SoC ‘markedly enhances’ voice clarity in smartphones
1 min read
ON Semiconductor has announced a system on chip (SoC) device for portable consumer electronics which it claims 'markedly enhances' voice clarity and increases freedom of movement for the user - even when they are not optimally aligned with the microphones or far away.
The BelaSigna R261 incorporates an optimised digital signal processor (dsp) with a dual microphone noise reduction algorithm, designed to improve speech intelligibility in noisy environments, while preserving voice naturalness.
According to ON, in applications such as smartphones, the device eliminates noise from the microphone signal while improving voice quality so that the user can be clearly heard in normal handset mode. While conferencing, it has been designed to indentify and extract speech within a range of up to 6metres from the surrounding noise in a 360 degree range.
The integrated algorithm is customisable, so that the desired balance between noise reduction and voice quality can be tuned for each particular application. The SoC plugs directly into a digital microphone interface (dmic) or into a baseband chip's microphone inputs and its power consumption is below 16mA at 1.8V, which ON claims halves that of many competing devices.
"Audio system designers are looking for a voice capture solution that is easy to integrate into their systems, thereby shortening time to market," stated Michel De Mey, senior director Hearing and Audio Solutions, ON Semiconductor. "BelaSigna R261 offers a drop in solution that enables clear, comfortable communication anywhere. The state of the art acoustic noise reduction technologies employed in this product means that manufacturers of all kinds of portable electronics can dramatically improve voice quality and customer satisfaction."
