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Wow, $13 app. I sometimes find my speech is "almost stutter", but
it's never been enough to cause real problems in my life, though I
do find it affects my self-esteem. Never been diagnosed with
anything, but if there is an app to help, I'd like to check it out.<br>
<br>
I did an app store search for DAF, and found a few apps. There was a
free one, DAF Professional. Any experience with that one? Is this
an instance of YGWYPF, or is it possible I'll get real benefit from
the free version?<br>
<br>
On 3/3/12 4:12 AM, Duncan wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAP+Y2OkizoC14dmSzsGxOWE+_etuupwj_E5P+mW7L4pkCWS_mw@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">There's an iPhone app for that: DAF Assistant, made
by Artefact, LLC. The program also includes Frequency-shifting
Auditory Feedback (FAF), which when used with DAF, creates the
so-called "chorus effect" which further boosts the beneficial
properties of DAF for stuttering, slowing down speech, increasing
speech fluency (i.e. reducing mumbling), implementing regional
accent reduction, increasing confidence levels, and developing
good speaking habits. I've used it and it does work incredibly
well for achieving those things.<br>
<br>
I've never experienced the speech jammer effect alluded to in the
article, but then I'm from the South where we learn young not to
talk when you don't know what the hell you're talking about.
Without such clarity of thought though, it might well.<br>
<br>
Interesting... Thanks!<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Jake <span
dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:jake@spaz.org">jake@spaz.org</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
we can just build one, it's pretty simple technology.<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/242444.php"
target="_blank">http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/242444.php</a><br>
<br>
"SpeechJammer" Invention Stops A Person Talking Mid-Sentence<br>
<br>
Featured Article<br>
Main Category: Medical Devices / Diagnostics<br>
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry; Hearing / Deafness<br>
Article Date: 02 Mar 2012 - 11:00 PST<br>
<br>
Healthcare Prof:<br>
<br>
Two researchers in Japan have invented a "SpeechJammer" device
that can<br>
stop a person talking in mid-sentence, by just projecting back
to them<br>
"their own utterances at a delay of a few hundred
milliseconds". The<br>
device does not stop them talking permanently, it is just that
they become<br>
so confused, they can't finish their sentence and begin to
stutter or just<br>
shut up.<br>
<br>
The two researchers are Kazutaka Kurihara, a media interaction
research<br>
scientist at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial
Science and<br>
Technology, and Koji Tsukada, an assistant professor at
Ochanomizu<br>
University, and a researcher at JST PRESTO, a program that
aims to<br>
"cultivate the seeds of precursory science and technology".<br>
<br>
They describe their prototype SpeechJammer, and the results of
some<br>
experiments, in a paper published on 28 February on arVix, an
e-print<br>
service owned, operated and quality controlled by Cornell
University.<br>
<br>
The researchers say the device causes no physical discomfort
to the<br>
interrupted speaker, and the effect stops as soon as they stop
speaking.<br>
<br>
The prototype SpeechJammer looks like a black cube about the
size of a<br>
shoebox mounted on a shaft which acts as a handle. The box
contains a<br>
direction-sensitive speaker, and on top of it is a
direction-sensitive<br>
microphone.<br>
<br>
On Kazutaka Kurihara's personal website there is a short video<br>
demonstrating the use of the device in two scenarios.<br>
<br>
The first scenario shows a small group of people in an office,
working at<br>
their computers, when one of them receives a call on her
cellphone. The<br>
conversation begins to irritate the others, and then one of
them decides<br>
to take action. He points the SpeechJammer at the irritating
talker,<br>
interrupting her mid-sentence in her cellphone conversation,
whereupon she<br>
appears confused, and then stops.<br>
<br>
In the other scenario, a lecturer is talking and his lecture
has run over<br>
time. Many of his students are looking quite bored and fed up
and one of<br>
them takes the SpeechJammer, points it at the lecturer, and he
trips over<br>
his own words and stutters, interrupting his flow.<br>
<br>
The SpeechJammer works on the principle of Delayed Audio
Feedback or DAF.<br>
There is a theory that when we speak, we use the sound of our
own voice<br>
uttering the words to help us. But, if that "playback" is
artificially<br>
delayed, it interrupts the cognitive processing that helps us
maintain our<br>
flow. In fact, there is a theory that something akin to DAF is
what<br>
happens to people who stutter, and it is known that
artificially induced<br>
DAF can help reduce stuttering.<br>
<br>
In their paper the researchers describe how they experimented
with two<br>
speech contexts: one where the speaker was reading news out
loud and<br>
another that was a "spontaneous monologue".<br>
<br>
It appears that speech jamming is more successful, with this
prototype, in<br>
the news out loud than in the monologue context, and also, it
became<br>
obvious that it never works when meaningless sound is uttered,
like when<br>
someone says "Ahhh" over a long period of time.<br>
<br>
With reference to research on communication and decision
making, Kurihara<br>
and Tsukada point out that applying rules and constraints on
verbal<br>
contributions can change the properties of the discussion, and
they also<br>
mention how "negative features" of speech can be "barriers
toward peaceful<br>
communication".<br>
<br>
They propose that using the SpeechJammer to place a constraint
on<br>
communication, by simply making "speech difficult for some
people", it<br>
might "bring meaningful changes to communication patterns in
discussions".<br>
<br>
Such a system "points the way to promising future research
relating to<br>
discussion dynamics," they write.<br>
<br>
In their paper, the researchers focus very much on the
science: the<br>
physics of the device and how it might be improved to deal
with various<br>
parameters, plus the science of communication, and make no
mention of the<br>
ethical and legal aspects of developing a machine that makes
people stop<br>
talking.<br>
<br>
Written by Catharine Paddock PhD<br>
Copyright: Medical News Today<br>
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today<br>
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