Delayed Auditory Feedback and Volume Control App

 

Speech4Good is an app designed by Jack McDermott  to help those who stutter gain fluency by using delayed auditory feedback. The app is easy and straight forward to use. One plugs in one’s headset (DAF can only be used with headsets) and moves a button right to select one’s preferred delay time, adjustable between 20-300 milliseconds. There is a speech graph, similar visually to a spectrograph, that gives good visual feedback for amplitude and speech stops and starts. I asked Mr. McDermott about the graph and its purpose. He said, “The Speech Graph helps users visualize their speech. As words are spoken, a visual graph immediately charts the speech in real time so you can focus on how your speech looks (for visual learners!). Speech therapists can also point out inconsistencies or changes in visual speech behavior.” I experimented with saying individual phonemes to see if the graph could give visual information that one could use when working on a child’s sounds. I did see visual changes when I said different phonemes. However, the graph is so sensitive to volume that increasing the volume of a phoneme changes the graphs reading. I said a loud /p/ and quiet /b/ and the graph reacted to the volume not the sound produced. This app also allows one to record one’s speech. After one is done recording, a screen pops up that allows the user to title the session and type in notes.

For those who find DAF to be a helpful fluency control tool, this app can be useful. It can also be used to help individuals who need to learn to control their volume.

There is a lite version of the app. Not included in this version is the ability to record and playback, take notes, save and organize files by date, email sessions and notes, or integration with Facebook, Twitter.

Ages: 8-adult
Ratings: ++
Developer website: balbusspeech.com
Cost: $19.99, $4.99 for the Lite version