Say YESSSSSS!

Therapists who work with hearing-impaired speakers have often told us that teaching them how to produce /s/ and related high-frequency sounds is a big challenge, as the frequency ranges in which these sounds exist is generally outside the range in which deaf folks can hear.  While it is possible to illustrate production of these sounds somewhat with the lips and air flow from the mouth, it’s really little changes in tongue position behind the teeth that make the most difference, and these can't be easily shown.  Having a concrete way to illustrate the differences between these two sounds can make a real difference in results.  The same is true with children who lisp or lateralize the /s/ sound. 

With Video Voice’s Formant Multi-Frequency displays, there are a couple of ways to make the differences between /s/ and /sh/ visible. One is the Temporal Display, which represents the F3, F2 and F1 components of a production. In that display, if you say a word that contains both /s/ and /sh/ sounds, such as "sunshine," you will see distinct differences in the F3 and F2 frequencies for the two sounds. With the /s/ sound, the F3 frequencies are higher than those for the /sh/, while the F2 levels higher for /sh/ than they are for /s/.

Any speech production can be saved as a model, and used for repeated practice of sound or words.

There’s also a Matrix-Match form of the Multi-Frequency Display. It transforms the F3 and F2 frequencies measured into a relationship of those sound components. This makes sounds like /s/ and /sh/ appear as dense patches of color in different regions of the screen, as shown the sample below.

You can use these matrix patterns in a model match mode, or in a live feedback format similar to the F2/F1 Gobble game. The immediate visual response to sound changes in the Gobble mode helps speakers learn articulator position needed to produce these sounds accurately.

There is presently no scoring in the Formant Multi-Frequency displays, but we’re working on that, and expect it to be available in an upcoming release. Stay tuned!

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

R-D-R-R-R: Gobbling Up Sounds

Almost every therapist who works with children has at least one with this problem - the pesky R sound. This semi-vowel is one of the most difficult to train, because, unlike many other sounds, it can’t easily be illustrated in the mouth. Minor changes in tongue position and "bunching" are the difference between a nice, clear ‘r’ and a sloppy ‘w’ sound, and lots of kids struggle with that.

Video Voice has a number of ways to help them learn how to produce this sound correctly, but for today, we’ll just talk about one of them, the F2/F1 Gobble display. In this Pac-Man-style game, the speaker uses his voice to erase the dots on the screen. The live feedback is very powerful. It lets him "play" with his voice and get instantaneous response while he explores different articulator positions. Being able to find and maintain correct articular position helps ingrain the kinesthetics of production of this sound.

Here’s a simple way to get going. Use the Formant Menu’s Free Form F2/F1 Match mode and produce a sample of the R target in isolation. We always recommend that you do several trials of a sound, looking for consistency in density and location of the dots before defining one as the model. Once you’ve decided to Use one, click the Match Mode control to switch to the Gobble format. Video Voice will prompt "Say ‘rrrr’" using your voice target, and you can have the child try to Gobble it up. If it’s too easy to succeed, just raise the Goal (percent erasure required to win above the default 80%).

Want to get rid of all the other vowels, leaving only the R symbol ? Just double-click on that symbol, and all the others will magically disappear. 

But what if you’d like to get rid of everything except the R and U, so the child can see the similar location of the two sounds on the screen (and in the mouth!). That’s easy, too. Click on one of the vowels, and when the small instructional box appears, click and drag any unwanted symbols off the edge of the screen. Then click Apply to temporarily save that more limited vowel chart for use in the current session. (Using Save will erase the other symbols until you reactivate them all with the Adjust button, so you may not want to take that more permanent action.)

Then, play, play, play! You’ll be amazed at how long the children will stay on task, how entertained and motivated they’ll be as they gobble up the sound dots.

By the way, if you have used New Session to activate a data folder, you can Save any Free Form target for reuse in subsequent sessions, so you won’t have to go through the definition process each time. Just use the Stored Models option from the Formant Menu to retrieve them later on.

This example presents work on the R in isolation, but you can just as easily set up word targets to let the child practice vocabulary words containing the R sound using these same steps.

That’s it for today! We’ll be back later to tell you more ways to use Video Voice for work on R and other sounds.

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

The History of Video Voice

Video Voice has a more than 25 year history. It got its start back in 1984, when a team of scientists, one of whom was hearing-impaired, began looking for a way to illustrate speech. The chemistry professor, who had been deaf since birth, decided as a child that he wanted to be a scientist, and understood that he’d need to be able to speak to be successful in that career. So he regularly attended speech therapy and diligently practiced at home between sessions, but was often frustrated to find he’d been practicing the wrong sound. So he and colleagues - an electronic engineer and a software designer - set about creating an electronic device that would illustrate sounds as they were produced. Their design was based on the vowel representation scheme from Grant Fairbanks’ Voice and Articulation Drill Book (©1954), and they  were granted a patent for both the hardware and software.

The first version of Video Voice was based on a small microcomputer called the Interact. Most people haven’t heard of it, but it was one of the first personal computers on the market. It was released about the time of the Radio Shack TRS80. The graphics capabilities were modest, with only a 112x77 pixel resolution (!!) and a total of 8 colors, but it had a built-in analog-to-digital converter, an important capability since speech is analog by nature. The earliest Video Voice models included that computer and an external device called the Speech Analyzer (or "black box") that converted the voice data to digital form as it was sampled.

The inventors’ prototype provided feedback that was pretty meager, nothing more than a few dots on the screen that showed the basic location of a vowel sound. That didn’t seem like it would be interesting for long, so we set about fleshing out the display and software to turn it into a tool that would be motivating - adding color, a model and trial structure, on-screen vowel display, and much more.

As computers gained popularity in schools, therapists started asking for a version that would operate on Apple II/IIgs computers, so we converted the software to operate on those platforms. Then came the Macintosh, and we produced a Mac-based Video Voice. And then one for the IBM PC, first a DOS-based version, then a Windows-compatible one. (During this time, IBM produced its Speech Viewer program, which became widely known, but is no longer available.)

The external Speech Analyzer was retired with the release of Version 3.0. All voice sampling is done through the computer’s internal sound capabilities, and the analysis with our own specialized software routines. This allowed us to greatly expand Video Voice’s capabilities to increase the frequency ranges of sound sampling and add many new games and displays, at a signficantly lower price,.

Expanded capabilities include much wider pitch range to accommodate low-pitched male voices and high-pitched children’s voices (something the Speech Analyzer versions were limited in). We’ve also been able to increase the formant frequency sampling to illustrate and differentiate high frequency sounds like /s/ and /sh/. (The earlier, hardware-dependent versions could detect the presence or absence of high-frequency sounds, but could not tell the difference between them.)

With faster computers with greater capabilities, we’ve been able to greatly enhance the graphics used in Video Voice. They’re still not as fancy or with Xbox-type resolution, because there’s a lot going on "behind the scenes" in the voice sampling and analysis that takes substantial "compute time." And, after all, the point is to illustrate speech, not to be a realistic action game.

To wit, many years back, some folks designed a software interface that integrated with some video games that were then available which had higher resolution graphics and action. It could be programmed to accept 4 words that would control the action of a game (for purposes of this example - "left," "right," "up," and "down"). The goal was to command virtual game player to move around and avoid being attacked by a monster (again, an example). Unfortunately, what hadn’t been considered was the excitement factor in the sound analysis. Targets that were calmly produced when the game was being initially set up, didn’t achieve the desired motion response when the player got excited during the game action and began shouting the words at the screen. Pitch and volume, after all, do affect sound production! This program quickly faded from the scene.

Version 3.0 is the only Video Voice model now being produced. It operates on most Windows operating systems (Windows 2000 and later), and is not dependent on processor speed. In fact, on really fast computers, we actually have to slow some things down. A two-second model, for example, needs to be two-seconds long, even if the computer is capable of displaying the graphics much faster.

That’s the basic history of Video Voice. Development is ongoing, with new things added all the time, so there will still be future chapters written!

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

Technical Yada-Yada

From time to time, people ask about the technical details of Video Voice. So I asked the programming staff to provide some, and here’s what they had to say.

The heart of the Video Voice software is a specially developed Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) routine packaged in a .dll. It "pumps" the speech data to the various therapy displays and games. The FFT analyzes data obtained from the computer’s sound card and extracts F1, F2, F3, Pitch and Volume data as well as the strength of each frequency in the range of (70-7000 Hz), while simultaneously allowing graphic display and analysis in real-time. The FFT was developed for Version 3.0 and replaces a patented filtering process that required external Speech Analyzer hardware in previous versions of the software. The .dll also contains a set of precision timers that permits timed operations on computers with different internal processor speeds. The ability to use the computer’s sound facilities to record and play back sound files is another capability.

The Video Voice program consists of 270,000+ lines of VB6 programming code organized in more than 5,700 procedures. If printed as a book (called a listing in the old days), it would be over 7,200 pages long. Needless to say, we never print listings any more! In addition to the program code, there are nearly 1,000 built-in picture and sound (.wav) files, and an extensive Help subsystem with more than 150 topics that document program operation and use.

Have your eyes glazed over yet?

So, what does all this mean to Video Voice users? Well, there are 31 different colorful, motivating games and displays with more than 70 different modes of operation that can easily be customized to your personal needs. Most have entertaining graphic animations to reward successful performance. Individuals’ vocal productions are recorded and can be saved as models for repeated use. For most games and displays, performance can be reviewed in a variety of single session and cross-time reports and graphs. Whether your computer is an old workhorse with Windows 2000 or a fancy new one driven by Windows 7, Video Voice will run on it.

The program is fully documented with context-sensitive Help – just click the Help button at any time, and the internal manual will open to the page appropriate for the area where you’re working. There’s also a "Help Me Choose" interactive guide that helps you select appropriate areas for most common speech goals, as well as integrated Demos that use prerecorded audio to simulate operation of the games and displays. Adjustable options and game controls have "tool tips," helpful little hints that pop up to let you know what their basic functions are when you pause your cursor over them. Also integrated are a number of printable PDF supporting materials that suggest activities for work on pitch, volume, articulation and more.

First released in 2006, Version 3.0 is still undergoing development. We continue to find new things to add and ways to enhance what it can do. But more on that later!

Good speech to you,

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

The King's Speech!

Hooray for Hollywood!! Honoring The King's Speech for best picture, best director, best actor, and best writer of a screen play is a huge boost to stutterers and to the speech therapy community. Kudos to the makers of this relatively low-budget film for raising social awareness of fluency, a communication challenge that is a struggle for an estimated 68 million people worldwide.

As most people now know, writer David Seidler was a childhood stutterer, but learned techniques to enhance his fluency skills, and became a remarkable, articulate gentleman. In a series of recent interviews, he’s shared his own story, and talked how he came to write the award-winning screenplay.

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/12/17/screenwriter-david-seidler-‘being-a-stutterer-puts-a-cloud-over-childhood’/

http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/18/kings-speech-writer-has-his-own-stutter-story.html

I particularly enjoyed this video interview in which he talks about his own history and that of The King’s Speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q6t_5sKTUk

The Stuttering Foundation is joining in the celebration of this most special motion picture, congratulating "The King's Speech, which had a royal night at the Oscars."  This non-profit organization a more than 60-year history focus on improving the lives of people with this speaking difficulty for more than 60 years.  To see their extensive online assistive resources, pay a visit to http://www.stutteringhelp.org/.

The National Stuttering Association, a large self-help organization, also applauds the increased public awareness this film brings to a problem they all share.  "... 'The King’s Speech,' focuses on the struggle of King George VI of Britain to come to terms with his stuttering and inspire a nation. We’re delighted to see a film that accurately depicts the experience of people who stutter through the compelling story of a real-life hero."    http://www.nsastutter.org/

Fluency is an ongoing challenge for people afflicted with this speech disability and speech therapists who work with them, but at least we’ve come a long way since the days when it was seen as a mental illness, something to be ashamed of and hidden. Or at least I hope we have!

Congratulations to David Seidler, Tom Hooper and Colin Firth for their excellent work!

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

Shared Smiles

Probably the most rewarding part of about being involved with Video Voice is hearing stories about how it helps people. We get lots of positive feedback from users, and I thought I’d share a few with you.

A year or so ago, a therapist told us about using the Voice-A-Sketch game with one of her students with fluency problems. She had him try to reveal an entire hidden picture with by sustaining vocalization of a sentence, and he’d been practicing diligently. A teaching aide who was in the room with them as he successfully completed the task spun around in surprise - it was the first time she'd heard him form a complete sentence without stuttering!

A therapist who uses Video Voice with autistic students told us that it really motivates them to participate in speech therapy. In fact, sometimes it's the ONLY thing they will respond to! (Obviously, that’s not the ultimate goal, but at least it’s a start.)

Pitch awareness and control is a common problem for hearing-impaired students, and that was the case with a profoundly deaf third grader. Her voice was shrill and squeaky, so her therapist used the Pitch Painting game to help her learn to lower her pitch. That game represents, pitch as colors in a spectrum, with high pitch appearing as light colors such as yellow and white. The child’s goal was to keep her colors "under pink," and she was able to achieve that goal regularly while using the display. Carry-over is always a challenge, though, so the therapist came up with a creative idea for times when they were not at the computer. She began to sign "under pink" when her pitch was too high, and the child would respond by lowering it. They taught teachers in her other classes to use that sign, too, and all were impressed at how she responded appropriately.

Especially rewarding are the stories come from those who improved their speech skills with the visual feedback.

One of our favorite, long-time Video Voice users shared a story that had made her smile. While she was out shopping one day, a young woman approached her and said "I don't know if you remember me, but you were my speech therapist when I was in school. We used a computer program that helped me learn to say my R's correctly!" This was at least 10 years after the fact, but when she learned her name, she did recall her and their therapy goals. So pleased to be remembered and know she’d made a real difference in that young woman’s life, that she made sure to share the story with us.

Not long ago we received an email from a hearing-impaired woman who had run across the Video Voice website and thought it might be the same program she'd used in therapy about a decade earlier. She said she'd often thought about how Video Voice helped her understand what she needed to do with her voice, and wondered if it was still around. She was pleased to find that it was. Her therapist was the one who suggested the "train game" (Chat-N-U-Go Choo-Choo) to us, and offered guidance in the development of that activity. It was fun to hear that she remembered Video Voice fondly, particularly that activity, and felt she had benefitted from the feedback it provided.

These are just a few of the stories we’ve heard over the years. If you’ve had successes with people in your caseload either while using the Free Trial or full Video Voice program, we’d love to hear from you, too!

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