Fonetix-speech articulation and hearing perception software

For human speech perception, audio-visual interaction is prominent. Fonetix is a multimedia software kit for the Web being developed for improving speech and hearing perception. The initial phase involved the development or modification of existing systems to accommodate interactive repositories of audio and video. This included the display of animated midsagittal views of the vocal tract in real-time on personal computers. Several existing systems allows the patients to experiment with notions of pitch and volume but are of limited beneficial without a speech pathologist present to assist in improving the person´s speech. The addition of animation allows the person to see how the mouth, tongue, teeth, and lips (oral cavity), are used in producing of phonemes or isolated words. The Fonetix system permits users to see in a graphical and an easily comprehensible way how closely they approach the targeted speech pattern. Fonetix also provides valuable comments and suggestions on the modification to articulation needed to improve speech. This is useful for patients in rehabilitation, who have problems with speech, resulting from various injuries such as, stroke, brain damage, hearing loss, and head injuries, and also for students who are learning English as a Second Language (ESL). The types of tools being developed are intended to augment current practices and techniques being used by speech pathologists