC in swimmers was significantly larger than FVC in nonswimmers by over 1 L. The predicted FVC volumes were significantly smaller than the actual FVC volumes for swimmers. No significant differences were identified between the practice swimsuit and the compression race suit or between the predicted and actual FVCs for the nonswimmer group. Conclusions Swimmers have unique pulmonary function and physiology that require consideration during the assessment for PVFM to ascertain the extent to which the pulmonary system may be compromised from PVFM, reduced exercise intensity, or both. Knowledge of differential diagnoses and adequate characterization of pulmonary volumes in swimmers will improve assessment processes.