NATO-NBVC 1200/2400 bps coder selection; results of TNO tests in phase 2
report
Purpose: The NATO Ad-Hoc Working Group on Narrow Band Voice Coding (AHWG-NBVC) was tasked to select a new standard 1200 and 2400 bps vocoder for use throughout NATO. For this purpose, the AHWG has initiated a selection process, that is aimed at evaluating which of three candidates is the most suitable coder.
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Method: During the second of three phases, several speech performance tests were carried out by three different test laboratories. TNO Human Factors was one of these laboratories. In phase 2, TNO-HF performed speech intelligibility and speech quality tests, as well a tests which quantify the intelligibility of whispered speech, talker recognizability and language dependency. Tests were carried out under several conditions, including acoustic noise conditions, bit error conditions and tandem conditions.
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Results and conclusions: All tests yielded clear quantitative results, which have adequate statistical resolution to draw conclusions regarding differences in performance between coders. The best overall performance was offered by the US MELPe vocoder suite.
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Method: During the second of three phases, several speech performance tests were carried out by three different test laboratories. TNO Human Factors was one of these laboratories. In phase 2, TNO-HF performed speech intelligibility and speech quality tests, as well a tests which quantify the intelligibility of whispered speech, talker recognizability and language dependency. Tests were carried out under several conditions, including acoustic noise conditions, bit error conditions and tandem conditions.
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Results and conclusions: All tests yielded clear quantitative results, which have adequate statistical resolution to draw conclusions regarding differences in performance between coders. The best overall performance was offered by the US MELPe vocoder suite.
TNO Identifier
10199
Publisher
TNO
Place of publication
Soesterberg