Voice Alarm systems (VA) are an essential part of subsurface underground station emergency and evacuation systems. Their main purpose is to assist in the management of emergency situations and evacuation procedures by providing key verbal instructions to the occupants. However these life-critical systems will be ineffective and even counter-productive if the speech messages broadcast are unintelligible. The 1987 Kings Cross underground station disaster and more recently the July 2005 bombings on London Underground (LU), raised the awareness of the importance an effective VA system for a safe and efficient evacuation procedure. However following recent research appears that more can be done to improve VA system performance and therefore contribute to safer underground stations.
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