Hughes Unit’s Device Sounds Great : Voice Intelligibility Processor Will Make PA Messages Easier to Understand

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — Ever been to an airport and missed your flight because you couldn’t make out what they were saying on the public address system?

Well, a Hughes Aircraft Co. division says it has solved that problem. In April, the company will begin selling a new device that can make announcements over public address systems more intelligible.

The device, for which Hughes is seeking a patent, is called a Voice Intelligibility Processor. Its circuitry enables a listener to understand an audio announcement in a noisy setting without turning up the sound volume.

Michael Schleiter, Hughes’ deputy director of commercial electronics, says the company believes the market for such devices could reach $50 million annually within five years. He says sound engineers could install the devices in airport terminals, shopping malls, hotel meeting rooms and other noisy places served by public address systems.

Schleiter says the device essentially enhances what the ear wants to hear. That is, it makes the voice elements of the announcement easier to hear than the static that accompanies it.

The device was invented by Hughes sound expert Arnold Klayman, who was also responsible for Hughes’ entry into the consumer electronics market last year with his invention of a $400 component that, when attached to a standard stereo, could simulate a three-dimensional, surround-sound effect normally only achieved with multiple speakers and an expensive sound system.

Schleiter said Hughes Microelectronic Systems Division in Rancho Santa Margarita will begin selling the product for $500 each at the National Sound and Communications Assn. convention in Anaheim next month.