This KB document has useful information and resources for people just starting in the lab. 

Training

The overall schedule for new students

Each of these steps is explained in more detail later in this document. This bulleted list is for your reference.

• Task group 1: before starting in the lab
  • CITI training 
• Task group 2: ~week 1
  • Watch intro video
  • Read onboarding KB docs: [Link for document 117966 is unavailable at this time] and Lab Policies and General Information
  • HIPAA training
  • Matlab Onramp first 3 course modules
  • Reading and worksheet
  • Meet with lab manager at Waisman. Review what you've learned. Learn how to use our computers and work in Waisman.
• Task group 3: ~week 2 and week 3
  • Reading and worksheets
  • Then, meet with lab manager, review task group 3 material, and learn formant tracking.
• Task group 4: ~week 4 and week 5
  • Complete formant tracking training tasks.
  • Meet w/ lab manager to review formant tracking.

SMNG-specific Training

Acoustic analysis and formant tracking

Almost everyone entering the lab will learn about our acoustic analysis workflow, otherwise known as "formant tracking." Broadly, this is how we extract useful data from the speech signals we record during experiments. (If you want a sneak peek of what that training will look at, look at the pictures in the General Analysis Guide.)

We want you to understand what's happening both theoretically and practically during formant tracking. So, you need a foundation in phonetics, which is the study of speech sounds. There are two main parts of phonetics you will learn about:

1. Acoustic phonetics thinks of speech as a physical phenomenon. Speech is compressed waves in a medium (like air). These waves have properties like wavelength and amplitude, and can be measured by a microphone and created by the drivers in headphones.
2. Articulatory phonetics thinks of speech as a physiological phenomenon. Speech is made by a person. How do our tongue, throat, and lungs work together to make so many different sounds? 

The lab manager will assign you various readings/videos and worksheets to guide your learning.

• Task group 2
  • Read Chapter 1.1 - 1.3 of Acoustic and Auditory Phonetics (Johnson) and complete a worksheet.
• Task group 3
  • Aze Lingusitics video on Frequency and Pitch and worksheet.
  • Chapter 1 of A Course in Phonetics by Ladefoged & Johnson and worksheet.
  • Aze Lingusitics video on Formants and worksheet.
    • EXTRA: How Do We Change Our Mouths to Shape Waves? Formants video by The Ling Space
    • EXTRA: Evaluation of automatic formant tracking by Nearey et al. Start with slide 6 and look at examples of good and bad tracking.
    • EXTRA: Speech Resource Pages by Robert Mannell and Felicity Cox at Macquarie University. In particular: Speech Acoustics Topics, particularly Spectral Analysis of Sound
  • Segmentation practice #1 worksheet. 
  • Segmentation practice #2 worksheet. 
• Task group 4
  • Formant tracking practice. Worksheet.

Matlab and coding

Everyone in the lab needs at least a passing knowledge of Matlab, because our lab uses Matlab to conduct experiments and analyze the data from those experiments. Matlab is both a programming language and a desktop/web app. It's by a company called MathWorks.

For task group 2, you will complete the first 3 course modules of the Matlab Onramp (Course Overview; Commands; MATLAB Desktop and Editor) on MathWorks's website. To do the Onramp, you'll need a MathWorks account, which you can make for free if you sign up with your UW email. From the Matlab Academy site, click "Launch MATLAB Onramp", log into your account, and complete the exercises.

Later in the semester, it is strongly recommended that you complete at least up through course module 7, "Calling Functions," of the Onramp. 

For students who are curious about coding, we have other resources available. A couple students have done thesis projects in the lab involving coding (with varying degrees of help from lab staff). Peruse the Programming in SMNG KB doc for info.

Required external training

CITI

To work with human subjects and data from human subjects, you must complete certain training administered by the company CITI. This UW page describes how to access the training. You will need to complete two courses:

1. Human Subjects Protections Course
2. GCP – Social and Behavioral Research Best Practices for Clinical Research

You can look up any training you've already completed. Once that site shows the two above courses, Slack the lab manager and they'll add you to our IRB protocols. (You don't need to send your certificate.)

HIPAA

In addition to CITI training, the Waisman Center requires all employees & affiliates to complete HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) training. This ensures that sensitive & personal information of research subjects and patients are being handled responsibly. You may receive instructions directly from Waisman on how to complete this. But if you don't: 

1. Visit the HIPAA Compliance webpage and follow their instructions for completing HIPAA training. There should be a section for "students with UW-Madison NetIDs," or something similar.
2. You'll eventually complete a course in Canvas
3. If you can't access the Canvas course, follow the instructions on the HIPAA compliance webpage (same as above) for what you are supposed to do. Typically it is emailing someone specific and asking to get access to the Canvas course.

Information about using Waisman Computers

1. To work remotely, you must follow these steps: How to get remote access to computers. Note that you must first set up your Waisman computing account in-person before you can remotely connect to any computers. The lab manager will go through this with you on your first in-person day.
2. Files saved on lab computers go in one of three places: 1.) The local drive (C:/), 2.) "the server" aka "the smng drive" (/smng/), or 3.) your personal drive (M:/). Read this article to understand the distinction between these things: [Link for document 113705 is unavailable at this time]

Other learning resources

Links to various resources and references have been collected on this KB page. Though by now you might have seen that since it has the Beginner's Guide KB tag