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RSE is a software that allows the researcher to covertly or overtly selectively exchange the auditory feedback that test participants receive of their own voice via headsets.

The basic operation mode of RSE is a general low-latency feedback mechanism relaying what the speaker is saying. Using a sound detection-based trimming- and triggering system, utterances can be recorded (a), and, later in the test, inserted with precise timing at the exact moment that the participant says something else (b). By simultaneously blocking the feedback of what the participant is saying, situations are created where participants say one thing but hear themselves saying something else. In extensions of this basic functionality, RSE also allows for the insertion of pre-prepared WAV-files using the same mechanism. (Figure detail taken from Lind et al. 2014a).

“If you think you know what you just said, think again. People can be tricked into believing they have just said something they did not” -Brian Owens on RSE for Nature

Read the full interview with Andreas Lind about an RSE experiment here.

Design features

  • Intuitive visual interface for the experimenter (see image below)
  • Intuitive control of voice recording and insertion via the keyboard or a gamepad
  • Flexible pre-programming of experiments
  • Visual stimuli presentation system displays JPEG- or PNG files or simple text stimuli
  • Sound trigger threshold can be selectively adjusted for maximum sensitivity to different speech sounds
  • Adjustable low-pass filter mimics the bone conducted contribution to hearing one’s own voice
  • Prelayed auditory feedback (PAF) function (in distinction to delayed auditory feedback, DAF)
  • Easy-to-follow manual shows you how to set up, run and analyse experiments
  • Download includes 3 demos
  • Also allows for voice exchanges using pre-prepared WAV files. Examples of such files can be:
    • The speaker’s own voice recorded previously and processed off-line
    • Someone else’s voice
    • Masking sounds, such as Brownian noise
    • Emotionally charged vocalizations, such as gasps, laughs, cries etc.
    • Bodily sounds, such as burbs, coughs, sneezes etc.

Technical features

  • Quick and easy to download and use (no installation of RSE is necessary, but you need to install ASIO4ALL)
  • Can be run on any Windows 10 computer
  • Very low round trip latency (9ms)
  • Requires a minimal amount of hardware
  • Can easily be adapted to your individual experimental needs
  • Includes a built-in latency measurement system
  • Experiment is conveniently recorded unto a 2-channel WAV file

Design, development and funding

RSE was designed and developed at Lund University, Sweden, by Björn Breidegard (Certec) and Andreas Lind (LUCS) in collaboration with Petter Johansson, Lars Hall and Christian Balkenius (all at LUCS). The work was made possible by the following grants awarded to Andreas Lind: two grants from the Crafoord Foundation (20101020 and 20170734), a grant from the Swedish Research Council (2015-00446), and a grant from Uno Otterstedt’s Foundation (EKDO2010/54).

“…any word you speak, you can also hear.” – Homer, “The Iliad”

“Speakers talk not only in order to be understood by their interlocutors, but also in order to understand what they themselves say and think. The speaker is also a recipient of his own utterance.” – Per Linell, “Approaching Dialogue” (1998)

“We often do discover what we think (and hence what we mean) by reflecting on what we find ourselves saying.” – Daniel Dennett, “Consciousness Explained” (1991)

“…it is always well to try and find out what one is talking about, even at the risk of being deceived.” – Samuel Beckett, “The Unnamable” (1953)

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Background art © Danilo Stankovic. All rights reserved.