Add buffer

[To access the tools, select 'Fast Track > Tools' in Praat.]

See this page for information about the importance of buffers around sound files.

This function will pad all of the wav files in a folder with a specified amount of silence. Silence duration should equal one half of the intended analysis window length (and remember Praat uses a window twice as long as you think).

Padding sounds allows formant measurements to be conducted right up until the edge of a vowel sound. This option may be preferable in some cases, however, it does rely on somewhat 'artificial' data. For example the result may be different at the edges than if the analysis had been carried out with the original context acting as the buffer. If possible, I would suggest extracting vowel sounds with the original context acting as the buffer, using this tool provided in Fast Track.