Sound quality analysis for two-way radio under wind noise

Abstract

Noise generated from wind flow over a two-way radio could jeopardize communication effectiveness. A pair of two-way radio was studied where a unit (a transmitter)was placed inside a wind tunnel and the other unit (a receiver)was placed inside the anechoic chamber in order to isolate it from external noise. A speaker was located at a distance near the transmitter to give an audio input to the radio while the wind was flowing towards the radio. Sound quality parameters of roughness, sharpness, loudness and articulation index were used to measure the effect of wind noise on the sound quality at wind speed of 2 and 6m/s. In order to measure the effect of wind noise on the intelligibility of the message output from the speaker, the articulation index was calculated for 0,2 and 6 m/s wind speed. The results show that the roughness and loudness of the wind noise increase with the speed and the sharpness decreases with the wind speed. The articulation index also decreases with the wind speed.