VowelViz 4+
SmartPalate International, LLC
Designed for iPad
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- $19.99
- Offers In-App Purchases
Screenshots
Description
VowelViz is an innovative speech mapping tool that displays vowel production in real-time. With applications in speech therapy, accent reduction/second language learning, and home practice, VowelViz is a versatile and easy to use tool for practicing vowels.
VowelViz provides a fun and engaging foundation to practice clear and consistent vowels, without guessing, in order to develop and strengthen muscle memory effectively. The app’s display is designed around the vowel quadrilateral and existing research on average vowel formants. When voicing is detected, an orange ball plots the position of the sound on the screen, presenting an easy to understand visual representation of the vowel. By tracking the movement and position of speech over time, learners can better visualize the movements needed for clear and distinct vowels. This understanding provides the framework to practice making those distinctions clear and precise.
The vowel quadrilateral display shows learners where vowels are produced within the mouth. By moving their tongues up and down and forward and back in their mouths, learners gain control of their speech as they hear, feel and see the differences in sounds. This control allows them to find target vowels and practice them repeatedly until they become natural and fluent in their speech. Quadrants within the vowel quadrilateral act as relative targets and help users orient themselves to where in the mouth they should be producing the vowel. Learners are also able to see how their vowels compare with the researched averages of others. These averages are represented in the app as ranges around each vowel that can also function as relative targets for learning or improving vowels.
VowelViz provides a platform to transition from simple to more complex speech. In addition to isolated sounds, it can be used to see and practice dipthongs, blends, and even words and phrases. An adjustable tail can be added to VowelViz’s speech tracker to increase understanding of how combinations of sounds work together to form words and other complex speech. The longer the tail, the more clear the connection between sounds.
VowelViz is designed to be simple and easy to use so that anyone can practice clear, consistent vowel productions. The app is equipped with step-by-step instructions on how to use the various features and options. Also included in the app are diagrams, charts, and descriptions of IPA, the vowel quadrilateral, and vowel formants. Anyone who is unfamiliar with these terms can quickly learn to use VowelViz without any misunderstanding of the terminology or technical aspects used in the app.
VowelViz by CompleteSpeech. See the difference.
What’s New
Version 1.1.6
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
Added 3 new themes to the app
Ratings and Reviews
Great technological design with flawed pedagogy and high price tag
VowelViz makes commercially available (though not inexpensively) an app that can show visualizations of most (but not all) of the American vowel sounds. Users may need to adjust some of the options to make the visualizations of vowel ranges more usable. Other features come at a cost and the main pack of flash card includes numerous words without the target vowel (/ɔ/ and /ɜ˞/). While the app shows promise as a tool for younger learners working to acquire vowel sounds along with letter and word recognition, the lack of audio examples in the flash cards, the use of inauthentic vowel models in the audio files, and the expensive price you pay to work around these shortcomings makes this less than ideal as a tool to promote autonomous pronunciation practice. For the full review see the blog “Today’s English in the World.”
DJ Kaiser, PhD
Great potential
This app is such a disappointment! I work with adults trying to improve their english pronunciation and it consistently misses most of the vowel sounds. For example: if you pronounce /i/ it registers the er sound (sorry, don't have the IPA symbols on my ipad). It's not just me. It even mistakes its own sample sounds! Tried using a microphone and it didn't help. Please make it more accurate! It could be such a great tool!
Worthless
I am an SLP. I’ve had this app for years. It used to work well enough for R therapy— not perfect but still very helpful. More recently it is completely inaccurate and not useful at all. I wish the developers would update the app so it works again.
App Privacy
The developer, SmartPalate International, LLC, has not provided details about its privacy practices and handling of data to Apple.
No Details Provided
The developer will be required to provide privacy details when they submit their next app update.
Information
- Seller
- SmartPalate International, LLC
- Size
- 54 MB
- Category
- Education
- Compatibility
-
- iPhone
- Requires iOS 6.0 or later.
- iPad
- Requires iPadOS 6.0 or later.
- iPod touch
- Requires iOS 6.0 or later.
- Mac
- Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
- Apple Vision
- Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- Languages
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English
- Age Rating
- 4+
- Copyright
- © SmartPalate International, LLC
- Price
- $19.99
- In-App Purchases
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- Upgrade to VowelViz School $19.99
- BasicFlashcard $4.99
- FlowersTheme $1.99
- Sports Theme $1.99
- PlanetsTheme $1.99
- Spelling Theme $1.99
- Colors Theme $1.99