New audio ADC enables far-field voice capture at four times the distance

Texas Instruments has introduced a new audio ADC capable of capturing clear audio up to four times further away than competing devices. The TLV320ADC5140 is claimed to be the industry’s smallest quad-channel audio ADC with a high level of performance. The device is part of a new family of three Burr-Brown audio ADCs that facilitate low-distortion audio recordings in loud environments, simultaneously with far-field, high-fidelity recordings in any environment.

Smart home systems face difficulties with far-field audio capture. In current systems, a restricted number of microphones and reduced signal processing ability make it challenging to capture and understand voice commands in noisy environments. To meet this challenge, the device allows engineers to enhance audio capture from across rooms and boost recognition of soft-spoken commands in applications including high-end smart speakers, soundbars, wireless speakers, IP network cameras, high definition TVs, teleconferencing systems and smart appliances. The ADC, which accompanies the portfolio of Burr-Brown audio devices, which incorporates high-performance Class-D amplifiers, data converters and operational amplifiers, also helping engineers save system design expenses by decreasing the number of microphones in the array.