Voice processor clears up Korean calls

The LG Electronics LG-SH400 mobile phone launched by SK Telecom last week features the Audience Voice Processor.

Audience has officially launched its business in Korea.

The company has already been working closely with major mobile customers in Korea, including SK Telecom and LG Electronics, and is increasing its presence in the local market with the opening of a new support office in Seoul.

With the Audience Voice Processor providing advanced nonstationary noise suppression in the LG Electronics LG-SH400 mobile phone launched by SK Telecom last week, Korean mobile users now have access to a leading-edge cellphone which delivers clear communications anywhere.

"We are thrilled to be working with such an innovative company as Audience", said Byungrok Jung, SKT Manager of Mobile Device Team.

"Audience has the most impressive advanced noise suppression solution in the market, and we believe that our customers will have a much better communications experience in noisy places".

The Audience Voice Processor is the first custom IC that is modelled after the most efficient and accurate auditory system, the human hearing system.

By understanding the entire auditory pathway - from the cochlea to the brainstem to the thalamus and cortex - Audience is the first company to deliver a commercial product based on the science of Auditory Scene Analysis (ASA), or the grouping and processing of complex mixtures of sound.

Because the Audience Voice Processor handles signals the way people actually perceive specific sounds, it is able to identify and suppress noise sources in an extremely efficient and accurate manner.

As voice is the primary application for mobile phone usage, it remains at the top of consumers' minds for improvements in their phones.

According to a 2007 survey of 15,000 consumers in 37 countries by Global Mobile Mindset, consumers wanted "louder, clearer voice quality" from their cellphones.

Voice quality ranked as one of the top five improvements requested.

Just as the human auditory system can readily ignore background noises while focusing on a voice of interest, Audience's technology enables instantaneous noise suppression up to 25dB for both stationary and nonstationary noise sources to provide unparalleled voice quality within even the noisiest environments.

Using this proprietary core technology, the Audience A1010 Voice Processor provides the most powerful and robust noise suppression technology available today.

By using a mobile handset that has the A1010 embedded in it, the caller can eliminate most of the background stationary and nonstationary noise sources - such as airport PA systems, restaurant noise, car noise, acoustic echo and street noise - regardless of whether the noise is local to the caller or remote over the mobile network.

This results in a higher quality user experience, as well as stress-free and more productive voice communications over mobile networks or VoIP applications, such as PC telephony and video conferencing, in places before unimagined.

"With the Audience Voice Processor embedded in their mobile handsets, people will be able to hear and be heard everywhere from their cellphones, even in the noisiest places", said Jennifer Stagnaro, Audience VP of Marketing.

"By mimicking the human auditory system, our new processor defines a new standard for robust noise suppression, enabling unprecedented voice quality and more usability of rich voice and data applications".

"We are pleased to have an opportunity to provide mobile handsets installed with our leading-edge noise suppression technology to SK Telecom, Korea's largest mobile operator, through LG Electronics", said Peter Santos, CEO of Audience.

"With Audience, Korean mobile users can benefit from experience with much improved communications quality".

He added that the company was looking for more business opportunities to contribute to providing better communications quality service to a larger number of mobile users in Korea, which is considered one of the key mobile markets in the world.

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