Portable nasometry unit

Nasality Microphone

The Nasality Microphone is a handheld nasometry unit that detects nasality in speech production. It uses a lightweight acoustic separator that is fitted with highly directional nasal and oral microphones. The portable design and USB compatibility makes the Nasality Microphone ideal for clinical or home-based speech therapy.

How nasometry works

The Nasality Microphone uses a special lightweight acoustic separator that is positioned above the upper lip. The acoustic separator is fitted with independent nasal and oral microphones.

Nasality is represented by a numerical value called nasalance, which is defined as the percentage of the total acoustic energy that is nasal:

Nasalance can be monitored in real-time for biofeedback therapy, or recorded for off-line assessment.

Software options

NasalanceViewer

NasalanceViewer is an easy-to-use Windows application that supports the following features:

Provides real-time visual feedback of nasalance

Provides off-line objective analysis of nasalance

Provides auditory playback of speech production

Waveform display with adjustable target cursor

Skywriter game with adjustable target cloud

Simple to use interface

Windows 10, 8, 7 and Vista compatible

10 user license

icSpeech Professional Edition

The Nasality Microphone is also compatible with icSpeech Professional Edition, which supports a wealth of additional features, including:

Additional displays: bar, waveform, spectrogram and video

Additional parameters: nasalance, pitch, timing, nasal and oral acoustic energy

Six games with adjustable targets and rewards

Extensive analysis features

Data export facility

Recorder with picture and word prompting

Combines nasometry with EPG, airflow, voicing and video data

Windows 10, 8, 7 and Vista compatible

Bar display

The real-time Bar is a useful biofeedback tool that shows a simple bar, which moves upwards with increased nasalance. This allows the user to monitor nasality, make corrections, and instantly see the result.

Waveform display

The real-time Waveform display is often used in therapy because it allows the user to see the dynamics of their speech during the utterance of complete words or phrases.

Games

Each of the six interactive games feature adjustable targets, rewards and can be controlled with nasalance, pitch, nasal or oral acoustic energy.

Acoustic separation

For accurate results, it is important that there is a good seal between the face, just above the upper lip, and the acoustic separator. This prevents oral sounds being detected by the nasal microphone and vice versa. To ensure a good seal, the acoustic separator incorporates large and small facial contours. Simply rotate the nasal and oral microphones so they point to the side that best fits the contours of the face. The acoustic separator is also fitted with highly directional noise cancelling microphones, which further improve the acoustic separation.

Microphone matching

For accurate results, it is also important that the nasal and oral microphones are acoustically matched. During the manufacturing process, both the sensitivity and frequency response of the nasal and oral microphones are individually matched. This eliminates the need for the user to calibrate the Nasality Microphone. The microphone matching characteristics are supplied with each device.

Cleaning

The Nasality Microphone is easy to dismantle and clean. The foam windshields covering the nasal and oral microphones can be removed and replaced, or washed in warm soapy water. The individual microphones, acoustic separator and handle can be removed and thoroughly cleaned with disposable disinfection wipes.

Specification

Microphones

Left channel	Nasal speech
Right channel	Oral speech
Type	Electret condenser
Directionality	Uni-directional
Frequency response (band-pass filter disabled)	100 – 15,000Hz
Frequency response (band-pass filter enabled)	350 - 650Hz
Sensitivity	-40dB at 1kHz (0dB = 1V/Pa)
Output impedance	2.2k ohm
Power supply	1.5V – 10V

USB audio adaptor

Microphone input	2 channel stereo
Sample rates	48kHz, 44.1kHz. 16kHz and 8kHz
Resolution	16bit
THD	-90dB
Frequency response	20 – 20,000 Hz
Input range	0 – 1.25 Vrms
Dynamic range	96dB
Record gain range	-6 - 33dB
Supply voltage	4.5 - 5.5 VDC via USB
Total power consumption	33 mA

System requirements

Supported operating systems	Windows 10, 8, 7 or Vista
Supported computers	Desktop, laptop, tablet
CPU	Minimum 1 GHz Intel® Pentium® or equivalent
Memory	Minimum 1 GB of RAM
Storage	100 MB of free hard disk space
Connectivity	USB 1.0, 2.0, 3.0
Power	USB bus powered