Sound editor playback

Praat for Beginners:
The Sound editor: Playback

  1. Preliminaries
  2. Playing a signal segment
  3. Playing the visible portion
  4. Playing the hidden portion
  5. Playing the whole signal
  6. Cursor playback functions

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1. Preliminaries

  • Make sure any necessary sound devices are switched on and connected
  • Select the sound source in the Windows volume control
    • You will be listening to the Sound object that is on view in the Sound editor
    • Select Wave as source in the Windows volume control
  • Below the waveform are three narrow bars:
  • Clicking any of these bars plays different portions of the Sound object:
    • Upper: Before or after the cursor location, and additionally, a selection
    • Middle: What you see in the window
    • Lower: The whole Sound object, including all hidden parts after zooming.
  • If you are viewing a stereo Sound object, both channels will be seen and both channels will be played back together in stereo.

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2. Playing sound segments
  • The uppermost bar is divided into smaller fields:
    • Three by a selection (as in this example)
    • Two by the cursor alone.
  • The black numbers give the duration of each field.
  • Click one of these smaller fields to hear that segment

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3. Playing what you see
  • The middle bar (Visible part) is for the visible portion of the waveform, i.e. even after zooming.
  • The blue numbers are the time values, in seconds, at each window edge
  • The black number is the duration of the visible part of the waveform in the window.
  • Click this middle bar to hear the visible part.

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4. Playing the hidden parts
  • Parts of the Sound object are hidden after zooming,
    i.e. before and after the visible part.
  • These are represented by the two small fields,
    at either end of the middle (Visible) bar.
  • The black numbers give the durations of these hidden portions.
  • Click either of these two fields to hear the corresponding
    hidden portion of the Sound object.

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5. Playing all
  • The bottom bar (Total duration) is for the entire Sound object
  • The black number gives the total duration.
  • Click this third bar to hear the whole Sound object, including hidden parts after zooming

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6. Cursor functions controlled by the [Esc] and [Tab] keys

  • During playback, the cursor will run through the waveform in step with the signal being played
  • Pressing the [Esc]-key will halt playback
  • Pressing the [Tab]-key during ongoing playback halts playback and places the cursor at the interruption point
  • Pressing the [Tab]-key again restarts playback from the current cursor position
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© Sidney Wood and SWPhonetics, 1994-2012
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