European Committee for Standardization

Ergonomics - Accessible design - Sound pressure levels of spoken announcements for products and public address systems
 N EN ISO 24504

Annotation

This International Standard specifies methods to determine an appropriate sound pressure level range for spoken announcements in environments where ambient noise is less than 80 dB. The specified methods follow the concepts of ISO/IEC Guide 71 and includes consideration of older persons with decreased hearing ability to determine sound pressure levels of spoken announcements. The spoken speech levels that are specified in this International Standard are for products and public-address systems. To improve the accessibility and usability of products, spoken announcements must not only be audible but also presented at comfortable speech levels.

The target products that present spoken announcements are consumer products such as electronic home appliances, information and communication technology services, and products providing services for general users in public facilities indoors and outdoors such as train stations, airports, meeting rooms, amusement parks, and fairs.

This International Standard is not applicable to products providing private information such as automated teller machines in public spaces.

This International Standard is applicable when a loudspeaker producing a spoken announcement is located a short distance from the user in an environment where the sound pressure level with a standard frequency weighting A of ambient noise does not exceed 80 dB. This International Standard is applicable to spoken announcements that are audible to persons with normal hearing for their age when presented by a target product under quiet and anechoic conditions. This International Standard is applicable for both recorded voice and synthetic speech announcements.