Quantitatively measuring the audio characteristics of IoT (Internet of Things) smart speakers presents several novel challenges. We discuss overcoming the practical challenges of testing such devices and demonstrate how to measure frequency response, distortion, and other common audio characteristics. In order to make these measurements, several measurement techniques and algorithms are presented that allow us to move past the practical difficulties presented by this class of emerging audio devices. We discuss test equipment requirements, selection of test signals and especially overcoming the challenges around injecting and extracting test signals from the device.

Authors: Glenn Hess (Indy Acoustic Research) and Daniel Knighten (Listen, Inc.)
Presented at the 143rd AES Conference, New York 2017

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