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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2014 Feb 1;57(1):26–45. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2013/12-0103)

TABLE 4.

Comparison of select features of the four acoustic analysis software packages.

Feature
Version		 Praat
V. 5.1.31 		Wavesurfer
V. 1.8.5 		TF32
V. alpha 1.2 		CSL
V. 3.4.1
Compatible
operating
system(s)
required		 MacOS X,
Windows®
(2000, XP,
Vista, 7) (32 or
64-bit) and
Linux (32 or 64-
bit)		 Windows® XP
or Vista 7		 32-bit
Windows®
(98/NT/2000/X
P)		 Current CPU
greater than or
equal to 2 GHz,
1GB RAM 2.
Windows® 7,
Vista, or XP
Users’ manual

  • Online PDF of tutorial (27 pages)

  • Active user group to answer questions and offer advice

  • Manual in help menu (6 pages with links to additional pages)

  • No help menu Online PDF of user’s manual (116 pages)

  • In-software tutorial

  • Manual in help menu (464 pages)
Zoom/scroll

  • Zoom to selection, zoom in/out, zoom out full

  • Scrollbar

  • Zoom to selection, zoom in/out, zoom out full

  • Scrollbar

  • Zoom to selected, zoom out full

  • Scrollbar

  • Keyboard arrows to move along waveform

  • Select and out full.

  • Scrollbar

  • Keyboard arrows to move along waveform
Time readout • 0.001ms • 1ms • 0.001ms • 0.01ms
Amplitude
readout		 • Yes • Yes • No • Yes
Frequency
readout		 • Yes • Yes • Yes • Yes
View and play
selected
segments		 • Yes • Yes • Yes • Yes
Settings held
when open
multiple files		 • Yes • No • Yes • Yes
    FFT • Yes • Yes • Yes • Yes
    LPC • Yes • Yes • Yes • Yes
    Waterfall • No • No • No • Yes
Pitch • Yes • Yes • Yes • Yes
Simultaneous
displays		 • Yes • Yes • Yes • Yes
Labeling/annota
tion of segments		 • Yes • No • No • Yes
Settings
maintained from
one file to
another during
continued use		 • Yes • No • Yes • Yes
External
proprietary
hardware
required		 • No • No • No • Yes
Database(s)
Available with
system		 • No • No • No • Yes
Additional
features and
information

  • Labeling and segmenting, available at no cost

  • Voice report offers voice measurements

  • Automatic smoothing function

  • Optional smoothing function

  • Multiple additional modules, including MDVP, must be purchased
Edit formant
tracking on
spectrogram		 • Yes • Yes • Yes • Not specified