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| Wideband speech quality in terminals and networks – the industry needs testing standards |
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| Saturday, 10 July 2004 | |
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07 July, 2004: A workshop hosted by ETSI Technical Committee Speech Processing, Transmission and Quality Aspects (ETSI STQ) and supported by the ITU-T concluded that there is a lack of speech quality specifications and adequate tools for assessment and planning of Wideband speech communication systems. This is a critical issue as Wideband systems are to be one of the driving factors in so-called Next Generation Networks, which include Voice over IP solutions and 3G mobile evolution. 60 engineers, attended the Workshop, held in Mainz 8-9 June, to debate the status of research and development in the area. Various presentations stressed that there is a measurable quality improvement when wideband is used compared to narrow band speech communication systems and also that speech intelligibility is improved in wideband systems. However, the lack of sophisticated testing and optimization techniques for wideband terminals and wideband network configurations must now be addressed, both in R&D and in standardization. The Chairman of ETSI STQ committee, John Horrocks, noting the presence of Universities and Research Institutes at the workshop, extended an open invitation to allow these bodies to join STQ meetings as contributors, whether they are ETSI members or not. The workshop has started to define the various activities to be undertaken within ETSI in order to generate the standards needed for planning and specifying wideband speech communication systems and to harmonize the existing standards. Some areas that ETSI STQ are considering; • Subjective test methods and subjective test results (Conversational tests, Intelligibility tests, Echo and background noise tests); • Objective methods and parameters (common test methodologies applicable to both narrow-band and Wide-Band, ITU-T leading with ETSI STQ to update reports/standards wide-band speech quality); • Terminal tests (Radiation, sending and receiving responsiveness, test methodologies);. • Differing quality perceptions and expectations between Narrow and Wide bands; • The use of the ITU-T "intermediate e-model" for Wideband and other modelling issues (to evaluate the quality of Voice over IP (VoIP) applications); • Defining the presence of Wideband (Minimum values to ensure that WB is available) Jean-Yves Monfort, ETSI STQ Vice Chair, stressed that the work of ETSI and the ITU is complementary and that duplication will be avoided by liaison with ITU-T Study Group 12, which deals with End-to-end transmission performance of networks and terminals. Mr Monfort observed, "in some areas ETSI has developed expertise and deliverables that are leading the way, in others the main activity is conducted in ITU-T. The commitment is in place that both organisations will cooperate and that output will be complimentary and coordinated". In response to the very positive feedback from the participants to the workshop it is planned to organize a follow up workshop in 2005. In the meantime the STQ committee of ETSI will hold its next Plenary meeting in Frankfurt from the 15th to 19th November 2004. www.etsi.org |
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