Many products designed to compete with Kay's Visi-Pitch II and CSL have come and gone. Most of these competitive products seem to fade away (along with any product support) after just a few years. Not the Kay products, however. In fact, Kay products are the leading acoustic analysis products. From the inexpensive Multi-Speech, to the Visi-Pitch II, to the CSL and its many options, Kay's products are special. Each provides capabilities for various applications and budgets. And each receives the same high level of product support. Numerous other advantages and special features that distinguish Kay's acoustic analysis family are described below.

The new Visi-Pitch II, Model 3300, and the CSL provide complete systems. There are no hidden costs. All hardware (except the computer), with matched components, is included: a professional-level speaker, preamplifiers, a microphone, headphones, an external module for input and output control, comprehensive documentation, and software. You have the convenience of single vendor responsibility.

Speech science and clinical applications demand very good quality signal acquisition for critical listening and acoustic measurements. Some of the inexpensive devices offered by our competitors use general-purpose multimedia cards for computers which are designed primarily for sound output with computer games. Although these cards are enticingly inexpensive, they usually have crude microphone preamplifiers and noisy input circuits which can meaningfully affect some measurements, especially voicing parameters. The CSL and the new Visi-Pitch II use custom-designed external boxes to isolate the input circuits from the noisy computer. The CSL and new Visi-Pitch II include: high-gain preamplifiers with an extensive dynamic range, advanced signal conditioning circuits, and autocalibration. These features allow the 16-bit, 50 kHz sampling range to be fully utilized. And both include custom-designed boards in the computer with digital signal processing chips to substantially speed up processing. The National Center for Voice and Speech published recommendations for the acquisition of acoustic voice signals. The CSL is the only commercial product which meets all of these stringent requirements. Contact NCVS at (319) 335-6600, for their recommendations, and Kay for more information about CSL compliance with these recommendations.

Real-time performance is not just faster, it is mandatory for biofeedback tasks. For example, imagine learning to play the piano with a half-second delay between hitting the piano key and hearing the sound. Biofeedback principles require that clients see the speech parameter, without delay, as they phonate in order to most effectively modify their behavior. Both CSL and Visi-Pitch II provide real-time speech parameter display during input, synchronously with speech acquisition. Although systems without real-time analysis can be used for assessment, real-time capability is required for biofeedback (e.g., therapy). Some of our competitors misrepresent their product's real-time capability or do not clearly identify their product's inability to perform true, real-time analysis/acquisition.

Critical Features

An effective product demands close attention to real-world considerations. For example, overloaded signals can play havoc with many acoustic measurements. To avoid this problem, the input level should be continually and easily adjusted to facilitate speech acquisition without underloading or overloading. The Visi-Pitch II and CSL provide on-line feedback of input level and overloading during speech or voice acquisition. Overloaded signals are also color-coded for added protection. Levels can be adjusted during input. Both Visi-Pitch II and CSL also have circular buffers to allow continuous acquisition until the user accepts the data. With these features, signal acquisition is convenient, accurate, and consistent. The design of the CSL and Visi-Pitch II includes numerous other hardware and software features which were developed from Kay's long experience with these demanding applications.

Kay's products have a rich set of capabilities too extensive to explain in this brief description. The CSL has 15 optional programs, a recent upgrade to version 5.0, three CD-ROM databases, and numerous product features designed for speech professionals in advanced research or clinical practice. Many options have been recently introduced and new options are in development. No other system approaches this level of capability. The new Visi-Pitch II adds many new features (e.g., new games, DAF, CD-quality sound capturing, some articulation biofeedback, more extensive voicing measurements, etc.) at the same price as the previous model.

Many competitors introduce an inexpensive product without providing much initial or ongoing product support. Kay provides a high level of product support. This includes toll-free technical service, software upgrades, relevant bibliographies, courses, applications manuals, training videos, scheduled in-house training, and more in-services than anyone in the business. This support is one of the reasons that Kay is the market leader in speech analysis products.

The many advantages of CSL and the Visi-Pitch II are not luxuries. They are essential features for the demanding tasks of acoustic analysis research, clinical assessment, and treatment. And Kay backs this claim with a guarantee. We will sell you our CSL or our Visi-Pitch II with a 60-day money-back guarantee. You can then compare our product side-by-side with any competitor's product. If for any reason you wish to return our product, you can do so during this trial period.