Advances in voice quality measurement in modern telecommunications

Abstract

Quality of service (QoS) is a measure of a communication network performance that reflects the transmission quality and service availability as perceived by the users. In the context of telecommunications, 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 paper examines some of the technicalities associated with voice quality measurement, and presents a review of current subjective and objective voice quality measurement methods and standards as applied to telecommunication systems and devices, with particular focus on recent and internationally standardised methods.