Engineering Services

Telecommunications Speech Quality – Automotive Applications

The rapid growth and competition of in-vehicle entertainment has placed increasing demand on automotive OEMs and suppliers to quickly adopt these technologies while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction and quality. This means engineers must employ test methods that evaluate performance of infotainment devices and guide them in troubleshooting problems and determining the optimized tuning for each vehicle platform. A major aspect of these infotainment systems is the speech communication quality.

The HEAD acoustics Telecommunication Engineering Services Group offers speech communication performance testing and system optimization services for infotainment systems and components.

As the leaders in supplying test systems, innovative test methods, and engineering services for over 25 years in the telecommunications speech quality field, HEAD acoustics is well prepared to help move your infotainment development program forward.

Experts in the Telecommunication Speech Quality Field

The Perfect Partner for Your Needs

Partner with HEAD acoustics on your infotainment projects and benefit from an experienced staff that will quickly evaluate your products, offer meaningful recommendations for improvement, and assist with the optimized tuning.

HEAD acoustics offers:• Industry-wide accepted test systems with all the latest

procedures built in• Proven methods for evaluating all areas of speech

communication testing• Over 25 years of experience testing telecommunication

devices and active leadership in standardization organizations

• Test procedures, analyses, and perceptual models that go beyond international standards to test speech quality in the latest devices

• Close access to automotive companies and suppliers

• One-stop shopping for all of your speech communication test services and test systems• Iterative tuning of supplied infotainment systems during testing to optimize performance• A way to get testing done in a timely manner when in-house test labs are overbooked• Benchmarking performance of competitive products• An unbiased independent lab

Hands-free Phone Systems

Ensure a positive customer experience with the vehicle’s hands-free phone system. HEAD acoustics can evaluate all aspects of this from Bluetooth interoperability, to speech quality attributes, to effects of using different mobile devices and carriers.

HEAD acoustics services include:

• Validation testing to P.1100, P.1110, VDA, or OEM specifications• Optimizing microphone packaging and placement• Tuning of systems from hands-free suppliers to optimize echo, noise suppression, and double talk performance• Testing Bluetooth Interoperability• Troubleshooting speech quality issues and recommendations for improvement• Testing of system robustness across mobile devices and service providers• Subjective testing

Speech Recognition Tests (Acoustic)

To ensure reliability of the vehicle’s speech recognition system, the acoustic component of the system must be tested. This means using speech from the operator position and considering the acoustic aspects of the car cabin along with background noise due to various operating conditions.

HEAD acoustics services include:

• Proven methodology for preparing and accurately playing back database of speech utterances mixed with background noise from various vehicle operating conditions

• Calibrated input to the speech recognition engine can either be done acoustically to the front-side of the hands-free microphone or electrically to the back-side of the hands-free microphone

• Recording of calibrated background noises for a specific vehicle

In Car Communication (ICC)

One of the latest vehicle innovations are systems which enhance the live speech between vehicle passengers using in-cabin microphones and loudspeakers. Performance of these systems must be evaluated to demonstrate improvements to speech communication quality.

HEAD acoustics services include:

• Methodology for doing objective measurements of ICC performance, which matches subjective impression

• Subjective and objective evaluation of improvements to passenger in-vehicle communication when the ICC system is activated

Vehicle manufacturers and suppliers are working to quickly develop and implement emergency call systems that trigger an automatic emergency call in the event of an accident.

Emergency Calls (eCall)

HEAD acoustics services offer:

• Validation tests of voice communication for automatic emergency call systems

• Test procedures per the Russian standard GOST R55531/54620, ITU-T P.1100 and P.1110, and the HEAD Quality Standard HQS-eCall

The basis for this is hands-free functionality. To optimize such eCall systems and to ensure optimal communication between the vehicle involved in an accident and the emergency services, the appropriate measurement technology must be provided.

Poor radio reception can cause an undesirable customer experience. Often time consuming and complicated subjective methods by expert listeners are employed to evaluate performance across many vehicle types and many miles of public roads.

TUNE – Evaluating Performance of Broadcast Signal Reception

The TUNE system from HEAD acoustics eliminates the need for subjective testing. TUNE provides a reliable objective test method, which accurately and automatically evaluates the quality of the received broadcast signals and the way the radio manages impairments.

HEAD acoustics services offer:• Objective method which matches subjective impression of

impairments, such as noises and pops, caused by poor reception of radio broadcast signals

• Optimization of antenna placement and algorithms for suppressing reception noise

• Automated testing for many car cabin configurations• Field proven results with excellent correlation• Statistical overview of occurrences over time

Contact Your Consulting Partner!

Let us help you meet your Telecom development objectives with our know-how and test systems! Benefit from the latest acoustics measurement technology. Our experts will support you throughout your projects - from simple measurements to complex development tasks.

Please contact: Jesse Gratke Telecom Consulting, HEAD acoustics Inc.

Phone: +1 248 486 0099-203Cell: +1 248 563 1812Email: jgratke@headacoustics.com

HEAD acoustics, Inc.6964 Kensington RoadBrighton, MI 48116, USA

www.headacoustics.cominfo@headacoustics.comPhone: +1 248 486-0099Fax: +1 248 486-9470

© Copyright HEAD acoustics GmbH 2015 | Subject to change