Perceptual Voice Quality Measurement - Can You Hear Me Loud and Clear?

Abstract

In the context of multimedia communication systems, quality of service (QoS) is defined as the collective effect of service performance, which determines the degree of a user’s satisfaction with the service. For telecommunication systems, voice communication quality is the most visible and important aspects to QoS, and the ability to monitor and design for this quality should be a top priority. Voice quality refers to the clearness of a speaker’s voice as perceived by a listener. Its measurement offers a means of adding the human end user’s perspective to traditional ways of performing network management evaluation of voice telephony services. Traditionally, measurement of users’ perception of voice quality has been performed by expensive and time-consuming subjective listening tests. Over the last decade, numerous attempts have been made to supplement subjective tests with objective measurements based on algorithms that can be computerised and automated. This chapter examines some of the technicalities associated with voice quality measurement, presents a review of current subjective and objective speech quality measurement techniques, as mainly applied to telecommunication systems and devices, and describes their various classes.