SCIENCE

Audience announced its latest earSmart voice processor, the eS305 chip, for the tablet market.  A low-power, high performance solution to improve voice communications and sound quality in tablets, the eS305 chip is designed to support voice enhancement and handheld speakerphone noise suppression over wideband 4G networks.  This enables high definition (HD) voice quality, giving tablet users clear, life-like conversations for video chat, VoIP and mobile calls over broadband Wi-Fi and 4G wireless networks.

"Feature-rich devices like tablets, and expanding wideband network access, are creating new ways to connect, with video communication and more, and therefore, increasing the need for voice technology that can ensure the highest voice clarity and sound quality.  Tablet devices are different because communication often occurs with the device held away from the user, which requires a new level of advanced voice processing to provide a good user experience," said Peter Santos, president and chief executive officer, Audience.  "The earSmart eS305 chip now offers capabilities to enable true HD voice quality in tablets and other devices over wideband networks, delivering clear, noise-free communications wherever you choose to talk."

The earSmart eS305 voice processor is based on the human hearing system, and delivers unique signal enhancement capabilities that provide wideband high-definition (HD) voice and audio quality, with wideband non-stationary noise suppression to remove noise from both ends of a call, even when the device is used in speakerphone mode.  It also provides voice-enhancing features such as acoustic echo cancellation and automatic voice equalization to further improve mobile call quality.

For device manufacturers, the earSmart eS305 voice processor is easily customizable to create a differentiating, signature sound.  It is also designed for seamless integration into tablet system architectures, featuring all-digital interfaces for performance and flexibility, with graphical design tools to facilitate design-in.  Offering a custom high-performance, low-power Audio DSP, Audience's earSmart eS305 chip is highly consistent and robust – across all device usage modes, wideband and narrowband 2 or 3G wireless networks, and changing orientation from landscape to portrait.

Key features of the earSmart eS305 processor include:  

• Wideband Handheld Speakerphone Non-Stationary Noise Suppression – provides non-stationary noise suppression to improve clarity for handheld speaker phone applications, including video calling, VoIP, voice memos, and more.
• Acoustic Echo Cancellation – provides strong acoustic echo cancellation, an essential feature to enable enhanced voice clarity and quality for handheld speakerphone communications such as VoIP or video chats, with tablets or mobile phones.  
• Unique Sound Optimization – enhances sound quality by providing maximum loudness without distortion for small internal mobile device speakers, and matches sound equalization to multimedia content, such as music categories like rock, classical, etc.  
• Easy Integration and Small Footprint – the earSmart eS305 voice processor is provided in a highly compact 3.5mm x 3.5mm, BGA (0.5mm pitch) package that can fit any mobile device form factor or design and easily integrates into existing mobile tablet or phone architectures.  

Mobile devices featuring the new earSmart eS305 voice processor are expected to launch in the second half of 2011.