Product Design | Audio Electronics | Acoustics | DIY | Audio Innovations
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Multilevel Amplification Technology – Ever Heard About It in Context with Class D Amplifier ICs? |
No? Then this whitepaper about Infineon’s Class D audio brand MERUS™ and its multilevel amplifier ICs is just right for you. Read why they are an optimal fit for high-end applications in both low (< 40 V) and high voltage (100-600 V) ranges. Start creating progressive end-user directed and professional audio products delivering an unprecedented sound experience. For all who love music. Do not miss the chance to also take the related online course “Understanding multi-level switching.” Download the White Paper and Sign-Up here
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Olive Pro TWS Bluetooth Earbuds with Hearing Enhancement Are Now Available |
Olive Union - the smart hearing company on a mission to make affordable hearing health a reality for everyone - is officially making its 2-in-1 true wireless earbuds and smart hearing aids available for purchase in the US for $299. According to the Tokyo, Japan-based company, the Olive Pro design combines FDA-Registered Class II hearing aids with true wireless stereo and was intentionally made to look like conventional Bluetooth earbuds to combat the social and economic barriers of hearing loss. Read More
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New thinksound Over-Ear Headphones Are First to Market with Eastman Trēva Sustainable Material |
Known for its high-end, responsibly produced audio equipment, thinksound has launched its first over-ear headphones — the ov21 — using Eastman Trēva engineering bioplastic that contains more than 40% bio-based content derived from sustainably harvested trees. The new ov21 reference headphones from the Toronto-based company were carefully voiced by Aaron Fournier, exploring the full potential of the expertly crafted 45mm dynamic drivers, and can be preordered online now. Deliveries expected in October 2021. Read More
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NAMM Announces NAMM Show's Return to Anaheim... in June 2022 |
As more and more trade shows scheduled for the last quarter of 2021 are being cancelled (or should be), the industry is moving on and starting to plan for 2022. The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) announced that The NAMM Show, the annual “family reunion” of the global music, sound, and entertainment technology industry, will reconvene in Anaheim, CA, at the Anaheim Convention Center from June 3–5, 2022. Read More
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Bose Introduces Smart Soundbar 900 with Dolby Atmos |
Bose launched its new Smart Soundbar 900, an immersive soundbar design with Dolby Atmos and all-in-one wireless system for music and movies. Custom-engineered with upfiring dipole speakers, the new soundbar works with Bose ADAPTiQ and the Bose Music app for room setup to make it feel like the room is filled with sound from every direction. The Smart Soundbar 900 supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and Bose Voice4Video technology adds voice remote control for a connected TV. Read More
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AES Audio Product Education Institute Webinar Explores Automotive Immersive Audio |
The AES Audio Product Education Institute (APEI), created to promote methodologies, practices, and technologies involved in developing and bringing audio products to market, will present a new free webinar on its Automotive Audio education pillar, addressing “Immersive Audio in Automobiles,” on Wednesday, September 15 (12:00pm EDT). The webinar will feature presentations from Dolby Laboratories and Dirac Research, detailing the technologies enabling the expansion of vehicle acoustic perceptions. Read More
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Dolby Collaborates with Cinemo to Accelerate Dolby Atmos Music Experience in Cars |
At the IAA Munich International Mobility Show 2021, Dolby Laboratories announced a collaboration with Cinemo, a leading global provider of automotive infotainment middleware supporting all platforms, operating systems, and formats. The goal is to accelerate the integration of Dolby Atmos into vehicles. During Dolby’s panel at IAA Mobility, discussing how the immersive sound technology is set to drive a revolution for in car entertainment, the company confirmed Cinemo has become the first middleware licensee globally of the Dolby Car Experience . Read More
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LG New UltraGear Gaming Speaker Offers Headset-Free Sound Experiences |
LG Electronics (LG) unveiled a new speaker solution specifically for gaming, which may signal the onset of a new headset-free design, with large potential for all home office applications. The new LG UltraGear Gaming Speaker (model GP9) was designed to be a companion to LG’s premium UltraGear gaming monitors, with game-optimized sound. But the technical specs reveal a whole lot more, making it a very interesting speaker/sound system . Read More
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What Listeners Are Seeking in 2021: Global Audio Consumer Research |
The use of audio devices has expanded since 2020. Many consumers today are heavily reliant on their audio products to aid connectivity, as well as for video watching, gaming, remote working, and music listening. The Qualcomm State of Sound research identifies audio device purchase drivers, and interest in current and future use cases, to better understand what today’s users look for in earbuds, headphones, and speakers. Download the State of Sound report here
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Guest Editorial
Bruce Ryan
(Director of Engineering, Harman Embedded Audio)
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Product Design Considerations
Staying Connected in Hostile Sound Environments
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Consumers are increasingly looking to have high quality sound integrated into their lives in creative ways. However, ensuring that their demands are met across connectivity and sound can be hard to achieve. Often, the more creative and interesting the application, the higher the chance it’s harder to produce a sound that is perfect for every use case.
There are many challenges when formulating audio products for hostile environments such as the outdoors, confined spaces, noisy backgrounds, and more. When formulating for these unique applications, the two most important areas to focus on are creating quality sound playback and enhanced voice pick up. Within these two categories, of course, are multiple factors to consider for your unique applications. Let’s dive into them a little deeper.
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Harman Embedded Audio helped create the Zoe AI virtual cruise assistant for MSC Cruises. A smart speaker optimized for cruise ship cabins, using Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Smart Audio technology. |
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Sound Playback
Sound playback is the audio that comes out of your device. The factors that contribute to compromised sound quality will differ for each application. For example, a confined space will have different problems from an open one. Here are the areas you should consider:
Lack of bass. If your product is going to be outside, you have to account for the difference in directionality between bass and treble to ensure that your users can hear the balanced frequency spectrum. This requires clever placement of the drivers and use of reflective surfaces to reflect the sound. To accomplish this, consider a full-range driver facing toward the intended listener, or if reflective surfaces are known and constant, position one of the drivers to reflect off of that surface toward the intended listener. If there are corners in the room, it typically helps increase the bass performance.
Loss of treble clarity. Let’s say you want to put a speaker inside a couch. This limited space or non-optimal direction can cause loss of treble, which causes a lack of voice clarity and dull musical playback. To solve this challenge, try the addition of a high-frequency driver or add energy using a digital signal processor.
Distortion in highly vibrating systems. As with any audio system, mechanical vibrations may be produced, which can add unwanted sounds. As the system power increases, these vibrations will need to be addressed with structural methods. Another method is to use Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and remove the offending frequencies from the incoming signal. Using damping materials can also reduce distorting vibrations.
Portability. The increase in power density of modern batteries has led to an increase in the performance of portable playback devices. With this increase in power capability, new speaker drivers have been developed to handle the increase in power. The application of digital amplifiers has also led to a large increase in power output without the need for heatsinks. These two technology advancements have enabled the current generation of portable devices to play louder and longer.
Noise suppression. The playback system can also be used to perform noise suppression with the addition of a microphone. The microphone will capture the environmental noise using an “anti-noise” or Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) algorithm. The playback can produce an out-of-phase response to eliminate portions of the environmental noise.
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With a global team covering 30+ countries, Harman Embedded Audio helps brands and companies go from concept to finished products using hardware matched to the applications, optimized for budget, and differentiated with the added value of brands such as Harman Kardon. |
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Voice Pick Up (Communication & Smart Assistant Commands)
In hostile sound environments, it can also be difficult for voice agents to pick up commands. What our human ears can naturally tune out, such as wind, background noise, and so forth, is extremely difficult for voice agents. Here are some key areas you should consider when building your smart product:
Single or multiple interfering audio sources. When was the last time you thought about background noise? As with most humans, our brain is the best audio processor developed. However, voice assistants do not have the luxury of a “brain” with built-in audio processing. If you analyze a full-frequency recording of a “quiet” modern environment, you will see a large amount of energy in all frequencies. This needs to be removed before any speech algorithms can successfully process the audio. Many techniques have been developed to pre-process or remove the unwanted energy.
Beamforming: The use of two or more microphones to form a beam or a sensitive direction while reducing the sensitivity in other directions.
Blind Source Separation: Choosing a frequency range and rejecting other frequency ranges; for example, human voice while rejecting HVAC noises.
Reverb signals. Another issue with voice processing will be voice reflection from the environment. Once again, the human brain is programmed to remove most of the echo signals. A voice assistant also has to be programmed to remove what is called the “long tail” in the audio signal. There are many DSP algorithms for removing reverb energy from the microphone signal.
Acoustic Echo Cancellation. As with most technology, voice processing will depend on the generation of the device. For example, a smart speaker could be playing music, which will saturate the microphone on the device. This can be handled with DSP by using the original audio signal as a reference and subtracting it from the microphone signal.
Whether you’re formulating a product for the outdoors, a noisy space, a shower, or a moving vehicle, correct placement of microphones and the precise tuning of your voice algorithms can help provide accurate voice capture. As with any complex system, the overall solution is only as strong as the weakest component.
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Talking about hostile environments. Harman Embedded Audio designed a smart mirror with a fully integrated display and a Harman Kardon speaker with Amazon Alexa for ICON.AI. Another equally challenging project was the Kohler Moxie Showerhead + Bluetooth Wireless Speaker - a product for audio and bath enthusiasts, available also as a smart speaker with embedded Amazon Alexa. Both products were highly celebrated at CES. |
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An Introduction to Measuring Rooms
By Ethan Winer
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In this article Ethan Winer explores a topic that he was inspired to address after reading a comment in our magazine about the need to "know your room." "Before you start measuring and playing around with your new speakers, maybe you should know your room." The article, written from a very practical perspective that can be attempted by everyone, explains the importance of understanding the acoustics of our own listening rooms and how a proper measurement will help us with that essential knowledge. The examples contained in the article use the popular Room EQ Wizard (REW) software. This article was originally published in audioXpress, August 2021. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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CTA-2010: A Better Way to Measure Subwoofers
By Brent Butterworth
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Exploring the Standard Method of Measurement for Subwoofers (ANSI/CTA-2010-B R-2020), Brent Butterworth discusses how this might be a better method for avoiding the confusion on measuring bass extension of subwoofers "the most exaggerated specification in audio," in his opinion. The article explains and demonstrates how CTA-2010 measures usable output at 1/3-octave intervals within the subwoofer’s operational range, instead of measuring frequency response at a low sound pressure level (the most common method of measuring subwoofers). "It functions as a dead-lift does in weight lifting: It’s a pure test of strength on which there’s no way to cheat," Butterworth states. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, June 2021. Read the Full Article Now Available Here
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Advancing the Evolution
of Audio Technology
audioXpress features great articles, projects, tips, and techniques for the best in quality audio. It connects manufacturers and distributors with audio engineers and enthusiasts eager for innovative solutions in sound, acoustic, and electronics.
Voice Coil, the periodical for the loudspeaker industry, delivers product reviews, company profiles, industry news, and design tips straight to professional audio engineers and manufacturers who have the authority to make powerful purchasing decisions.
The Loudspeaker Industry Sourcebook is the most comprehensive collection of listings on loudspeaker material in the industry. Purchasers and decision makers refer to the guide for an entire year when making selections on drivers, finished systems, adhesives, domes, crossovers, voice coils, and everything in between.
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