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COVER FEATURE TRUE WIRELESS
However, audio quality probably
remains the most important barrier
for truly wireless earbud purchases,
with almost a quarter of those
questioned by Qualcomm highlighting
audio dropouts as a negative quality
criterion.
Technology trends
The issue of compatibility and
improving the listening experience
has seen the Swedish digital audio
company Dirac, together with ASUS,
a manufacturer of phones, computers
and electronics, come up with the
ASUS ROG Phone 3.
This phone has been designed
for mobile gaming providing ‘cuttingedge
sound quality’, according to both
companies.
This has been achieved through the
integration of Dirac’s immersive audio
and optimisation technologies for the
smartphone’s built-in speakers and
connected headphones.
“Today’s flagship smartphones
allow users to do more than ever
before, including online gaming –
where high-quality audio is just as
critical as visuals, processing power,
and other notable features.” explained
Mats Oberg, Chief Sales Officer, Dirac.
The company’s immersive audio
solution for built-in speakers employs
advanced MIMO (multiple-input and
multiple-output) technology that
enable a phone’s primary speakers
and receiver speaker – responsible
for sound during phone calls – to work
together to produce much improved
audio.
By co-optimising the speakers’
impulse and frequency response,
Dirac’s immersive audio solution can
create a broader acoustical experience
that sounds very much like a surround
sound system.
Dirac’s sound optimisation
solution upgrades the sound quality
of the headphones by measuring and
correcting the connected impulse and
frequency response – so that it can
improve musical staging, clarity, voice
intelligibility, and bass fidelity.
Another company working hard to
improve the quality of audio is CEVA,
a licensor of wireless connectivity and
smart sensing technologies.
Working with VisiSonics, a
developer of patented 3D spatial audio
technologies, they have developed
a 3D spatial audio solution for
embedded devices, including true
wireless audio (TWS) earbuds and
other hearables.
In this collaboration VisiSonics’
RealSpace 3D audio software has
been optimised for CEVA’s low power
audio and sensor hub DSPs together
with CEVA’s MotionEngine head
tracking algorithms running on its
BNO080 9-axis System in Package
(SiP).
VisiSonics, we can help OEMs and
ODMs leverage high precision 3D
audio in their hearables to ride this
wave.”
Changing consumer perceptions
According to Dave Rogers,
President Lifestyle Division, Harman
International, a subsidiary of
Samsung, the Covid-19 pandemic has
impacted the industry both in terms
of demand – “it has brought sweeping
changes to society as a whole,
altering the way people live, work, and
interact” – and supply.
“There had been little discussion
about Covid-19 even at CES, earlier
this year. Come February and then
March the industry started to take
notice because both China and
South Korea were being impacted.
Consequently, our focus turned to
the issue of supply. Companies were
looking at and having to diversify their
manufacturing footprint.
“There were worries about where
product was going to come from; come
March and our concerns moved from
supply to demand as Western Europe
and the US went into lockdown,”
Rogers explained.
The big question for the industry
going forward is how consumer
attitudes may change and how that
could impact demand.
As Qualcomm’s ‘State of Play’
report makes clear price has certainly
become more of a concern for
consumers, but whether that will
remain the case is hard to predict,
said Rogers.
“People are going to be worried
about what the future holds and
that could see consumer attitudes
changing significantly in a post-Covid
world,” he suggested.
Rogers points out that sales of
consumer audio devices have held
up remarkably well over the course of
2020.
“April was a tough month for the
industry and at Harman we saw sales
down year-on-year for the first time in
a very long time. Going back to 2010
Ceva and VisiSonics
have developed a
3D Spatial audio
solution for TWS
earbuds and other
hearables
The result - a high precision
real-time 3D audio solution that
significantly improves the hearing
experience whether that’s for VR, AR
or the new generation of motion-aware
earbuds where 3D audio enhances the
overall user experience.
VisiSonics RealSpace 3D
Embedded for Headphones solution
incorporates a suite of algorithms that
give the listener a feeling of being
present in an actual three-dimensional
acoustic scene. The technology allows
a user to precisely place auditory
objects in virtual auditory space
including both ambisonics and object
based input, as envisaged in the Dolby
Atmos and MPEG-H standards.
Commenting Moshe Sheier, Vice
President of Marketing at CEVA said,
“The use of contextually-aware audio
for mobile and wearables is set to
grow exponentially in the coming years
on the back of 5G, and together with
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