Sound Beginnings 2 will help children who are learning to vocalise through simple, fun, on-screen games. There are five to choose from and they vary in the demands they make on the user and their configurability.

At the most immediate level are two that are simply activated by sounds. In one a racing car is driven around a track, its velocity determined by the volume and duration of the noise the user makes. There are several obstacles, such as sheep and a gate, which the user must avoid by shutting up.

Similarly another game has the user keeping a character aloft on a balloon through maintaining a noise, any lapses could see it land on a cactus or in a bin. Both these are good fun and work well.

The other three games need greater precision in what is said. One has up to 10 monsters popping up from behind rocks to be counted and the number said. Another rehearses the prepositions, “in, on, under, in front, behind,” with various bits of furniture to place a monster in amusing places. The third activity is to colour in a picture by speaking the desired colour as an arrow flashes on different segments of it.

This is clever stuff, getting the program to respond like this. Unfortunately it isn’t always accurate. This will, in part, be due to the variability of the microphone. However, it is also due to the variability of the human voice. The software has been standardised and taught to recognise key sounds in each word. Sometimes the user doesn’t make the sound the machine needs so it thinks it hears another one. For one user it might recognise “white” when they said, “red,” or “pink” when they said “blue.” 

This may challenge some children to try to articulate more clearly, to try harder to say a word properly and be rewarded. Others might become confused or frustrated, although it is possible to turn words off if this happens and just use the successful ones.

This software is easy to use, fun and  engaging, even with its little foibles.