Audio Scrubbing

Step 1: addscrubtier

This script automates the process of adding *SCR tiers into clan files. You can find the addscrubtier script on GitHub. Be sure you have the most updated version of addscrubtier before proceeding.

It looks for "begin personal information" and "end personal information" comments and bases the time interval on those. It will add the *SCR tier right after the "begin personal information" comment with its timestamp as the interval between personal info comments.

For example:

*MAN:   &=w0 . 7109230_7111100
%xcom:  begin personal information: last name
*SCR:   Scrub 7111100_7149210
%xdb:   average_dB="-24.41" peak_dB="-16.85"
*OLN:   0 . 7111100_7147680
%xdb:   average_dB="-22.16" peak_dB="-9.47"
@Eg:    Pause 268
@Bg:    Conversation 268
*MAN:   &=w10_86 . 7147680_7149210
%xcom:  end personal information

addscrub.py

Run the script using the final, checked .cha file. The output should be named the same as the original but with _scrubbed added.

1 $: python addscrub.py [original_filename] [output_filename]

For example:

1 $: python addscrub.py 01_06_coderSD_final.cha 01_06_coderSD_final_scrubbed.cha

The scrubbed.cha should be saved to the same directory as the unscrubbed final.cha (ex. Subject_Files/01_01-01-2016/01_06/Home_Visit/Coding/Audio_Annotation).

batchscrub.py

To run this script on multiple files, use the batchscrub script.

[subject] and [visit] can be "all", or a number.

1 $: python batchscrub.py [start_directory] [subject] [visit]

Step 2: CLAN silence command

1. Once you have a .cha file with SCR tiers, you can move on to adding silence to the audio file. Copy the scrubbed.cha into the directory with the corresponding .wav file (seedlings/Subject_Files/01_01-01-2016/01_06/Home_Visit/Processing/Audio_Files).

2. Open the scrubbed.cha in CLAN and open the command window. Change the working directory as needed, and then run the following command:

   1 silence +sScrub [filename]

• This CLAN command looks for lines with some specified string and converts the linked segment of the related audio file to silence.

• Note: this takes a while to run, so don't panic!

1. This creates a .aif file with silence during the SCR tiers called "XX_XX-silent.aif". This file should be renamed "XX_XX_scrubbed.aif" and should be saved to the same directory as the unscrubbed .wav file (ex. Subject_Files/01_01-01-2016/01_06/Home_Visit/Processing/Audio_Files).

2. You can delete the extra copy you made of the scrubbed.cha in the Processing/Audio_Files folder (leaving the scrubbed.cha in the Coding/Audio_Annotation folder).

Step 3: .wav conversion

In the above step, CLAN outputs an .aif file. We prefer to use the more standard .wav format, so now you should convert the file.

1. First, make a local copy of the scrubbed.aif file. To do this, create a folder on your desktop called Sub_Files and copy and paste the scrubbed.aif into this folder.

2. Open Audacity and open the local scrubbed.aif file.

3. Click File > Export As. Save the file as XX_XX_scrubbed.wav in your local folder. Make sure WAV is selected in the Format drop-down menu.

   • A metadata window will pop up. Leave this blank and click OK.

4. Once the conversion process is complete (this shouldn't take more than a few minutes), move the scrubbed.wav file onto BLab share in the relevant Processing/Audio_Files folder and delete the extra copies on your desktop.