Active antinoise makes handsets easier to hear

Proprietary technology suppresses the background noise around the listener's ear and enables them to have a clear telephone conversation even in noisy environments.

Wolfson Microelectronics has begun sampling its first active noise cancellation chip specifically designed for mobile phone applications.

Voice communication is still the key function of a mobile phone, with users now expecting to be able to make reliable, clear and intelligible calls any time and anywhere, even in the most noisy of environments, such as busy urban areas or social venues.

Ideally for an intelligible call you need to be able to reduce noise in both directions, enabling both parties to hear all elements of the conversation.

Until now handset manufacturers have been able to reduce noise in the transmit path only, so that background noise is not transmitted to the other party in the call.

However they have been unable to do anything about the ambient noise levels near the listener's ear.

Wolfson solves this problem with a revolutionary new ambient noise cancellation technology.

Complementary to existing transmit path noise cancellation technology, Wolfson's solution focuses on the receive path and uses active antinoise to cancel background sound at the handset speaker.

Wolfson is changing the rules on noise cancellation in mobile phones with its proprietary new technology, which suppresses the background noise around the listener's ear and enables them to have a clear telephone conversation even in noisy environments.

David Monteith, VP of Business Development at Wolfson comments: "Active noise cancellation is a powerful tool for improving the user experience in mobile phones and also improving the economics and user satisfaction of mobile phone networks".

"We are working with a number of manufacturers now and believe handsets containing this advanced technology will be on sale internationally during 2009".

"We acquired Sonaptic less than a year ago as part of our growth strategy to add to the range of Wolfson AudioPlus products".

"As a result of the acquisition we diversified our technology portfolio, expanded our total addressable market and are now enabling more enhanced user experiences", said Dave Shrigley, CEO at Wolfson.

Furthermore: "I am thoroughly delighted with the performance of the team who have developed this market changing technology on an aggressive timeline".

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