Autumn 2008

If you've considered using voice-based product picking in your warehouse, but have been concerned that ambient noise might drown out the spoken instructions, you might be interested in a new system launched in the UK by top-VOX UK.

The company is marketing a range of voice-pick and related solutions, majoring on the use of speaker-independent topSpeech-Lydia technology from leading German-based provider topsystem, for which it is the exclusive UK and Commonwealth distributor.

The system uses headsets employing NoiseMaster technology, which use intelligent algorithms to filter out explosive dynamic sounds and irrelevant background noise. They do this by differentiating between the noise of the working environment and the picker's commands.

Once the initial parameters are set, the system is said to remove dynamic noises such as falling pallets, as well as high-frequency, metallic noises, human speech and similar background noise above 94 decibels. Only the pure speech signal is transmitted to the recognition module.