The following is an article written by Paul Ciotta, taken from AT&T Bell Labs News, August 2, 1993. It was provided by Duane Bowker of AT&T
Consumers Lend Their Ears
Murray Hill - Who are those eight out of 10 people who prefer AT&T TrueVoiceSM?
They are among the nearly 10,000 people who were tested during the development and refinement of the AT&T TrueVoice technology.
The advertising claim that heralded the advent of the sound enhancement breakthrough came after more than two years of customer-related research and on-going improvements, according to Carroll Creswell, AT&T TrueVoice technical manager in the Consumer Laboratory at Murray Hill.
After initial consumer studies in the Voice Quality Assessment Laboratory in Holmdel, work to answer the business question: "Is this thing worth doing?" began in January 1991. Customers were invited to Murray Hill to hear and judge the sound quality of voice tapes processes and enhanced with the development, as well as standard long distance. During that time, an AT&T TrueVoice prototype was developed, allowing for a more accurate comparison of the proposed service with current long-distance sound.
Another testing group was enlisted to call an 800 number from home, which allowed the callers to place long-distance phone calls to family members or friends. It was thought that a familiar voice would help distinguish between sound quality. One of the parties then was able to switch from AT&T TrueVoice to the standard network with a tap of the button on the touch-tone pad. Afterward, the recruited party was asked for impressions. Once it was determined that customers like the AT&T TrueVoice idea, the next step was to gather data to communicate the innovation to potential customers. "Also, to make claims against MCI and Sprint's technology and say 'we have something you don't have, and you're going to like our sound quality better than theirs," said MTS Gina Nix, who was involved with the testing.
The AT&T TrueVoice team picked 12 sites throughout the country. An outside research firm brought in almost 2,500 consumers to make long-distance calls routed through the Consumer Lab test system in Murray Hill to live "readers," who recited excerpts from the U.S. Constitution. The consumers could switch from an AT&T TrueVoice enhanced line, to a line with MCI, Sprint, or standard AT&T long distance. From this double blind study (both consumer and tester did not know which service was on the line,) 80 percent preferred service enhanced with AT&T TrueVoice over the other long-distance services.
During the testing, improvements and upgrades were made to AT&T TrueVoice. Creswell said, "We were studying preferences while the scientists at Holmdel were looking at potential impairments and performance issues and overall network implementation issues. It was really a learning process. The expertise of the entire team was needed to ensure service and quality throughout the network."
During the testing process, respondents reported that the service enhanced with AT&T TrueVoice sounded "clearer," "better," "more true-to-life" and "closer." These comments -- and others like them -- were the basis for the print and broadcast advertisements, as well as news releases and demonstrations.
Unless otherwise noted this page and all its contents and subdocuments are copyright 1994 by Michael E. Gorman