Knowles introduces artificial Intelligence True Wireless Stereo (TWS) development platform

     Knowles, a market leader and global provider of advanced miniature acoustic microphones and speakers, audio processing and precision device solutions, announced the introduction of an AI-powered True wireless Stereo (TWS) development platform to accelerate product development from entry-level to advanced applications. With this new solution, Oems have access to a fully operational TWS development kit that includes pre-tuned and pre-configured headsets designed by Knowles, and a powerful Bluetooth processing platform.

     The headset features a Knowles SiSonicTM MEMS microphone array, voice vibration sensor, and an advanced speaker driver assembly with a balanced armature to drive the development of advanced TWS features while reducing time to market and the high costs associated with base development. Knowles has worked with several partners to integrate advanced capabilities on development kits that enable manufacturers to quickly add active noise cancellation (ANC), ambient modes, high-definition (HD) audio, voice commands, voice call algorithms, and AI-enabled conversation enhancements.

     Raj Senguttuvan, Director of Strategic Marketing at Knowles, said: "The market for TWS is expected to grow rapidly, driven by strong demand across all price segments. Premium brands will continue to add emerging premium features to their new TWS devices to differentiate their products and capture more value. Providing manufacturers with a flexible and powerful TWS development platform will help innovators in the TWS market deliver emerging advanced capabilities created with premium technology to consumers more quickly."

     At the heart of this TWS development kit is the processing platform, Knowles IA8201 AISonic Audio edge processor and SONY Semiconductor Solutions CXD 3781 codecs, plus a premium Bluetooth audio system-on-chip (SoC) for an immersive experience and noise filtering capabilities. With outstanding active noise reduction and transparency, the design provides a competitive platform. The IA8201 AISonic Audio edge processor is optimized for advanced voice and audio processing. This powerful development platform is extremely flexible, allowing manufacturers to test their own configurations, integrate advanced features, and adjust performance and power consumption with detachable headsets.

     Knowles headphones are designed with Lou's high performance Everest (SPH0690LM4H-1) digital microphone to capture high quality audio. Everest digital microphones feature a compact form factor that allows for flexible integration into extremely space-constrained devices such as TWS headphones. It offers a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and acoustic overload point (AOP) with excellent broadband audio for studio grade performance and high quality active noise reduction. To achieve high-definition audio output, the headset features a hybrid driver design with a Knowles balanced armature tweeter and a dynamic woofer. Another version is equipped with Lou's smallest full-frequency balanced armature driver for compact TWS devices.

     To meet the growing demand for voice quality and clarity, Knowles partnered with Alango Technologies, a leading provider of voice, hearing and audio DSP solutions. Alango's multi-microphone Beamforming Voice communication Package (VCP) and its OnlyVoice technology, which intelligently combines external beamforming with internal sensor-based speech processing, were ported to the IA8201 processor. With low power consumption and memory requirements, these highly optimized solutions provide superior voice pickup capabilities for TWS devices.

     The TWS suite also includes AITransparency+, provided by Chatable, which is the first AI technology specifically designed to leverage the next-generation AI processing capabilities of IA8201 AISonic processors for "session enhancement." AITransparency+ enables "session enhancement" and features an advanced on-chip proprietary deep neural network architecture that can perform more than 100 million AI calculations per second, enabling selective acoustic enhancement of conversational speech signals without perceptible latency.

     The TWS development Kit is scalable, rich and customizable, allowing customers to leverage pre-tuned algorithms from our partners or quickly adapt their own algorithms for other use cases. The open and flexible nature of the suite supports existing and emerging TWS advanced capabilities and next-generation applications, providing flexibility for future innovations with best-in-class audio and hearing technology.