Secret 1: Cochlear Implant Simulation (Ctrl+Alt+F6) After starting the training or testing tasks, please press (Ctrl+Alt+F6). The cochlear implant simulation dialog will pop out. Enable “Noise or Sinewave Vocoder Processig” and set the appropriate speech processor parameters and click “OK”. During this training or testing session, the sound you hear will be processed by the speech processor. This is an excellent tool for normal-hearing listeners to understand how the speech may sound with cochlear implant device. Secret 2: Generate Noisy Speech with Various Background Noise Another good feature for Angel Sound Program is that the progam can generate any noisy speech to mimic the real listening situations based on the quiet, clear speech signals. Again, after starting the training or testing tasks, please press (Ctrl+Alt+F8). The “Calibration, Presentation, and Background” dialog will pop out. Select the “Background noise” tab in the dialog. You will be able to set the noise type and the desired signal-to-noise ratio. You can also use the external sounds or music as the background noise. if you think that the current task is too task, it is the perfect approach to increase the difficulty of the task. Secret 3: Control the Sound Source by Using Stereo Setting In real life, sounds come from all over the place. This function allow the user to control where the target speech and background noise come from. Press click the “Stereo” button in the right bottom of the screen (See left figure, panel #2). A Stereo Setting dialog will pop out. There are four options, including mono output, stereo output with speech in left, right, or random. Of course, two speakers setting are required for using this function. Secret 4: Control the Speaking Rate and PITCH by Using Speed Control In real life, people speaks at very different speaking rate. Someone speaks very fast while ohters talks very slowly. It is important to understand speech at all these situations. This function allow the user to control the speaking rate of the speech. Press click the “Speed” button in the right bottom of the screen (See left figure, panel #3). A dialog will pop out. The normal speed is 100, which is the speaking rate of the original recording (typical speed). 50 means that speaking rate is 2 times slower while 200 means that the speaking rate is 2 times faster. Also, different speakers have different spectrum due to the difference in vocal tract. This function also allows the user to adjust the pitch of the speech signals. The normal pitch is 100. 50 means that the spectrum is downshifted by one octave. 200 means that the spectrum will be upshifted by one octave. The speaking rate and pitch can be set as a fixed level or can be randomly set in the given range. Secret 5: Data Synchronization between Local PC Database and Remote Server It is very easy to synchronize the training and testing data between local and remote server. After the program is running, login to the remote server using your account name and password. Click the “Sync” button in the right bottom of the screen (See left figure, panel #1). A new data transfer window will pop out. Click the Sync button in the middle to synchronize all the data or any specific session between local and remote server. Note that version 5.03.01 and an existing account is required for database synchronization function. Secret 6: Customized Setting for Individual Training While the default configuratioon in each training module and group is based on the particular feature and training purpose, the latest version also allows the users to modify the default configuratin and save the NEW file as the individualized “default” configuration. Click the “Custom” button in the right bottom of the screen (See left figure, circled image). A customized training setting window will appear. Click the button in the middle of the window to save the current (modified) configuration as the NEW configuration file. Note that this button is only enabled when the program detects some changes in the configuration. Otherwise, this button will be disabled. Secret 7: Custom Sound Volume Controls The program automatically set the system sound level to the maximum in the default setting. The RMS level of sounds is fixed at 65 dB (digit form) in the default setting. If the sound is still too soft, the user generally can use the external speaker to amplify the sound level. If there is no external speaker, the maximal sound level is dependent on the computer setting. Some laptop computers may have relatively low sound volume even with the system volume setting is maximized. In this case, one possible solution is to increase the RMS levels of sounds (digit form). The current default setting is 65 dB. This function allows the user to modify (mostly incrase) the RMS level of signals to make sound louder. To avoid the peak clipping, the maximal value is limited to 85 dB. To modify the volume, click the “Volume” button in the right bottom of the screen. Enable and specify the desired value of RMS level. Secret 8: Favorite Management Controls The program allows the users to save their favorite training or testing tasks into the FAVORITE folder. To save the task into the Favorite folder, start the task as normal procedure, then click the “Favorite” button in the right bottom of the screen (see Left Top Figure). The Favorite Management window (see Left Bottom Figure) will appear. Enter the Alias name for the current task and Click the button in the middle to save the current training or testing task into the Favorite List. To run the favorite task, click the “Favorite” button at any time, choose the desired training task in the Favorite List and Click the “Run Favorite” in the left bottom of the window or simply double click the training task in the Favorite List to Start the training. The user can easily delete the training tasks in the Favorite List or Change the Alias name in the favorite list by simply choose and click the “Delete” button in the middle bottom of the screen. The Favorite Management allow the user to perform various training or testing tasks across different modules.