Personalizing Feedback

The latest release of Video Voice, Version 3.0.127, has a new feature sure to be popular among therapists and their caseloads. You now have the ability to personalize operation by recording your own audio prompts for voicing and congratulatory messages specific to those you work with.

Video Voice has two basic prompts for vocalization: "Say" (generally followed by the desired target) and "Speak now."  There are also a number of reward and informational messages, such as "Excellent," "Good job," "Selected model is," "You said").  Pleasant, pre-recorded audios are included, but if you’d rather have your own voice providing these instructions and other feedback, you can easily customize them.

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The audio adjustment options are located in the Configuration Menu, with the Auditory Feedback button. From that sub-menu choose Record My Audios.  However, to make it even easier to access that function, when you sign in with your Therapist ID, Video Voice checks to see if you've already customized any audios. If you haven't, it offers you the opportunity to do so. You can choose to do the recording immediately, asked to be prompted again later, or tell it to leave you alone and you'll do it when you're good and ready. 

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When you go to Record My Audios, you'll see the available pre-recorded audios. Click on one to select it, and Video Voice will play the audio for you. You can then record your own version for any or all, and save them for future use.  After you make and save a recording the text turns blue to let you know it's been modified.  (If you change your mind later, you can always revert to the defaults for the audios, or record new ones.)

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Video Voice will automatically save any recordings you make in your Therapist folder, unless one of your caseload data files is active.  In that case, it asks where you want to the recording:  in your own folder or the individual's. This opens up the personalization options even further. Although the audio recording may be called "Speak now," the actual recording can be whatever you like. You could, for example, ask for a child's attention by using his name, e.g., "Jimmy, talk now!" Likewise, you can customize the reward audios with their names - "Wonderful work, Bobby!"  You can have a different set of audios for each person - it's all up to you!

Therapists tell us that the kids they work enjoy about seeing their names on the screen in rewards, so having the computer talk directly to them as well adds even more excitement to the activities.  (Note:  If multiple therapists share Video Voice on a single computer, each one can have her own personalized sets of audios.)

There's also no reason the recordings have to be in English. Although the text for the prompts and rewards cannot currently be changed, the audio recording can be in any language. Video Voice doesn't know what language is being spoken, nor does it care.  So, if you're using the program with speakers of other languages, you can modify the auditory feedback accordingly.  (And watch for the ability to change text messages, too, in an upcoming release!)

By the way, this customizing option is available in the 30-Day Free Trial as well as the full Authorized User and International/Simplified operating modes. Give it a try for yourself by downloading at www.videovoice.com. Existing Version 3.0 users, you are entitled to the new and improved Video Voice via download, at no additional charge. To check which version you currently have installed, click on the telephone icon at the bottom of the Startup or Main Menu. If your version is lower than 3.0.127a, it's time to update!

Personalizing audios is just one of the ways you can customize Video Voice to satisfy your individual preferences. There are lots more, and we'll be talking about them in another post soon - stay tuned. Meanwhile, have fun making your own audio recordings and watching the smiles from your caseload when the computer calls them by name!


Yours in good speech,

Video Voice Support Team
mv@videovoice.com
1-800-537-2182
www.videovoice.com