Speech Production and Perception I: 1998 User Survey
Michel T. T. Jackson (Sensimetrics Corporation, 14 Summer
Street, Suite 403, Malden, MA 02148, USA)
Whom did we survey?
During Summer 1998, we conducted a survey of all purchasers of multiple copies of the
Speech
Production and Perception I software, on the grounds that purchasers of multiple
copies were most likely to be using it actively in teaching. We contacted 58 sites, of
whom 15 responded wholly or partially to a written questionnaire. We collected both usage
demographics and instructor comments.
Results
Course levels and usage modes
• Usage was evenly split between undergraduate and
graduate courses.
• Wide range of uses: in-class demos during lectures, independent lab, homework
assignments.
• In use at every level: introductory phonetics, junior/senior-level speech science,
graduate and doctoral-level courses and seminars.
Class sizes
• In use in a wide range of class sizes: classes of under fifteen students to classes
of nearly 100.
• Over 500 student users during 1997-1998 academic year.
Usage of units
• All instructors used more than one unit.
• Almost all used at least ¾ of the units.
• About ¾ of the topics in each unit used.
Ease of use and contents
• Ease-of-use of all units was rated "Just right" by all users.
• All units except for "Consonant Acoustics" rated as having at least
"enough" material.
• Divided opinions on "Consonant Acoustics": equal numbers of responders
rated it as having too little, enough, or too much material.
Selected general comments
• Responders with large classes wished to be able to script their own screen
sequence.
• Some responders noted the lack of "print" command; others noted that this
is easily overcome (for instance, by using the Windows® "Print Screen" command
keys.) Others were reluctant to allow easy printing - limited supplies budgets.
• Not a full-fledged speech analysis environment. Other analysis packages required
for samples longer than about one second; those packages generally not as user friendly.
An inescapable tradeoff between simplicity and (research-oriented) capabilities?
Selected specific comments
• Many responders wished for material on basic acoustics.
• Varied opinions on Consonant Acoustics. Some instructors wanted more material,
others thought it too long and tedious.
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