Why speed of audio in a language lab is everything
Since the introduction of Sony Virtuoso in 2001, SANS’ VoIP technology has provided the industry’s best overall audio quality and has continually evolved. Today, latency of only 10 to 15 milleseconds is achievable with SANSTalk on Sony Virtuoso language lab software. In comparative terms Sony is upto 1000% faster than other software based language lab solutions. The audio on Sony Virtuoso is as close as is possible to the human threshold of being able to perceive latency; it all sounds perfect really.
How can effective language learning take place when you are able to see the person you are communicating to but hear the audio response some time later in your headset? Sony Virtuoso’s design philosophy considers the important reality that teachers and learners are co-located. As such there is significant benefit to reducing the time lag between when you see someone mouthing words and when you hear those works spoken - especially when you are using those words to learn a new language.
Is a 7th of a second as good as 15 thousandths of a second? The “Latency examples*” video might help you decide. For effective and confident language learning in a language lab “speed is everything!”
*Video courtesy of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. A range of 250 milliseconds latency has been included because audio latency is never a constant – it can and does “drift”. A system with a “typical” latency of 150 milliseconds can easily drift to 250 milliseconds or higher.