Enhancement Books

I've been a massage therapist and healer for 13 years. I now require each potential client to read this book and Music and Song, Mother and Love, both by John Diamond. I often recommend other books along the way, but these two books set the tone for all of the work we do together. Together with Facets of a Diamond: Reflections of a Healer, these books should be required reading for all healers and those who really want to support their own healing.

This book inspired me to have a new attitude toward my home -- and my life! It is written in a mix of prose and lovely poetry -- both of which are full of heart-warming thoughts. I also like the use of word origins to illuminate these thoughts.

In this personal and engaging book, Dr. Diamond considers the many elements that combine to produce an effective and long-lasting therapeutic relationship. Drawing on his own extensive experience as a holistic healer, Dr. Diamond discusses the role of the healer and that of the sufferer. He also looks in detail at setting up the best environment in which healing can take place.

I find Dr. Diamond's emphasis on the importance of a holistic approach to healing most valuable, and I welcome the philosophical context in which this book places that concept.

This book completely changed my point of view on death and life and the sufferings of age and disease, inspiring me to try to see these in a much deeper, more spiritual fashion - on a level quite beyond the gerontology studies I had done in college. The way Dr. John Diamond draws on his experiences in clinical settings, within his own family, and with the music outreach programs he has led for many years, and shares it with the reader, is truly beautiful. Through his down-to-earth prose (and also through his poetry) he touches the heart of the reader. This book will bring consolation and inspiration to all who face age or death for themselves or in their family.

For many years I have visited the sick and the dying in nursing homes, hospitals and their own homes. Dr. Diamond's understanding of sickness and dementia, as presented in this book, has helped me to realize that although these patients may not be functioning members of society, they are nonetheless aware at a very deep level of what goes on around them. In particular, their creativity is often not affected by their deteriorating physical condition, and it is through this window of opportunity that we can reach them - and, maybe more importantly, learn from them.

The small group of singers and instrumentalists with which I visit nursing homes has actively adopted Dr. Diamond's philosophy concerning the importance of the creative arts, particularly music, and staff and relatives are frequently amazed at the improvement in the condition of even the most severely debilitated patients that they observe following our visits. There is no doubt in my mind that Dr. Diamond's approach has far-reaching consequences in terms of the treatment and care of patients with Alzheimer's disease and other ailments involving dementia.

Dr. Diamond is one of the world's great innovators, as anyone who has read "Life Energy" or "Your Body Doesn't Lie" will know. But "The Veneration of Life" is a deeply personal statement. He wrote it shortly after the death of his mother - she died of Alzheimer's disease - and he recounts this moving and inspirational experience to the reader. As the dementia progressed he was able to see more and more her truly loving nature that she had never so clearly revealed before. "She radiated the pure essence of life," he writes.

This is an incredible book - extraordinarily insightful and deeply inspiring at every moment. It is essential reading for anyone with the prospect of dementia in a parent, and for anyone who would like to see both illness and life in a more positive light.

Quoted on the back cover, Bryan Hubbard calls it "A holy book by one of the world's few true healers." That it is!

I can say with confidence that Brainstorming and the Serper Method are effective tools for cognitive exercise and development. My father's early onset Alzheimer's has been significantly treated with this method.

Ms.L. Lazarus Serper has published a winner. Like Lazarus of the New Testement, she was entombed in her brain by a massive insult. After three long months she opened her eyes and believed she had the power to heal herself. And she did. This remarkable book outlines the journey the truely willful may take to get their brains back...and subsequently their lives.

Brainstorming describes in detail the combination of exercises and prioritizing Ms. Serper practiced using her extensive knowledge of the brain's developmental process to retrain it...and take her life back. Not only did she take her brain back to kindergarden and work forward, she finished the Scientific Doctorate in Human Cognitive Functioning that was in progress when her brain suffered a ruptured brain anuerysm followed by a massive stroke with aphasia(inability to express herself) and right body weakness. She used what she knew of how the brain develops and restores itself to reprogram it with activities she had used in the classroom to assist students with mild to moderate brain dysfunction in re-gaining control by re-patterning the brain's dysfunction to that of function. Author, suvivor, teacher and now doctor Serper explains and outlines the path to brain recovery as real and based upon the Darwinian Principle...that brains, thus their cells can grow with steadfast stiving to survive.

So take your brain to the brainstorming gymnasium and re-pattern information intake, storage, and recall. Who you were may be who you can become. Ms. Serper shows us gives us hope, a scientificly proven plan, and a goal...taking our lives back. I found this book inspirational and it should be on the shelf of every resource library in every hospital in America.

A grateful Reader, RMD

Jam packed with a bunch of good information, you'd think you read a book twice as thick. It does not take long to realize Michelle Perkins is truly a master of her craft. This book will help you digitally develop photographs to their maximum potential no matter what the application. Easy to read format contains all necessary elements in Adobe Photoshop explained in detail and illustrated throughout. Knowing how to use Photoshop is no less important than knowing how to use your camera and this book is just the tool for the job.

This book was well done and very informative. Thanks so much for making it available.

Sorry I haven't returned this review earlier. Getting old......

This book is such a great resource for existing or future directors. This book explains everything a director has to do as well as giving you some of the forms in the book to use.

This is the book if you are serious about the profession. I highly recommend this book as a student at Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix,Arizona. I have had the privilage of being able to experience some of being a director for the past year.

This book is great for the advanced as well as the beginner bodybuilder. Don't bother reading the first two editions. This book has all their information and them some. The book is very informative.

Not all that much different than the 2nd one but all in all a very informative book. I've been following Dr. Colker's advice since the 1st edition came out a few years ago and its made a huge difference in my physique. I thought i knew everything there was to know but in fact much of it was wrong and this book got me on a much more effective track. Definitely recommend it.

I have enjoyed many of the books of Dr. John Diamond, but there is something about this book in particular that makes me smile with pleasure. A handful of short essays sets up the context for Diamond's poems (or "aphorisms," as he calls them) on music - and each poem by itself packs as much wallop as a full-length essay! Perhaps it is the delightful concision of these haiku-like statements that brings such lightness and humor - and poignancy - to this book. It is a book for all who love music - and even for those who think they don't, for it is about creativity and relationships and family and so many topics. A good example of everything I am saying about the book is this excerpt: "Marriage therapy?/ Sing duets." What a world of thought-provoking, heart-inspiring power lies in such a lovely little "haiku."

This book is the perfect antidote to the left-brain fixation of music pedagogy. In a series of beautifully written aphorisms (mini-poems), the author explores the nature and origins of music (from the Lullaby) along with its true purpose (to heal). A central part of the author's philosophy is that intention is more important than technique, and for this reason, potentially anyone can use music in this way. A truly heartening book that presents, in a totally original way, a new perspective on music and how we can use it.

This book is less than 100 pages and you can probably finish reading it in a weekend afternoon. Yet with pretty solid suggesstions in it, it would help readers to lay a sound foundation to be a successful optimistic thinker right after finishing it. No chance that you would regret buying it!

Rob McCarter has hit the mark with "Optimistic Thinking!" The way we view our world will be reflected in our "harmony" with it. Until everyone uses rational thinking as they experience life their outlook will most likely NOT be optimistic. Mr. McCarter has succinctly stated what others have taken a lifetime to say. Your attitude affects your altitude. Thank you Rob McCarter! Jim Bucholtz - Charlotte, NC

This book was well organized and well written. It's a "must have" for anyone interested in the speech noise reduction process.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Understanding the Enemy: Noise
Classes of Speech Enhancement Algorithms
Book Organization
References

FUNDAMENTALS
DISCRETE-TIME SIGNAL PROCESSING AND SHORT-TIME FOURIER ANALYSIS
Discrete-Time Signals
Linear Time-Invariant Discrete-Time Systems
The z-Transform
Discrete-Time Fourier Transform
Short-Time Fourier Transform
Spectrographic Analysis of Speech Signals
Summary
References

SPEECH PRODUCTION AND PERCEPTION
The Speech Signal
The Speech Production Process
Engineering Model of Speech Production
Classes of Speech Sounds
Acoustic Cues in Speech Perception
Summary
References

NOISE COMPENSATION BY HUMAN LISTENERS
Intelligibility of Speech in Multiple-Talker Conditions
Acoustic Properties of Speech Contributing to Robustness
Perceptual Strategies for Listening in Noise
Summary
References

ALGORITHMS
SPECTRAL-SUBTRACTIVE ALGORITHMS
Basic Principles of Spectral Subtraction
A Geometric View of Spectral Subtraction
Shortcomings of the Spectral Subtraction Method
Spectral Subtraction Using Oversubtraction
Nonlinear Spectral Subtraction
Multiband Spectral Subtraction
MMSE Spectral Subtraction Algorithm
Extended Spectral Subtraction
Spectral Subtraction Using Adaptive Gain Averaging
Selective Spectral Subtraction
Spectral Subtraction Based on Perceptual Properties
Performance of Spectral Subtraction Algorithms
Summary
References

WIENER FILTERING
Introduction to Wiener Filter Theory
Wiener Filters in the Time Domain
Wiener Filters in the Frequency Domain
Wiener Filters and Linear Prediction
Wiener Filters for Noise Reduction
Iterative Wiener Filtering
Imposing Constraints on Iterative Wiener Filtering
Constrained Iterative Wiener Filtering
Constrained Wiener Filtering
Estimating the Wiener Gain Function
Incorporating Psychoacoustic Constraints in Wiener Filtering
Codebook-Driven Wiener Filtering
Audible Noise Suppression Algorithm
Summary
References

STATISTICAL-MODEL BASED METHODS
Maximum-Likelihood Estimators
Bayesian Estimators
MMSE Estimator
Improvements to the Decision-directed Approach
Elimination of Musical Noise
Log-MMSE Estimator
MMSE Estimation of the pth-Power Spectrum
MMSE Estimators Based on Non-Gaussian Distributions
Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) Estimators
General Bayesian Estimators
Perceptually Motivated Bayesian Estimators
Incorporating Speech Absence Probability in Speech Enhancement
Methods for Estimating the A Priori Probability of Speech Absence
Summary
References

SUBSPACE ALGORITHMS
Introduction
Using SVD for Noise Reduction: Theory
SVD-Based Algorithms: White Noise
SVD-Based Algorithms: Colored Noise
SVD-Based Methods: A Unified View
EVD-Based Methods: White Noise
EVD-Based Methods: Colored Noise
EVD-Based Methods: A Unified View
Perceptually Motivated Subspace Algorithms
Subspace-Tracking Algorithms
Summary
References

NOISE ESTIMATION ALGORITHMS
Voice Activity Detection Vs. Noise Estimation
Introduction to Noise Estimation Algorithms
Minimal-Tracking Algorithms
Time-Recursive Averaging Algorithms for Noise Estimation
Histogram-Based Techniques
Other Noise Estimation Algorithms
Objective Comparison of Noise Estimation
Algorithms
Summary
References


EVALUATION
EVALUATING PERFORMANCE OF SPEECH ENHANCEMENT ALGORITHMS
Quality vs. Intelligibility
Evaluating Intelligibility of Processed Speech
Evaluating Quality of Processed Speech
Evaluating Reliability of Quality Judgments: Recommended Practice
Objective Quality Measures
Nonintrusive Objective Quality Measures
Figures of Merit of Objective Quality Measures
Challenges and Future Directions in Objective Quality Evaluation
Summary
References

COMPARISON OF SPEECH ENHANCEMENT ALGORITHMS
NOIZEUS: A Noisy Speech Corpus for Quality Evaluation of Speech Enhancement Algorithms
Comparison of Enhancement Algorithms: Speech Quality
Comparison of Enhancement Algorithms: Speech Intelligibility
Comparison of Objective Measures for Quality Evaluation
Summary
References

Appendix A: Derivation of the MMSE Estimator
Appendix B: Special Functions and Integrals
Appendix C: Speech Databases and MATLAB Code
Index

This is another beautiful compilation of stories by Judy Lynn, this time from the father's perspective. In a society that may sometimes make our father's feel uncomfortable expressing their "softer feelings", these men have opened their hearts and lives to their children and their anything-but-soft plights in the world. You will feel their love, their determination to help their children. The struggles, the acceptance and their "fighting the good fight". Whether partnered with another or on their own these men have truly earned the title "dad". Inspiring to others and a must read for all men who are travelling this same road or knows someone who is. Well done dads!!!!