Standardisation of ergonomic assessment of speech communication

The purpose of standardisation of the ergonomic assessment of speech communications is to assure a certain level of speech communication quality for various applications. The quality of speech communications is assessed in case of warning, danger, or information messages for work places, public areas, meeting rooms, and auditoria. In many applications direct communication between humans is considered while in other applications the use of electro-acoustic systems (e.g., PA systems) will be the most convenient means of informing and instructing people present. A standard on this subject, under the responsibility of ISO and CEN, is in preparation. The draft version of this standard covers criteria for speech communication quality in various applications, methods to predict the speech transmission quality, and methods to assess the quality (subjective and objective). Examples of several applications are given in annexes of that standard.