Loudspeaker quality

Earphone coupling loss factor, receiver loudness rating value and acoustic leakage are technical terms that mean little to most telephone users. They are just some of the things that Bang & Olufsen test for to determine the sound quality of a BeoCom telephone.

The enhanced sound of the BeoCom telephone range is the result of Bang & Olufsen’s long-standing specialisation in the miniaturisation of high-performance loudspeakers. Every BeoCom handset contains a built-in pressure chamber loudspeaker that ensures optimal natural sound reproduction while minimising distortion and sound leakage.

But Bang & Olufsen telephones are not only the result of theoretical calculations and complicated acoustical analyses, the final test is the human ear itself. A listening panel made up of people with an extraordinary sense of hearing provides the most crucial evaluation of BeoCom telephones.

Telephone competence: even good telephones have bad days

Telephones are used a lot more than other electronic equipment and sometimes under tougher and more hazardous conditions. Design and technological features mean little if your telephone lets you down when you need it most, so the anticipation of what can happen to a telephone has been turned into a fine art at Bang & Olufsen.

Our telephones are exposed to extremes of heat and cold, we spill coffee over them, blow dust at them, step on them and subject them to a whole series of bumps, vibrations and falls.

And it’s not only the unexpected that’s tested for, a robot assesses daily wear and tear by methodically lifting and replacing the handset of a telephone 100,000 times, while a mechanical finger dials telephone numbers over and over again. In a space of days, we simulate the life of a telephone and everything the modern world may throw at it.

You are able to store ten 20-digit numbers in the 0-9 keys and one in the big red button

1. Press the Enter key:

2. Dial the number to store

3. Press and hold the Enter key

4. Press one of the 0-9 keys or the red button

5. Release the Enter key

To delete a stored number:

1. Press the Enter key

2. Press and hold the Enter key

3. Press one of the 0-9 keys or the red button

4. Release the Enter key

To use one of the stored number:

1. Wait for the dial tone

2. Press Memory

3. Press one of the 0-9 keys

The red button is the ‘child-call’ function. The idea is to make it very easy for a child to dial a number. This could be the police, family, neighbours or a mobile phone. It can also be used as a ‘panic button’.

To use the number stored in the red button:

1. Wait for the dial tone

2. Press the red button