100 Things #76: Using SoundCheck to Test Communications Devices

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Modern devices let us communicate with each other more than ever, in new and exciting ways. Telecommunications devices have evolved, so have the methods to test them. Today’s communications standards test the functionality of devices connected via USB, Bluetooth, and the cloud. SoundCheck facilitates testing these devices with the ability to connect to multiple devices with different hardware connectivity. Configuring SoundCheck to run these often complex test sequences saves time, allowing the whole test to run without operator interruption.

Using SoundCheck to Test Communications Devices

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Our full Communications Testing seminar features Listen president Steve Temme and Communications Consultant John Bareham giving a deep dive on tests like Doubletalk, TIA-5050, POLQA, TIA-920B

Learn more about using SoundCheck for communications tests

Our main page on communications testing details the benefit of using SoundCheck for telecommunication tests, possible measurements, communications test configurations, and pre-written sequences testing to standards like TIA 920-B, ETSI ES 202 396-1, and more.

Video Script:

You know that SoundCheck measures acoustic parameters, but did you know that you can also implement industry-standard tests on a wide range of communications devices?

Speech communication always involves talking and listening. Today we frequently communicate using various consumer electronic devices such as headphones, hearables, smart glasses, watches, smart speakers, intercom systems, 2-way radios and, of course, smartphones. 

To accommodate this shift, industry-standard communications tests have evolved from tests on old-fashioned wired “telephones” to more sophisticated tests on these more complex devices. These devices also connect in different ways, including USB, Bluetooth, and the cloud. 

Although it’s often not required to test these devices to industry standards, it’s very worthwhile to make these measurements from a product performance perspective, especially if you anticipate needing to pass 3rd party verification.

With SoundCheck, you can measure voice quality performance to TIA, ETSI and other standards. It’s easy to test via direct connection, USB, or a Bluetooth interface. Seamless integration with your computer’s audio also makes it easy to route signals between the device, the cloud, and your computer for open loop measurements.

Several features recently introduced in SoundCheck facilitate more advanced communications tests, such as Active Speech level, RMS level versus time, silence stimulus step and histogram post-processing steps. These support measurement of Doubletalk, echo detection, background noise evaluation, and more. The optional  POLQA module also enables speech quality analysis using the POLQA algorithm directly within SoundCheck.

Standardized communications test sequences can be very complex, and SoundCheck contains all the functionality to create these tests. We also offer shortcuts with our pre-written test sequences for TIA-920-B, TIA-5050, and Doubletalk to ITU-T P.502 and ETSI TS 126132. These complex test sequences automatically implement entire tests according to the standards, saving considerable development time, and ensuring that measurements are made correctly.

All these tests are fully demonstrated. in Listen’s communications seminar – check it out to learn more.