1. 2nd Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality - June 2005 1 ETSI TC STQ STF 294 Improving the quality of eEurope wideband speech applications by developing a standardised performance testing and evaluation methodology for background noise transmission Jean-Yves Monfort, France Telecom, TC STQ Chairman

2. 2nd Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality - June 2005 2 STF 294  The objectives of this work are:  To contribute to the implementation of the eEurope 2005 Action Plan by encouraging the development of new terminal and network equipment providing excellent speech quality under background noise conditions for use in new e-services and e-business applications;  To develop ETSI Technical Guidelines (ETSI Guides) containing detailed specifications to address the requirements for seamless interworking of the new generation terminals and systems in the various acoustical environments they will be used in;  To promote a common approach for manufactures, service providers and network operators for taking into account the critical system performance under the conditions of background noise with respect to the communicational speech quality;

3. 2nd Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality - June 2005 3 STF 294  The scope of the work:  To define methods for background noise transmission quality evaluation for real life network scenarios with speech present at the near end and at the far end as well as during periods where no speech is present but only background noise is transmitted. The background noise performance can be considered as one of the dominating parameters for speech quality in modern telecommunication scenarios.  The evaluation methods needed should take into account the performance of the background noise transmission with near end speech, with far end speech and with no speech present. Furthermore the degradation introduced to the speech transmitted should be measurable.  Setup and verification of a transmission network simulation environment using realistic network scenarios for laboratory use; Setup of a database containing the relevant transmission network models and traffic patterns that would be used for subjective and objective evaluation; Subjective tests forming the basis for objective evaluation procedures, using the background noise database developed in the currently active ETSI STF 273; Evaluation and validation of background noise transmission evaluation procedures.

4. 2nd Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality - June 2005 4 STF 294

5. 2nd Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality - June 2005 5 STF 294  STF 294 is founded by eEurope.  STF 294 work will take benefit of the results of STF 273  STF 294 Steering Comittee : C. Fürer (Swisscom), J. Pomy (Avaya / Tenovis), R. Ceruti (Telecom Italia), JY Monfort (France Telecom)  Main steps and deliverables :  WI STQ 038-2: Speech Quality performance in the presence of background noise; Part 2: Background noise transmission – Network simulation  Report on Phase 1; december 2005 to be presented to the Commission  A new objective method for the quantification of background noise transmission performance. Mid 2006  WI STQ 038-3 : Speech Quality performance in the presence of background noise; Part 2: Background noise transmission – Objective test methods  Final report

6. 2nd Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality - June 2005 6 Phase 1 Tasks – References for the development of the new objective Method  Phase 1 (Leader France Telecom)  Task 1: Transmission network simulation: Telefonica A transmission network simulation environment needs to be setup, to provide comparable network characteristics and traffic patterns as found in conditions of the real transmission networks.  Task 2: Database for transmission networks and conditions evaluation/simulation Telefonica A database containing the typical and realistic transmission network scenarios and traffic patterns needs to be created. There are no risks expected in this task, the procedures are known by the experts in this field.  Task 3: Subjective tests, France Telecom (leader), Mesaqin Subjective test results providing the speech quality parameters in the background noise situation by the individual parameters are to be conducted. This task must be conducted by experts in the field of subjective testing.

7. 2nd Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality - June 2005 7 Phase 2 Tasks – Development, Validation and sharing of he new objective Method  Phase 2 (Leader Head Acoustic)  Task 4: Objective method: Head Acoustics An objective method for the quantification of background noise transmission performance needs to be developed. New methods shall be developed and/or existing methods have to be adapted to the problem.  Task 5: Validation of the new method: Telefonica The validation has to be performed independently from the development of the background noise evaluation method based on unknown data acquired in task 3.  Task 6: Final standardization of the new method: Head Acoustics (leader), all participants The final standard(s) are drafted and adapted to the results of the previous tasks. An STQ workshop is planned and realized.  Workshop Mesaqin (leader), all participants

8. 2nd Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality - June 2005 8 Milestones (Phase 1)*  Milestone A: TID to provide revised DEG/STQ-00038-1, completed with network conditions description and processed speech samples over the network simulator and made available for Milestone B, by 31 August 2005.  The acceptance of this deliverable must be confirmed by the STQ Steering Group.  Milestone B1: France Telecom and Mesaqin to provide listening test results and revised DEG/STQ-00038-1, completed with the description of the test results, based upon speech samples processed by TID (Milestone A) by 15 November.  The acceptance of this deliverable must be confirmed by the STQ Steering Group, mid-December.  Milestone B2: France Telecom to provide the Interim Report. The Report will be prepared by the STF Leader and sent to STFLINK after the STQ approval of Milestone B1 and before end December.  The ETSI Secretariat will get confirmation of acceptance by EC/EFTA. The process may require up to 60 days from reception of the Report. *The milestones for Phase 2 are under discussions.

9. 2nd Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality - June 2005 9 Dissemination of results (Provisional list)  Active liaisons with the international bodies ITU-T, 3GPP, IETF and TIA.  2 presentations made at conferences, workshops or symposia;  2 presentations made at other standardization bodies meetings;  2 press releases on the work, to announce the achievement of important results and milestones;  4 steering committee meetings to collect input from various sources and to progress the draft deliverables.

10. 2nd Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality - June 2005 10 Complementary informations  Visit the STF 294 Web site, where can be found  ToRs of the STF http://portal.etsi.org/STFs/ToR/ToR294v108_STQ_EC_BckgrdNoiseEval.doc  More informations on the work programme  Coordinates of the experts http://portal.etsi.org/STFs/STQ/STF294.asp  The Results will be submarized

11. 2nd Workshop on Wideband Speech Quality - June 2005 11 Thanks