Throughout this presentation you will notice Key Features. These features describe how our system reaches the new performance standard. We invite you to make detailed comparisons between our system and any others available, at least those which will provide you actual performance specifications of their system. Our specifications are not merely "obtainable" characteristics you might find offered by other systems but moreover ones we test each system to meet and warranty to maintain.

Key Feature: Superior Acoustic Design to minimize variability
Startle research has long had the reputation for high subject to subject variability. Acoustic startle responses are tied directly to the accuracy of the noise stimulus and the quality of the ambient noise control. We designed our system with a high precision circuit providing +/- 1dB accuracy at all points of the scale (57-120dB) and from chamber to chamber!

35 decibels of attenuation!
Our cabinets have the highest sound attenuation available on the market. The closest competition provides only 22-25 dB. Recall that each decibel represents a multiple of 10. Therefore an increase of more than 10 decibels is very significant.

No acoustic calibration or strange tables to create or use. Simple and direct! Because our our attenuation is so high you are able to use noise levels down to 57dB! You will no longer be limited to 65db as a lower limit. And our system is factory calibrated so all you need do is enter the desired level. No calibration tables to create for each station nor do you use an arbitrary number table as with some systems, you simply enter the level you want and that's it!

Key Feature: An Original Win NT based system. This new system is a completely new design - not an upgraded DOS system! This has made major differences in the systems architecture which ultimately means less effort during startup. For example, there is no PC card to install - simply connect our chassis to your PC computer and your ready to go! Just one cable to your computer and one for each additional station you buy. We've eliminated the a 'rats nest' of cables typically needed for all the signals!

Key Feature: New restraint design New design removes stress induced by older tube methods.  Older systems have used a design placing animals into tubes which has long be known to create stress. Our new restraint design contains the subject consistently over the sensing transducer while still providing an ample sensation of freedom of movement. The key is in the adjustable ceiling which allows the subject increased headroom without permitting ambulations. The feet on the transducer assembly have been moved to a special anchor plate. And because we use a piezo disk and not a delicate load cell the assembly is rugged and not easily affected by user handling.

Calibrated in Newtons, not arbitrary units!  We've designed a single pulse calibrator that allows your data to be reported in milliNewtons. Now you can have confidence about comparing your studies, there is no longer a concern over what the system was originally set to. Additionally, the stability of the system is high enough to reduce the number of times you have to check the calibration.

Compact cabinet to help save your lab space. We realize how hard it is to come be lab space and so we made a special effort to design our cabinet to be the smallest available. You can place almost twice as many cabinets in the same space as our closet competitor and still have a system that outperforms them all!

Key Feature: Higher throughput with less cleaning time! We paid close attenuation to the comments of experienced technicians and researches who have suffered for years with cleaning problems. Active labs have reported spending over 1 full hour each day just for cleaning for large systems. We designed a unique refuse tray built right into the sensing plate to gather and contain waste. For cleaning you simply remove the sensing plate and rinse it out under running water and you ready to proceed with the next session.

Easy to use Windows NT based software. The Startle Monitor software has been modeled after our popular MotorMonitor program, with concise yet flexible input screens. As seen below, we have created a single input screen that will do almost all of your work from. You will be able to input session parameters, order your trial list, input subject information, edit trials, edit sessions, and finally run any desired session you choose!

Hardware Specifications:

Acoustic Performance

Ordering Information: