Audience Applauds Its New Solution

Today, Audience, a provider of voice and audio processors for the mobile marketplace, announced that it will add an intelligent voice processor for mobile phones: the A1028 chip.

The chip features EarSmart technology, which the company says it modeled after human hearing. It reportedly improves sound quality and suppresses noise, which could improve mobile speech recognition in noisy environments. Audience says that the solution also uses its non-stationary noise suppression so it can support handheld speakerphone mode in mobile devices.

A little more about how it works: EarSmart distinguishes and interprets sounds by isolating and enhancing the primary voice signal and filters out background noise, much like actual human hearing does. Audience says this technology will be especially useful with speech recognition applications, including voice search, speech-to-text, voice commands, voice dialing, navigation, and more. The A1028 processor also possesses customizable features such as voice tuning.

“With the introduction of the A1028 processor, Audience is again advancing its leadership in auditory technology, and applying our voice processing expertise to improve the experience for mobile customers," said Peter Santos, president and CEO of Audience, in a statement.  "We're continuing to innovate ways to support speech recognition services, while also bringing noise suppression and voice enhancement to other important modes on mobile handsets. The new capabilities offered by the A1028, demonstrate our commitment to provide the world's most intelligent voice processors to improve products that benefit our everyday lives."

"Several of the leading smartphones and advanced feature phones launched this year have placed an increasing importance on enhancing voice quality and supporting voice-enabled technologies," said Linley Gwennap, principal analyst of The Linley Group, in a statement. "The voice processing capability offered by Audience is helping to drive this trend. Technology that can reduce the effect of noise in mobile environments is critical to improving the usability of voice-driven applications."

Handsets offering Audience's A1028 voice processor will be launching in the first half of 2011.