Predicting Conversational Quality From Simulated ConversationsWith Transmission Delay

Abstract:
Conversations over a telephone network require a timely transmission of speech to enable smooth interaction. When a transmission delay is introduced, turn-taking signals arrive too late, and the conversational quality degrades. This disruption of the conversation flow also depends on the interactivity of the conversation. Current instrumental quality models do not take into account the interactivity of a conversation. However, the simulation of conversations has proven to replicate the turn-taking behavior of conversations with different interactivity levels. It can also model the changes in interactivity when transmission delay is introduced. In this paper, we simulate two types of conversations at various levels of transmission delay. We perform a parametric conversation analysis to extract interactivity parameters and use them to predict the conversational quality. We compare the results to the predictions of the E-model, an instrumental transmission planning model, and quality ratings obtained in a conversation experiment.