An Appraisal of Received Telephone Speech Volume

Outside of his monthly telephone bills, an occasional visit to the Telephone Company commercial office and now and then a brief telephone conversation with the telephone operator, the customer's only contact with the telephone system is his telephone set. He knows that the wires and cables he sees strung on poles and the telephone building he occasionally passes on his way downtown bear some relation to the telephone in his home or office, but this is not very important to him. The important thing is his telephone set. Through it he can communicate with anyone else who has access to a telephone, no matter how far away that person happens to be. Now what does (he user expect from his telephone? We might say that he wants it to lie reasonably pleasing in appearance, comfortable to use and simple to operate. He expects accuracy; that is, he wants to be connected to the party he calls and not to some stranger, and he does 877 878 T H E B E L L SYSTEM T E C H N I C A L J O U R N A L , MAY 1959