Coding: Word and Voice Onset Time

Christine White

Most researchers seem to be looking to measure VOT (the time interval between the end of a consonantal “burst” and the beginning of voicing), which is slightly different from what we’ve been looking for (“word onset time” or RT, i.e. the very beginning of the utterance.) However, I found the following guides useful anyway, paying attention only to how they selected the beginning of the utterance. This method seemed to work pretty well for me in the sense that my hand analyses matched up very well with the objective Chronset output. However, I can’t say with any authority that this is the 100% right way to do this. Voice Onset Time YouTube Tutorial

1. Zoom into beginning of utterance.

2. Place line in the center of the “valley” immediately prior to dramatic change in waveform (what exactly this change is differs depending on what type of consonant it is, but it’s usually pretty clear.)

3. Record position of line (in the above example, .967693s.)