Basic introduction to Speech Analyzer

Cristina González Rico

Speech Analyzer

It is a program used in acoustic phonetics. This field investigates properties of speech such as the amplitude of the waveform, its duration, frequency, frequency spectrum, and its relation to other branches of linguistics.

Speech Analyzer

This program helps the researcher to:• Perform frequency, frequency

spectrum analysis.• Modify playback speed to assist with

perception and mimicry of sounds.• Perform duration measurements.

How to install Speech Analyzer

• Speech Analyzer is available on the webpage: http://www.sil.org/computing/sa/sa_download.htm

(Full Install version which includes Microsoft .NET 2.0)• Once you have downloaded it into your computer,

open the *.exe file which will unzip a folder called “Speech Analyzer 3.0.1 with .NET”.

• After that, open the setup.exe file that is included in that folder.

• Then, follow the instructions described by the installation wizard.

Basic introduction to Speech Analyzer

• Starting Speech Analyzer.• Opening an audio file.

• Recording your own audio file.• Playing the audio file.

Starting Speech Analyzer

To start Speech Analyzer, you can go to the taskbar, click Start, Programs (or All Programs), SIL Software, Speech Analyzer, and click Speech Analyzer.  Or you can go to the desktop and double-click the Speech Analyzer icon.

Starting Speech Analyzer

To start making your study, you can:

• Open a file located on your computer.

• Record one file yourself with Speech Analyzer.

Opening an audio file

• Once you have opened the program, a “Start Mode” window will open. Then, click on “More Files…” and another window will appear.

• Search for the file folder and select the file. You can choose among *.wav, *.mp3, *.wma, *.wb (Speech Analyzer type) files.

• Then, click open.

Opening an audio file

• The audio will open so that, you are going to see two different graphs. The Raw Waveform (above) and the Audio Pitch graph (bellow).

• You can change to different kinds of graphs by clicking on the left buttons.

Recording your own audio file

• If what you want is to record the audio file yourself, you need to go to the toolbar above and click on the “Record” button (      ). In this case, you need to have a microphone connected to your computer.

• Once you have clicked on that button, a new window will open.

Recording your own audio file• In that new window, you just need to

click on the “Rec” button to start recording yourself.

• Before starting the recording, you may want to change the volume at which the audio will be recorded (circled in green) or the volume at which it will be played (circled in red).It is necessary to adjust the volume before starting to record.

Recording your own audio file

• When you have finished recording yourself, you just need to click on “Done” and the file will open in Speech Analyzer.

• You may play the file before opening it, and record it any times you think necessary until you have the recording you want.

Recording your own audio file

• This file will be also opened in the Raw Waveform and the Audio Pitch graphs.

Playing the audio file

• Now that you have your audio file opened, you can reproduce it by clicking the “Play” button (     ) in the toolbar, and the entire audio will play.

• To stop listening the file, just click the “Stop” button (      ) in the same toolbar.

Playing the audio file

• If what you want is to play just a fragment of the audio, use the cursors (the green line on the left and the red line on the right) to select the fragment you want to listen.

• Then, click on the toolbar the “Play Between Cursors” button (     ).

 

Playing the audio file• You can also play the audio

by clicking on the “Player” button (      ) in the toolbar.

• It will open a window in which, apart from playing the file, you can set its volume and change its speed.

Basic introduction to Speech Analyzer

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