  Playout buffers are used in VoIP systems to compensate for network delay
jitter by making a trade-off between delay and loss. In this work we propose a
playout buffer algorithm that makes the trade-off based on maximization of
conversational speech quality, aiming to keep the computational complexity
lowest possible. We model the network delay using a Pareto distribution and
show that it is a good compromise between providing an appropriate fit to the
network delay characteristics and yielding a low arithmetical complexity. We
use the ITU-T E-Model as the quality model and simplify its delay impairment
function. The proposed playout buffer algorithm finds the optimum playout delay
using a closed-form solution that minimizes the sum of the simplified delay
impairment factor and the loss-dependent equipment impairment factor of the
E-model. The simulation results show that our proposed algorithm outperforms
existing state-of-the-art algorithms with a reduced complexity for a
quality-based algorithm.
