The rapid advancement of AI and machine learning has significantly enhanced sound and acoustic recognition technologies, moving beyond traditional models to more sophisticated neural network-based methods. Among these, Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) are particularly noteworthy. SNNs mimic biological neurons and operate on principles similar to the human brain, using analog computing mechanisms. This capability allows for efficient sound processing with low power consumption and minimal latency, ideal for real-time applications in embedded systems. This paper reviews recent developments in SNNs for sound recognition, underscoring their potential to overcome the limitations of digital computing and suggesting directions for future research. The unique attributes of SNNs could lead to breakthroughs in mimicking human auditory processing more closely.

UNASSIGNED: Current monitoring methods of asthma, such as peak expiratory flow testing, have important limitations. The emergence of automated acoustic sound analysis, capturing cough, wheeze, and inhaler use, offers a promising avenue for improving asthma diagnosis and monitoring. This systematic review evaluated the validity of acoustic biomarkers in supporting the diagnosis of asthma and its monitoring.
UNASSIGNED: A search was performed using two databases (PubMed and Embase) for all relevant studies published before November 2023.
UNASSIGNED: 27 studies were included for analysis. Eligible studies focused on acoustic signals as digital biomarkers in asthma, utilizing recording devices to register or analyze sound.
UNASSIGNED: Various respiratory acoustic signal types were analyzed, with cough and wheeze being predominant. Data collection methods included smartphones, custom sensors and digital stethoscopes. Across all studies, automated acoustic algorithms achieved average accuracy of cough and wheeze detection of 88.7% (range: 61.0 - 100.0%) with a median of 92.0%. The sensitivity of sound detection ranged from 54.0 to 100.0%, with a median of 90.3%; specificity ranged from 67.0 to 99.7%, with a median of 95.0%. Moreover, 70.4% (19/27) studies had a risk of bias identified.
UNASSIGNED: This systematic review establishes the promising role of acoustic biomarkers, particularly cough and wheeze, in supporting the diagnosis of asthma and monitoring. The evidence suggests the potential for clinical integration of acoustic biomarkers, emphasizing the need for further validation in larger, clinically-diverse populations.

The aim of this systematic review was to conduct a comprehensive and rigorous investigation of both psychological and physiological responses to, and audio-visual interactions with, soundscapes to present an overview of the current status and to provide suggestions for future research. Our literature search focused on empirical and quantitative studies of journal articles and gray literature in English and Chinese. This systematic review excluded literature related to pure music, religious sounds, humanistic sounds, historical sounds, medical research, and differences in materials used. The Joanna Briggs Institute\'s Checklist for Randomized Controlled Trials was used to assess the risk of bias in the included studies. Twenty-five studies were included, involving 1950 participants. The major findings of this systematic review were that: (1) there were significant associations between the psychological and physiological responses; (2) the audio-visual interaction affected the psychological and physiological responses; and (3) because of the high risk of bias of the included studies, interpretation of their findings should be cautious. Nevertheless, given that this systematic review has a higher level of evidence than a single study and the synthesized evidence identified in this review is aligned with the results of other studies, the studies reviewed herein together provide consistent evidence. Replications are important in empirical research to build trustworthy results. Future research should focus on the psychological responses of pleasantness, preference, tranquility, the eight semantic dimensions (ISO 12913-2:2018), and the 11 pairs of adjectives describing the soundscape (Ba et al., 2023) and the physiological responses of heart rate variability and salivary, and follow the CONSORT guidelines to improve the research quality. An integration of sensory modalities, environmental factors, contextual indicators, temporal data, demographic variables, socio-cultural factors, and psychological and physiological responses may provide deeper insights into how people experience and understand the acoustic environment in context.

According to the arousal-mood hypothesis, changes in arousal and mood when exposed to auditory stimulation underlie the detrimental effects or improvements in cognitive performance. Findings supporting or against this hypothesis are, however, often based on subjective ratings of arousal rather than autonomic/physiological indices of arousal. To assess the arousal-mood hypothesis, we carried out a systematic review of the literature on 31 studies investigating cardiac, electrodermal, and pupillometry measures when exposed to different types of auditory stimulation (music, ambient noise, white noise, and binaural beats) in relation to cognitive performance. Our review suggests that the effects of music, noise, or binaural beats on cardiac, electrodermal, and pupillometry measures in relation to cognitive performance are either mixed or insufficient to draw conclusions. Importantly, the evidence for or against the arousal-mood hypothesis is at best indirect because autonomic arousal and cognitive performance are often considered separately. Future research is needed to directly evaluate the effects of auditory stimulation on autonomic arousal and cognitive performance holistically.

Listening to natural sounds, both live and recorded, in either a natural or built environment is considered natural sound exposure (NSE). Sound is closely related to daily life, and research on the restorative effects of natural sounds is expanding. However, there is a lack of quantitative and comprehensive analysis on the impact of NSE on health recovery. This study systematically reviewed and conducted a meta-analysis on the impact of NSE on health recovery. Fifteen studies (1285 participants) were selected for the meta-analysis out of the 1157 literatures about the recovery of the NSE, searched from the Web of Science and Science Direct. The results indicate that NSE has certain positive effects: (a) In terms of emotional changes, NSE significantly reduces anxiety as measured by both the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) -2.31 (95 % CI -2.83, -1.79) and the State Anxiety Inventory (SAI) -12.22 (95 % CI -22.46, -1.98). (b) In terms of physiological reaction, NSE resulted in reduced heart rate (HR) -5.46 (95 % CI -9.62, -1.31), systolic blood pressure (SBP) -11.74 (95 % CI -15.51, -7.97), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) -13.98 (95 % CI -24.96, -2.99) and respiratory rate (RR) -1.58 (95 % CI -3.06, -0.10). (c) While the potential for restoration of cognitive performance by NSE was found, no consistent conclusions have been reached yet. However, there was significant heterogeneity between studies, primarily attributed to variations in study populations and methodologies. Because of the limited literature, we did not conduct subgroup analysis and meta-regression analysis. It is recommended that future studies address this heterogeneity by including more and higher-quality literature and employing rigorous methodologies to establish a robust foundation for evidence-based medicine. This will be of great significance for the application natural sounds in landscape planning and medical rehabilitation environments, and has the potential to promote improvements in public health.

Musical intervention (MI) is a valuable strategy for addressing the psychological and emotional challenges faced by patients undergoing imaging procedures. This study explores MI\'s impact on psychophysiological outcomes during imaging procedures, detailing the sound repertoire and technical characteristics employed in MI.
A systematic review (SR) and meta-analysis (MA) were conducted. Electronic database searches of PubMed, Web-of-Science, and Scopus were performed encompassing original randomised research and quasi-experimental articles published until June 2023.
Thirteen articles were included in this SR, scoring between 23 and 68 on the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Checklist. Four articles were included to perform a MA concerning anxiety and heart rate (HR) outcomes. Most studies utilised digital playlists as the medium for MI. Headphones were commonly used, with an average volume of 50-60 dB and a musical frequency of 60-80 beats/min. While authors generally preferred selecting musical genres for the repertoire, two articles specifically chose Johann Pachelbel\'s \"Canon in D major\" as their musical theme. In terms of psychological parameters, the experimental groups exhibited lower anxiety values than the control groups, with further reductions after MI. However, MA shows that this trend is only marginally significant. Patient comfort and overall examination experience showed improvement with MI. Regarding physiological parameters, HR, especially in the final phase of the examination, was significantly lower in the experimental group compared to the control group.
Across multiple studies, MI demonstrated the ability to reduce anxiety and HR. However, no specific music repertoire emerged as the most effective.
MI arises as a painless, reliable, low-cost, and side-effect-free strategy, presenting imaging departments with a practical means to enhance patient comfort and mitigate anxiety and stress during medical procedures.

Anthropogenic noise is globally increasing in aquatic ecosystems, and there is concern that it may have adverse consequences in many fish species, yet the effects of noise in field settings are not well understood. Concern over the applicability of laboratory-conducted bioacoustic experiments has led to a call for, and a recent increase in, field-based studies, but the results have been mixed, perhaps due to the wide variety of techniques used and species studied. Previous reviews have explored the behavioral, physiological, and/or anatomical costs of fish exposed to anthropogenic noise, but few, if any, have focused on the field techniques and sound sources themselves. This review, therefore, aims to summarize, quantify, and interpret field-based literature, highlight novel approaches, and provide recommendations for future research into the effects of noise on fish.

To date, there is scarce evidence on the association between sleep disorders and noise generated by wind turbines. We searched six relevant electronic databases from the inception to May 2023 for relevant articles. The methodological quality of the included articles was evaluated using the US National Institutes of Health tool. Fifteen articles met the inclusion criteria. The overall prevalence of sleep disorders among residents close to wind turbines was 34% (95% Confidence Interval, 0.22-0.47). Univariate meta-regressions for distance and sound power level showed that at higher distance the prevalence of sleep disorders decreases (p = 0.010) and with a higher sound power level the prevalence increases (p = 0.037). Furthermore, this systematic review and meta-analysis highlighted that the overall quality of current research on this topic is poor, and the methods to measure the results are often based on subjective assessments and not validated questionnaires. In conclusion, our preliminary findings suggest that there may be a possible relation between exposure to wind turbines and sleep disorders, although no conclusions can be drawn in terms of causality due to the nature of the retrieved data and the poor quality of current evidence. Future studies should adopt a longitudinal design and focus on objective measurements, supported by validated subjective methods such as questionnaires.

This is the first systematic review that focuses on the influence of product-intrinsic and extrinsic sounds on the chemical senses involving both food and aroma stimuli. This review has a particular focus on all methodological details (stimuli, experimental design, dependent variables, and data analysis techniques) of 95 experiments, published in 83 publications from 2012 to 2023. 329 distinct crossmodal auditory-chemosensory associations were uncovered across this analysis. What is more, instead of relying solely on static figures and tables, we created a first-of-its-kind comprehensive Power BI dashboard (interactive data visualization tool by Microsoft) on methodologies and significant findings, incorporating various filters and visualizations allowing readers to explore statistics for specific subsets of experiments. We believe that this review can be helpful for researchers and practitioners working in the food and beverage industry and beyond these scopes (e.g., cosmetics). Theoretical and practical implications discussed in this article point to computational approaches that facilitate decision-making regarding multisensory experimental methodology design.

Lumped element models facilitate investigating the fundamental mechanisms of human ear sound conduction. This systematic review aims to guide researchers to the optimal model for the investigated parameters. For this purpose, the literature was reviewed up to 12 July 2023, according to the PRISMA guidelines. Seven models are included via database searching, and another 19 via cross-referencing. The quality of the models is assessed by comparing the predicted middle ear transfer function, the tympanic membrane impedance, the energy reflectance, and the intracochlear pressures (ICPs) (scala vestibuli, scala tympani, and differential) with experimental data. Regarding air conduction (AC), the models characterize the pathway from the outer to the inner ear and accurately predict all six aforementioned parameters. This contrasts with the few existing bone conduction (BC) models that simulate only a part of the ear. In addition, these models excel at predicting one observable parameter, namely, ICP. Thus, a model that simulates BC from the coupling site to the inner ear is still lacking and would increase insights into the human ear sound conduction. Last, this review provides insights and recommendations to determine the appropriate model for AC and BC implants, which is highly relevant for future clinical applications.