– Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality in Terminals and Networks supported by:

Wideband – a business case? Where is wideband technology to be used? What type of terminals/interfaces do we have to expect? What are the implications on design, testing and optimization?

The general requirements for wideband speech transmission Are there new quality parameter to be taken into account? What speech quality parameters from narrow band systems can be used, how do they need to be adapted? To what extent are requirements and limits different?

Requirements for wideband speech (communicational) quality and wideband audio What are the differences between these applications and how do these nee to be reflected in the requirements? How can existing specifications be aligned? Is there a need of new specifications in order to address the mixed use of wideband audio and wideband speech communication?

The acoustical interface: What is the right reference point (DRP-ERP-freefield)? How should we measure (Setup, testing techniques)? What environmental conditions do we have to choose?

Signal processing in wideband terminals What are the implications of the use of wideband codecs? Are there generally different signal processing techniques? How do existing signal processing techniques need to be adapted?

Networks for wideband systems Are there specific requirements for networks used for wideband speech communication? How can existing standards be adapted to wideband speech communication? What are the requirements on networks for mixed applications (speech/audio/video)?

Planning for wideband speech services Are new parameters in our planning tools needed? Can the e-model be adapted to wideband – what changes are needed? What QoS parameters are needed – in addition to the ones used in narrow band systems?

Workshop results:

Subjective Testing Conversational tests for usability of WB-systems with background noise (sound quality, intelligibility, overall quality) Intelligibility tests (NB<->WB) Echo and background noise tests

Terminals and acoustical interfaces Radiation directivity of HATS Desired frequency responses in sending and receiving (unifying existing standards I-ETS 300 245-5/6, TIA 920, ITU...) Test methods for terminals using complex signal processing esp. HFT Test methods for wideband sound quality: extention of PESQ or alternative methods

Speech Quality Parameters Narrow band Wide band (Speech) sound quality Different quality perception Loudness Loudness (WB) Quality of background noise transmission Different quality Perception ? Delay and echo Different quality Perception ? Double talk capability Double talk capability Switching and echo single talk/double talk Different quality Perception ? (System) noise Different quality Perception

Modelling Required: “intermediate e-model” for wideband Estimating the necessary R-scale extension based subjective test results (R ~ 111-142) New impairment factors for wideband codecs Discussion of the additivity assumption