Net Auditory Distance Calculator upgrade

Ongoing enhancements and expanded language support for the NAD Calculator

The Net Auditory Distance Calculator—originally developed at Anglistyka AMU—is now accessible on PythonAnywhere at https://akszoszk.pythonanywhere.com/. As an actively evolving project, the web interface undergoes frequent updates and improvements.

I am also developing a dedicated website at http://alokon1-nad.home.amu.edu.pl/ to describe our research and the use of the calculator in greater detail.

Language Support Evolution

  • Slavic Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Croatian, and Belarusian each offer unique consonant cluster patterns. Russian presents complex onset clusters, while Croatian features distinctive palatal consonants.
  • Caucasian Languages: Georgian, with its remarkable consonant inventory and complex cluster structures, provides valuable data for testing the calculator's capabilities with sequences that can include up to six consonants.
  • Turkic Languages: Turkish brings a different phonological system to the calculator, featuring vowel harmony and relatively simpler consonant clusters, creating an important contrast to the Slavic and Caucasian language data.

Development Setup

  • Modernized Bootstrap: Upgraded from Bootstrap 2 (2012) to Bootstrap 5 via CDN for a fully responsive, mobile-friendly layout.
  • Flask Static Integration: Converted all CSS, JS, and image URLs, ensuring assets load correctly in the Flask environment.
  • Keyboard & Tooltip Update: Cleaned up the keyboard script, fixed event handling, and set up Bootstrap 5 tooltips correctly.

Upcoming Improvements

  • Integrate a list of key publications and references directly within the tool for quick access to foundational and recent research.
  • Develop a more intuitive, user-friendly interface with clear navigation, responsive design, and interactive help prompts.
  • Add support for additional language inventories
  • Refine UI/UX with interactive visualizations
  • Provide downloadable reports (CSV/JSON)
  • Improve performance and scalability

Try It Out

Access the calculator here: https://akszoszk.pythonanywhere.com/