What's New? Version 3.0.128 Has Launched!

Long time, no blog...  Perhaps you thought we'd dropped off the face of the earth.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  We've been busy for a number of months working on the recent release of Video Voice Version 3.0.128.  Just when we were about ready to release it last fall, Microsoft threw us a bit of a curve ball with their own release of the new Windows 8 operating system.  If you have tried it, you know that it's very different from earlier versions of Windows!  Rather than release the new version with unknown compatibility, we spent the next several months making sure Video Voice will operate correctly on this new platform.

Now, FINALLY, we're happy to announce the release Version 3.0.128.  In addition to Windows 8 compatibility and all its previous, fabulous features and capabilities, Video Voice 3.0 now includes:

• Fundamental frequency measurement to complement other Assessment capabilities.
• Customization of on-screen reward text and other prompts to correspond with user-modified audios to personalize the therapy experience
• Enhanced trace operation in the Multi-Frequency Formant Spectral Display to make it easier to capture sounds for practice, opening up potential for work on minimal pairs, in addition to high frequency sounds and more
• Goal scoring in the Formant Multi-Frequency Gobble game to make display more effective for therapy use
• F2/F1 and Multi-Frequency (F3/F2) Gobble display access directly from Formant Menu to make reaching this powerful feedback mode easier.
• Simultaneous display of pitch and volume in P-A-R Connected Speech, with volume shown as peaks and pitch in spectrum colors
• New Streaming Speech P-A-R display, provides live, "marching" display of pitch, volume, or both volume and pitch (as color) 
• New Fun & Games 12-Pack, a lower price option for those with limited budgets or interest only in game practice options
• Price reduction on all other software packages
• Revised internal documentation (Help) with more internal links to relevant pages
• Improved Windows 7 operation

There are numerous benefits to purchasing the Video Voice Speech Training System.  The most important one is the change the displays and games bring to the therapy process - helping individuals feel more in charge of their speech skills.  Another significant benefit is that software updates are FREE.  As we add new features and capabilities, you may download and install a new copy at no additional cost.

Already an Authorized User?  Please visit www.videovoice.com/vv_curel.htm to download Version 3.0.128 and update your Video Voice software.    

Haven't yet made the investment in this valuable tool for your speech therapy activities?  What are you waiting for?  Download Video Voice 3.0 and try it for 30 days, with absolutely no charge, at www.videovoice.com/vv_demo.htm.

We'll be back soon to tell you more about some of these new capabilities and offer more thoughts on how visual feedback can accelerate the therapy process.  Meanwhile, have questions?  Need assistance with using Video Voice with your caseload?  Want to restart a free trial you previously used to evaluate Video Voice's potential for your therapy needs?  Just pick up the phone and give us a call, or send an email.  We'd love to hear from you!

Yours in good speech,

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

Visual Feedback Enhances Speech Therapy Results

The benefits visual feedback offers to both clincians and individuals receiving speech therapy are unquestionable.  Speech is fleeting and intangible by nature, and challenges in interpreting it can be influenced by a number of things, including hearing loss and other auditory processing deficits.  While production of some sounds can be illustrated fairly easily using our mouths, elements such as pitch and volume are essentially invisible.  Having a way to freeze, view and replay a speech production and its components therefore has great value.

Visual feedback changes the nature of the speech therapy process, giving the student or patient a different sense of control.  After all, it is his voice that's represented and recorded, and he has a new way to understand and learn to modify tongue or other articulator position to change the resulting display.  It's no longer a case of what the therapist says he's doing right or wrong, it's what both people see happening on the screen, and it gives them a different way to discuss it.  As more than one therapist has told us, "They can't argue with me anymore!"

For those who have already had years of speech therapy and are bored with the process, visual feedback brings new life to the activities.   Having different games to play and displays to practice sounds, words and connected speech turns therapy into a fun, exciting adventure to be explored and enjoyed.

Video Voice has many entertaining practice formats that keep therapy recipients motivated and eager to succeed in improving their speech skills.  Many provide live feedback on pitch, volume or sounds, so the speaker gets instant response to changes he makes, helping him find and maintain correct production.  Colorful animations and encouraging messages support the therapist by rewarding good performance. 

There are many reasons to consider visual feedback as an adjunct to speech therapy.  If you're not already exploring the benefits, you're missing out on a tool that can expedite progress with your caseload.  You can give Video Voice a try for free to see for yourself how it can enhance your therapy results.  There's no cost to download and explore what it can do for you.  Just pay a visit to http://www.videovoice.com/!

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

Let's Talk Video Voice!

When starting up a blog, the biggest challenge is figuring out where to start! With the Video Voice Speech Training System, there is a LOT to talk about. It has a long history, having been successfully used by speech therapists in schools, hospitals and clinics for more than 25 years. It has numerous games and displays that provide visual feedback to assist in speech therapy with almost any kind of speech problem, with young children through adults.

Over the years, Video Voice has undergone many changes, getting better with each new version, as we make additions and enhancements based on our own testing and creative thinking, as well as feedback from people using it. Feedback from therapists has historically been an important part of Video Voice development, and we take comments and suggestions seriously. If there’s something someone doesn’t like, we try to modify operation accordingly. If someone has an idea for a new game or display, we do our best to incorporate it.

One example is the Chat-N-U-Go Choo-Choo game, requested by a therapist who had some children in her caseload who were fascinated by trains. In response, we added a game in which sound production makes a train move through a mountain scene. Another therapist really wanted non-violent game graphics in the Bombs Away! game (now called Bulls Eye!), so we added an option in which a plane drops care packages to waiting hungry villagers instead of bombs on ships or tanks. (The boys still like the bombs best, though - no big surprise!) That therapist also suggested a cause-and-effect display that would result in flowers growing when a cloud rains in the right places, and the Flower Power game option was born. There are lots of other examples, but the point is that we listen to our users and do our best to make Video Voice do what they need it to do.

The goal of this blog is to provide a forum for communicating with our users, as well as people who are considering adding it to their speech therapy tool kits. We’ll tell you about the history, discuss different ways the visual feedback can be used in the therapy process, let you know about new things that we’ve added or are in progress, and answer questions you may have. We welcome your thoughts, opinions, feedback and suggestions.

If you don’t already have Video Voice, you can download the software and try it for free for 30 days to see what benefits it may offer you. Just visit www.videovoice.com and click any of the Free Trial links to get started. By the way, there’s no on going financial obligation with the trial, no credit card necessary to download and try out the games and displays - the trial simply expires at the end of the 30-day period. (You will need an external microphone, and the one we recommend is the Logitech USB Desktop model. It’s a good quality but inexpensive mic that’s commonly used in telecommunications and gaming, and it is easily available at most electronics stores or online, generally for around $30.) If you do already use Video Voice, remember that you can get no-charge updates as new versions are released to keep your software up-to-date.

That’s it for now, and we look forward to more Video Voice Talk with you!

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