Working at a customer help desk or emergency call center can be immensely stressful. As for typical stress boosting factors, poor acoustics due to interfering background noise is one of the most difficult challenges to overcome. Anyone who has ever tried to make a mobile call from a noisy parking garage or train station knows the feeling. At an emergency help desk, however, mishearing or missing even a small part of a distress call can have serious consequences and potentially even endanger lives. And the stress of fighting against poor call line acoustics on top of this responsibility often leads to serious psychological and physical consequences for the call desk worker as well. Burnout in this line of work is a frequent problem that has call center operators struggling to alleviate the situation and hold on to their trained staff.
Now there is good news for everyone involved: a solution to the nerve-racking problem of stressful background noise. Commend, a leading innovator of security communication technology, has come up with a revolutionary new line of AI-driven intercom terminals that eliminate unwanted background noise at a (literally) unheard-of level of quality. Visitors to the Commend Americas booth at the GSX, #2321, will get an amazing ‘earful’ of this all-new AI-enhanced communication experience.
Commend is one of the first providers in the industry to leverage AI research. Like ‘Ivy’, Commend’s Conversational AI application for call desks, the new intercom solutions showcased at ISC West are the result of close partnerships with universities and other leading public and private research institutions. To eliminate interfering noise and echoes from the transmitted audio signal, the engineers used so-called ‘Deep Neural Networks’. In doing so, they have put into practice what many in the industry are still just talking about. The resulting solutions were fine-tuned to the specific needs and wants of call center staff, operators, and users.
In line with the new AI-powered approach, the Deep Neural Networks were trained to distinguish between the sound of a human voice and background noise, based on large amounts of audio training data. “The results were really jaw-dropping, even to us developers,” says Michael Peitler, head of Audio and AI Technology Research at Commend. “Conventional noise cancelling methods could never reach that level of clarity and depth.” Training and refining these capabilities is an ongoing process, with users getting the latest and greatest versions automatically with their regular software updates.
As a result, call center staff and operators have good reason to breathe a sigh of relief. Noise-free call connections means less stress, higher efficiency thanks to faster call reaction and completion, and accurate situational awareness throughout the call.
“AI is here to stay, and I’m convinced we’re on the right track in letting our customers and end users profit from the results,” says Tom Reilly, CEO, Commend Americas. “It’s an exciting technology, and we’re thrilled that it allows us to live up to our reputation as trusted providers of the industry’s highest intercom speech transmission quality.”
Commend at ISC West, Las Vegas April, 9th – April 12th 2024:
Stand #16115
