AKG Supplies Array Microphones For New Mercedes-Benz E-Class

WIEN, AUSTRIA - Since March 02, AKG has been shipping the array microphone for use in a mass produced automobile to Mercedes-Benz. The system generates optimized voice signals for the car phone and the voice control system. Most new E-Class vehicles leave the factory equipped with this system. S-Class and CL-Class cars will soon be available with this option. A mobile phone, navigation system, and Internet access will be standard on most automobiles in the not-too-distant future. Microphones as part of the human-machine interface play an important role in this development. The AKG array microphone delivers voice signals of improved audio quality to the car phone and to the LINGUATRONIC voice control system in the new E-Class vehicles. This is the first time that LINGUATRONIC also controls the navigation system in addition to the radio, CD player, and mobile phone. An array microphone uses four microphones feeding a digital signal processor to provide higher directivity for better elimination of unwanted noise. The control software allows the polar response of the microphone to be changed without physically repositioning the microphone array. This enables the microphone to be aimed at either the driver or the front-seat passenger. Also, the direction of maximum rejection can be steered to reject specific noise sources. Digital noise and echo suppression algorithms minimize any residual noise in the signal. The array microphone owes its capabilities to the fact that a sound wave, depending on its angle of incidence, will hit each microphone in the array at a different time. Depending on the angle of incidence of a sound, the vector addition of the individual microphone systems either boosts or attenuates the output signal. AKG supplies the microphone module consisting of four individual microphones installed in the rear-view mirror and the control unit containing the electronic circuitry and software for digital signal processing and interfacing with the rest of the vehicle electronics.