People of all ages typically respond to the displays with increased motivation and desire to improve, so the visual feedback can accelerate therapy progress. Visual pictures of voicing or other responses to speech let individuals with speech problems participate more fully in the therapy process. The computer's independent, non-threatening feedback transfers responsibility for their speech back onto their shoulders and gives them more involvement in judging their own speech productions. Being able to give concrete form to sounds, transient and intangible by nature, offers opportunities to explain production errors and quickly elicit changes. It's no longer a case of what the therapist says is right or wrong, but what both see happening on the screen.
Some displays are good for stimulating vocal play.
Individuals can experiment and explore their voices, learn what happens when they change tongue or other articulator position, vocal tension, pitch or volume, and discover the kinesthetics of correct production. Other displays and games make the tedious repetition of targets necessary to develop automaticity a fun and rewarding process. With any of the visual display tools, though, the therapist is still an integral part of the process. Feedback on how to modify productions is important, and students, patients or clients find that as they apply the therapist's instructions, the results are evident in the screen displays. Speech is an extremely complex process, and the ear is an amazing instrument, capable of detecting and interpreting even minor variations in pitch, intensity, and frequency changes that make up words and blend them in connected speech.