Audience, a leading global provider of advanced voice and audio processors for mobile products, released its earSmart technology today, to enable more clear voice calls for feature phones. According to Audience, earSmart is an intelligent voice processor that delivers a clear voice and audio experience for mobile devices, allowing you to hear and be heard even in noisy settings. The earSmart eS110 is the first advanced voice processor that uses a single microphone, geared specifically toward feature phones, and enhances voice calls by suppressing non-stationary noise sources, like traffic, crowd noise, etc. The eS110 also works in speakerphone mode.

Peter Santos, CEO of Audience, states “advanced voice processing is perhaps the most impactful technology a device manufacturer can add to a low cost feature phone to improve the quality of voice calls.” The eS110, designed for devices on narrowband networks, has features including:

Stationary and non-stationary noise suppression – from both ends of a mobile call and in both handset and speakerphone mode;

HiFi Voice – a wideband HD voice listening experience for mobile users connected to 2G and 3G mobile Narrowband networks;

Acoustic Echo Cancellation – eliminates echoes and enables full-duplex conversations while in speakerphone mode

Ease of Integration – the earSmart eS110 voice processor is offered in a compact 3.5mm x 3.5mm, BGA package that easily fits any handset design and allows device manufacturers to design once and use across multiple single microphone devices.

According to the Linley Group, an industry leader in communications and semiconductor markets, smartphones make up less than 1/3 of the world mobile market. Linley Gwennap, principal analyst, states “although smartphones get most of the press, they still comprise less than a third of worldwide cell-phone shipments. The eS110 addresses the other two-thirds of the market, bringing an improved audio experience to phones even when manufacturing cost must be kept to a minimum.”

The earSmart eS110 will be sampled to manufacturers in March, and is expected to be installed in mobile devices by the end of the year, according to PRN.