NTi Audio TalkBox User Manual

OPERATING MANUAL

NTi Audio TalkBox

3

Contact NTi Audio at

Headquarter [phone] [e-mail]
Americas [phone] [e-mail]
China [phone] [e-mail]
Czech [phone] [e-mail]
Japan [phone] [e-mail]
South Korea [phone] [e-mail]

www.nti-audio.com

NTi Audio is an ISO 9001:2008
certified company.

© NTi Audio AG
Release 1.15.7e / Apr 2013

All information subject to change without notice.
© All rights reserved.
® Minirator is a registered trademark of NTi Audio.
™ XL2, EXEL and TalkBox are
trademarks of NTi Audio.

2

Ma d e i n

Switzerland

Index:

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................4

2. Overview .............................................................................................................5

General .............................................................................................................6

NTi Audio TalkBox Controls ...............................................................................7

Side & Rear Panel ...........................................................................................13

3. How to use the NTi Audio TalkBox .................................................................. 14

Procedure .......................................................................................................14

Output Level ................................................................................................... 14

Lombard Effect ...............................................................................................15

CF-Card ...........................................................................................................16

My Own Files ................................................................................................. 17

4. Battery Option ................................................................................................. 18

5. Related Products ..............................................................................................20

6. Further Information .......................................................................................... 21

Registration ..................................................................................................... 21

Warranty Conditions ....................................................................................... 22

Service and Repairs ........................................................................................ 22

Warnings ......................................................................................................... 23

Calibration Certificate ...................................................................................... 23

CE Declaration of Conformity ......................................................................... 24

7. Technical Data TalkBox ..................................................................................... 25

3

5

1. Introduction

Congratulations and thank you for buying NTi Audio’s TalkBox, a product specially
suited as test signal source for speech intelligibility measurements. This product pro­vides, in combination with an NTi Audio Acoustic Analyzer, the all-in-one solution for
fast and comprehensive STIPA testing of a complete public announcement system.
Additionally, various other test signals are supported for further test applications.
We are convinced you will enjoy using it!

This manual describes the NTi Audio TalkBox operation and functions in detail. Fur­ther application information can be found on the web site.

The NTi Audio TalkBox product package includes the following items:

NTi Audio TalkBox•
Protection Cover mounted with NTi Audio lanyard•
CF-Card with test signals & individual calibration data•
Mains Power Supply & Power Cord•
CD “NTi Audio TalkBox”, backup copy of Memory Card•
Carrying Pouch•
User Manual•

4

2. Overview

NTi Audio TalkBox greatly simplifies the acoustical feed of the STIPA intelligibility
test source signal into closed sound reinforcement systems. It presents the stan­dardized voice-like acoustical signal emission simulating a human talker according
to IEC 60268-16, combined with a TNO certified speech intelligibility signal at stan­dardized levels.

NTi Audio TalkBox

5

7

General

NTi Audio TalkBox features human head-like dimensions. A build-in combination
of solid state generator and DSP ensures highest playback accuracy and lowest
sample frequency deviations with minimized jitter effects. The internal precision
loudspeaker is individually calibrated to achieve a very flat frequency response in
the typical frequency range of the human voice. Each TalkBox is individually equal­ized and calibrated and has an excellent frequency response accuracy of +/- 1 dB
over the relevant frequency range. The radiation characteristic complies with the
ITU-T P.51 in wide ranges.

The perfect frequency response and the precisely correct playback sampling rate
are specifically important to minimize systematic errors when performing STIPA
measurements.

Speaker

The IEC60268-16 standard specifies a sound pressure level for a speaker simulator
of 60 dBA in 1 meter distance. The NTi Audio TalkBox levels are calibrated to comply
with this standard. To avoid operating failures the TalkBox has no volume control.

Mic Stand Mount

The exact positioning the NTi Audio TalkBox in front of a microphone (at the place
where a real human speaker would be) is easy using a conventional mic stand. A
universal mic stand mount is available at the bottom of the box.

6

2

3

4

Output Mode

Mute LineOut

Select

Track

CF Card

Play Clip

Line In

Line Out

2

3

4

Output Mode

Mute LineOut

Select

Track

CF Card

Play Clip

Line In

Line Out

2

3

4

Mute LineOut

Select
Track

CF Card

Play Clip

Line In

Line Out

2

3

4

Select

Track

CF Card

Play Clip

Line In

Line Out

NTi Audio TalkBox Controls

Output Mode Selector

Power LED

NTI Audio TalkBox Controls

Play LED Clip LEDSelect Track Switch

Output Mode Selector

The output selector switch offers the following three modes:

The audio signal is available at the speaker and the Line Out.

The audio signal is muted (no signal at Line Out and speaker).

Line OutLine InCF Card

The audio signal is available at the Line Out. The speaker amplifier is
muted.

7

9

Power LED

The red Power LED indicates the following:

fast

The power up sequence is in process (about 10 seconds)

flashing

continuously onThe TalkBox is powered on and ready for operation.

slow

flashing

The outputs are muted by

the Output Mode Selector or•
the External Mute Input•

8

CF-Card

The supplied CF-Card needs to be pushed into the provided slot. Up to 15 test sig­nals can be stored on the CF-Card. The size of the test signals is as big as required
for the looped operation. The selected signal is further processed and seamlessly
looped by the built in DSP. The CF-Card is FAT32 formatted and can be read/written
by any PC/MAC with CF-Card reader. The TalkBox repeats the selected audio track
as long as mains power is connected. Besides the STIPA test signal the CF-Card
contains the following additional wave forms:

CF-Card Track List:

1 STIPA (Standard) 60dBASPL @ 1m

2 Pink Noise 60dBASPL @ 1m

3 White Noise 60dBASPL @ 1m

4 Sine 1 kHz 60dBASPL @ 1m

5 Male Speaker (German) 60dBASPL @ 1m

6 Male Speaker (English) 60dBASPL @ 1m

7 Delay Test Chirp

8 -

9 -

A STIPA (Lombard) 70dBASPL @ 1m

B Pink Noise 70dBASPL @ 1m

C White Noise 70dBASPL @ 1m

D Sine 1 kHz 70dBASPL @ 1m

E Male Speaker (German) 70dBASPL @ 1m

F Male Speaker (English) 70dBASPL @ 1m

9

11

Any hot swap of the CF-Card is not supported. In case the CF-Card
has been removed during operation it shall be returned and the
mains power shortly disconnected to initiate the operation again.

File format of audio signals

*.wav file•
Sample rate: 44100 Hz•
Mono •
16 Bit•
PCM linear quantization •

File name format

The first character of wav-file name matches the output selector switch position.
So the audio files names are e.g. “1anyName.wav” or “8anyName.wav”, whereby
“anyName” may describe the content of the wav-file for example “1_STIPA.wav”.
The maximum length of the filename is 8 digits, e.g. “xxxxxxxx.wav”.

Calibration data

The CF-Card keeps additionally the individual calibration data of the
NTi Audio TalkBox. The file is named “xxx.cal”. The CF-Card is labeled with the serial
number of the corresponding TalkBox, so the CF-Card and the NTi Audio TalkBox do
have the same serial number, guaranteeing accurate and calibrated operation.

The serial number on the CF-Card must match with the serial num­ber of the NTi Audio TalkBox, otherwise the acoustical parameters of
the TalkBox are out of specifications.

10