Practical Test & Measurement: The Smart Way of Testing Smart Home Devices

In this article for audioXpress, Hans W. Gierlich, managing director of HEAD acoustics, explains how to test the different performance parameters of smart speakers and smart home devices under real-life conditions, how to deal with the challenges of optimizing systems for voice and audio quality, how to simulate environmental conditions, user behavior, and test the performance of the various functionalities. This article was originally published in audioXpress, January 2019.

The January 2019 (CES) edition of audioXpress has arrived. Read our Microphone Market Update, addressing the latest cutting-edge microphone technologies, and learn how Zylia created its ZM-1 spherical microphone array. Also in this edition, Joe D’Appolito explains how to address the equalization of closed-box subwoofers, Hans W. Gierlich writes about testing Smart Home Devices, David Logvin reviews the Lepai LP40PA plate amplifier, and George Ntanavaras describes a stereo analog preamplifier DIY project. Oh, and read Erik Owen's unique take on Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) 2018.