Praat is Dutch for “talk.” It’s also the name of this lab-quality phonetics software that can record and analyze speech sounds both in mono and in stereo. While it is not difficult for an average person to use, it is really meant for linguists and those studying linguistics as well as other scientists and researchers who require the analysis of human speech in their work.

It supports speech synthesis, including articulatory synthesis. Additionally it creates high-quality images of data suitable for publication. Praat’s interface consists of two parts, Praat Objects and Praat Picture. The Help file has an excellent introduction to Praat and an overview of its functions and it is recommended to read it before delving into the science.

The speech recording is accomplished via the system microphone and sound card. Praat lets you make both mono and stereo recordings. Mono recordings are preferable for analyzing speech, but mono recording equipment is uncommon outside the lab. However, most handheld note-takers record monophonic sound, and they are commonly used in fieldwork. Although nothing is stopping you from choosing stereo. The process for recording sound is a little complicated, though the manual indicates it is easier in Linux and Mac versions of the program.

You’ll be able to create sound recordings not only from an external source such as a microphone but also from a WAV file and even directly inside Praat via formulas. This intriguing capability lets you create tones like sine waves with noise added. Once you have recorded a sound, it can be viewed as a waveform (two waveforms for stereo signals) in the SoundEditor window; Save, Cut, and Paste it; and open longer files with a LongSound feature that keeps most of longer sound files on your disk instead of being written to memory every time you play them.

This program is free and supported by Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7.

Check it out at Praat.

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