Correlation of the seasonal isotopic amplitude of precipitation with annual evaporation and altitude in alpine regions.

The time series of stable water isotope composition relative to IAEA-GNIP meteorological stations located in alpine zones are analyzed in order to study how the amplitude of the seasonal isotopic composition of precipitation (Aδ) varies along a vertical transect. A clear relationship between Aδ and local evaporation is obtained, with slopes of -0.87 ‰/100mm/yr and -7.3 ‰/100mm/yr for Aδ(18)O and Aδ(2)H, respectively. When all sampling points of the vertical transect receive the same moisture sources, then a linear relationship between Aδ and elevation is obtained, with vertical gradients of 0.16 ‰/100mm/yr and 1.46 ‰/100mm/yr forAδ(18)O and Aδ(2)H, respectively.

Nonverbal sensitivity of normal-hearing and hearing-impaired older adults.

The study compared the nonverbal decoding abilities of normal-hearing and hard-of-hearing older adults using the Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity (PONS). The PONS test allowed the measurement of subjects' decoding accuracy for a variety of nonverbal cues presented under two auditory, three visual, and six audiovisual conditions. Nonverbal perceptual scores were lower for the hearing-impaired group under all presentation conditions. Perception of prosodic features of speech by hearing-impaired subjects was significantly related to low-frequency hearing sensitivity. Between-group differences in the decoding of visually transmitted nonverbal cues varied across visual presentation conditions. Results are compared to past deaf studies and related to processing strategies used by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired persons.

The relationship between the visual contribution to speech perception and lipreading ability during focused and divided attention.

The study compared the lipreading ability of normal-hearing subjects during focused and divided attention and related these measures to the visual contribution to audiovisual perception. Measurement of lipreading ability during divided attention was achieved through the use of a dual-task procedure in which subjects were required to visually identify stimulus items simultaneously with the performance of an auditory processing task. The divided attention condition served to decrease lipreading performance and increase recognition variability among subjects. Lipreading ability during divided attention was more highly correlated to visual contribution magnitude, defined as the difference between audiovisual and auditory-only recognition scores, than was lipreading ability measured during focused attention. Results are related to existing models of attention which attribute dual-task decrements to processing capacity limitations.