ABOUT US | SERVICES | SUBSCRIPTIONS | LOGIN | SIGNUP
SUBSCRIBE TO TMCnet
TMCnet - World's Largest Communications and Technology Community
MARKETS » NFV Pandemic Tech News
HOT TOPICS » SD-WAN THE BLOCKCHAIN DOMAIN UC NETWORK MANAGEMENT
RESOURCE CENTER - WHITE PAPERS   |   WEBINARS   |   EBOOKS   |   TMCLabs   |   VIDEOS|   MEDIA KIT

CHANNEL BY TOPICS


QUICK LINKS




HD Voice Brings Telephony Communications on Par with the Next Generation

TMCnews


TMCnews Featured Article


April 05, 2012

HD Voice Brings Telephony Communications on Par with the Next Generation

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor


High definition (HD) was once the gold standard in media consumption. Today, it is the only standard acceptable on televisions, tablets, PCs, home theatres and video games. Even on our mobile phones, we expect HD performance. But what about the standard telephone call? The vast majority are sub-standard at best, with voice interactions often sounding muffled and so 20th century. It’s clearly time for HD voice.



This Wireless Design Mag report highlighted that while most people can hear audio signals at higher frequencies, most calls have an upper limit of 3.4 kHz. Without HD voice as a priority in our calls, we fail to use 75 percent of the audible spectrum at minimum. As a result, our calls are difficult to understand. If that call is between a company and a customer – misunderstanding can lead to problems or even customer churn.

Fortunately, HD voice is not out of our reach. In fact, at Mobile World Congress (News - Alert), the Full-HD Voice was introduced by Fraunhofer IIS, positioned as a new level of quality for phone calls. This launch is expected to bring telephony up-to-date with other communication technologies. Full-HD voice is designed to create a completely natural communication experience, ensuring telephone calls sound as clear as if the participants were in the same room.

The secret to HD voice is to increase the audio spectrum used in voice calls. Full-HD Voice quadruples this spectrum, improving the fidelity and intelligibility of all calls. This is best exemplified with the MPEG audio codec Enhanced Low Delay Advanced Audio Coding (AAC-LED).

Developed to deliver low bitrate and low coding delay phone calls, AAC-LED optimizes bit-rates from 24 to 64 kbit/s, which is below the rate of landline narrowband calls. This technology, however, supports up to 20 kHz and can reproduce speech, music and ambient sounds well, allowing for the creation of new communications services.

AAC-LED audio quality has been evaluated in a number of independent tests to compare it with other codecs. In test results, it was found to deliver excellent quality even at lower bit-rates, compared with other codecs in the testing process. AAC-LED has also been proven to deliver HD voice quality audio on a consistent basis, even when network conditions were sub-par.

Ooma is one company optimizing on current and new technologies to support the availability of HD voice for all communications options. And, with efficient integration with other platforms, Ooma is grabbing more of the market share, demonstrating the benefits in HD voice.

As the industry continues to improve networks and converge voice and data, the importance of consistent quality will only increase. While additional communication tools are likely to emerge and demand space within Unified Communications (News - Alert) platforms, voice will never go away. As such, the focus on HD voice is one worth the attention.  




Edited by Stefania Viscusi






Technology Marketing Corporation

2 Trap Falls Road Suite 106, Shelton, CT 06484 USA
Ph: +1-203-852-6800, 800-243-6002

General comments: [email protected].
Comments about this site: [email protected].

IMPORTANT

SUBSCRIPTIONS


Subscribe to our FREE eNewsletters
CLICK HERE

STAY CURRENT YOUR WAY

© 2024 Technology Marketing Corporation. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy