longform-hardware-audio-test

Information on tests done comparing different recording devices

Information about the devices tested here.

Procedure

• We created a "source" file with 5 mins from a CHILDES corpus (Thomas) and 5 mins from Seedlings -- this is the file called chain_inout.wav.
• We played it from a mac computer with all of the devices in an array in front of the computer, in a sound-proof booth.
• We tested 4 different device types + LENA+olympus (whose results I haven't calculated yet).
• We then analyzed all of the sound files with our VTC and calculated % frames correctly classified (as FEM MAL CHI & silence -- there was no other child in these audios, an issue to improve in the next test!)

Conclusions

Based on this, our current recommendation is this particular USB, which is the cheapest yet leads to a performance above LENA's: MP power @ Clé USB Numérique Enregistreur Flash Memory Stick Voice Dictaphone Recorder 8Go 8Gb 8 Go

If you want to do even better, you can get this one: Enregistreur Vocal 16 Go, Enregistreur Micro Discret Numérique Activation Vocale, Dictaphone Portable Rechargeable par USB MP3 Player pour Cours, Réunions et Entretiens