Manual sound adjustment

For Manual adjustment perform do the following procedures: Open the Volume Control window for example with this set of commands: Start All programs Accessories Entertainment Volume Control .

Adjustment of Volume Control

For adjustment of Playback use Options - Properties - Playback. Select Additional parameters window. Select Adjust volume for Playback and switch on Microphone (Figure 7). The arrows show important settings.

Figure 7. Sound device properties window Necessary values of Master out control elements (Figure 8):

Figure 8. Master out control window Volume (play) 90-100%, Wave (record) 80-90%, Microphone switched off.
(c) 2009 Research Center for Biocybernatics. All Rights Reserved. | www.rcbkb.com

Adjustment of Recording Control

Open Start Programs Accessories Entertainment Volume Control To adjust Recording Control volume use Options - Properties - Recording. Select Microphone. Be sure that the Microphone is switched on. Click Advanced button (Figure 9). .

Figure 9. Recording Control window

Click in the Advanced Controls for Microphone window select Mic Boost to switch on additional amplification of the microphone, if the sound volume is not high enough (in adjustment software of some types of sound cards the function of additional adjustments is placed in Volume Control window) (Figure 10).

Figure 10. Advanced for Microphone window

(c) 2009 Research Center for Biocybernatics. All Rights Reserved. | www.rcbkb.com

Final correction of the microphone loudness is made after beginning of the training. When the training session starts the Record Level window top left during the natural speech should look like presented on the picture below (signal level 20-80% from the window height) (Figure 11).

Figure 11. Record level window of the program

Requirements to headphones and microphone

Headphones The headphones must have an important property maximum isolation of hearing from outside to isolate the perception of ones own speech. It is necessary to provide appropriate loudness of the modified speech that is heard from the headphones. The trainee should be psychologically disposed to apprehend the speech from the headphones and synchronize his speech with the speech from the headphones but not from outside. While meeting these requirements, the trainee will not be able to speak in his usual tempo, because his/her speech will follow that from the headphones. Unintentionally, he will have to drawl words, his/her speech will be flowing which will increase the duration of the exhale. Microphone It is recommended to use dynamic microphones with a round head (karaoke type). The optimal microphone is that with the resistance 600 ohm. Microphones by Sony, Panasonic and Aiwa are also suitable. We would not recommend Philips models.

Sound adjustment Summary

1. Microphone amplification corresponds with the picture Record Level (20-80% of window height see above). 2. Headphones intensification provides loud sound at low speech. 3. Microphone is switched off at Play. The check of adjustments of Sound card, Headphones an Microphone It is necessary to use a standard Windows program Sound Recorder in order to make sure that you have adjusted the sound card properly. For this choose Start Programs Accessories Entertainment Sound Recorder .

Record your voice by pressing Record button. To hear the result press Seek to Start, then Play. The voice you have recorded should be heard loud enough from the headphones.

(c) 2009 Research Center for Biocybernatics. All Rights Reserved. | www.rcbkb.com

Problems with Sound card or its adjustments

1. Theres no sound in the headphones while hearing standard windows sounds or melodies from other sound appliainces attaches to the computer. Headphones are plugged into a wrong socket; Volume control at Play is switched off or is not settled on 90-100%; wave is not set to 80-90% (check the ticks); Headphones malfunction; Sound card output amplifier cascade does not function (not common).

2. The sound is loud in the headphones at hearing standard windows sounds and melodies; but the sound recorded from the microphone is not heard at all. The microphone is plugged into a wrong socket, The microphone level at Record is switched off or is not set to appropriate volume (check the ticks) (see above Record Adjustments, The microphone has defects or its local switcher is switched off, Sound card input cascade does not function (not common). 3. At above mentioned adjustments the sound card allows you to hear your own speech very softly while standard windows sounds and melodies sound loudly. at the same time in BreathMaker the signal of Record level top left window is less than 20% even at maximum microphone ampliification and the tick put on additional boost. Low amplification of the output cascade of the sound card. We recommend that you should change the sound card, as with above-mentioned settings the sound must be loud! This problem is in the sound card defect. To hide this defect the sound cards manufacturers or retailers can check the card performance, artificially increasing the speech loudness, e.g. keeping the microphone too close to the lips, or recommending using so-called PC microphones with a funnel-shaped head, which is an acoustic intensifier etc. Please note that sound cards of high quality must play and record properly, without any tricks, if you use the above-mentioned adjustments and a karaoke-type microphone, Nonqualified microphone, The mother board does not provide enough power for the sound card in this case any sound card give a quiet sound (very uncommon). 4. You hear your own voice with no delay or with and without delay at the same time. You have forgotten to switch off the microphone at Play (see Microphone adjustments at Play and Record). 5. At the training you hear echo that gradually dies away and disturbs the training. Bad quality sound card of (with defects) has transient induction between input and output channels, and at relative synchronization of record and play, occurring in full duplex mode during the training session there happens generation of unwanted self- oscillation of electric schemes that cause the echo effect. Youll have to change the sound card. We recommend the sound cards manufactured by Creative Technology Ltd. 6. You have checked your sound card but as soon as you start working with Breathmaker (in 12 seconds) the program gives you the message about an error
(c) 2009 Research Center for Biocybernatics. All Rights Reserved. | www.rcbkb.com

 Your sound card is outdated. It has no full duplex property (see sound card manual). Change it. 7. It is impossimple to achieve speech reproduction without breaks or there comes an error message a few minutes after you start the training. this problem demonstrates the lack of the PCs resourses. Single clicks that do not impede training can be ignored. 8. During the silence you can hear noise and see background noise of about 50 Hz frequency. The PC defect (the power unit is not shielded or grounded); the sound card defect (poor amplification between input and output); the microphone defect (microphone works like antenna). Change the microphone first. You can also try and use an external USB sound card to avoid background noise from computer case.

The maximum fluctuations of Record level when silent should not exceed 1 pixel (the line thickness), while the basic line should coincide with the bottom line of a 3D spectrum table (see picture below) (Figure 13).

Figure 13. Normal noise fluctuations when silent in the program window

Important Note: Please do not contact the Support Service without having checked your sound card using Windows standard programs: Sound Recorder etc. and without having fulfilled all recommendations given in the section Problems with Sound card or its adjustments.

(c) 2009 Research Center for Biocybernatics. All Rights Reserved. | www.rcbkb.com