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Praat (also the Dutch word for "talk") is a free scientific software program for the analysis of speech in phonetics. It has been designed and continuously developed by Paul Boersma and David Weenink of the University of Amsterdam. It can run on a wide range of operating systems, including various Unix versions, Mac and Microsoft Windows (95, 98, NT4, ME, 2000, XP, Vista). The program also supports speech synthesis, including articulatory synthesis. The application doesn’t rely on looks to do its job and you should be aware of this before you dive into it. It’s comprised of two main windows, one that allows you to manage the project itself and the other which houses the image you create after processing the audio. Praat is designed for those who are at least familiar with how a soundwave looks and how it can be processed, although, if this is not the case, the application supplies rich and elaborate documentation which you can study.

FEATURES:

Speech analysis:
· spectral analysis (spectrograms)
· pitch analysis
· formant analysis
· intensity analysis
· jitter, shimmer, voice breaks
· cochleagram
· excitation pattern
Speech synthesis:
· from pitch, formant, and intensity
· articulatory synthesis
Listening experiments:
· identification and discrimination tests
Labelling and segmentation:
· label intervals and time points on multiple tiers
· use phonetic alphabet
· use sound files up to 2 gigabytes (3 hours)
Speech manipulation:
· change pitch and duration contours
· filtering
Learning algorithms:
· feedforward neural networks
· discrete and stochastic Optimality Theory
Statistics:
· multidimensional scaling
· principal component analysis
· discriminant analysis
Graphics:
· high quality for your articles and thesis
· produce Encapsulated PostScript files
· integrated mathematical and phonetic symbols
Programmability:
· easy programmable scripting language
· communicate with other programs
· (the sendpraat source code)
· create hypertext manuals with sound I/O
Portability:
· machine-independent binary files
· read and write many sound and other file types
Configurability:
· grow or shrink menus
· save prefs for fonts, views, sound devices.