title: Improving accuracy in detecting acoustic onsets.
abstract: In current cognitive psychology, naming latencies are commonly measured by electronic voice keys that detect when sound exceeds a certain amplitude threshold. However, recent research (e.g., K. Rastle & M. H. Davis, 2002) has shown that these devices are particularly inaccurate in precisely detecting acoustic onsets. In this article, the authors discuss the various problems and solutions that have been put forward with respect to this issue and show that classical voice keys may trigger several tens of milliseconds later than acoustic onset. The authors argue that a solution to this problem may come from voice keys that use a combination of analogue and digital noise (nonspeech sound) detection. It is shown that the acoustic onsets detected by such a device are only a few milliseconds delayed and correlate highly (up to .99) with reaction time values obtained by visual waveform inspection.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. wouter.duyck@ugent.be
authors.forename: Wouter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Duyck
authors.forename: Frederik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Anseel
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Szmalec
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mestdagh
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tavernier
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Hartsuiker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015982:Bias; D003205:Computing Methodologies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011578:Psycholinguistics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011589:Psychology, Experimental / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors; D013061:Speech Acoustics