Digital voice vibration sensor for hi-fi voice pick-up in TWS

Knowles Corporation has released the first-of-its-kind Digital Voice Vibration Sensor, V2S200D. Working in conjunction with microphones, the device, a high bandwidth, low-power specialised vibration sensor, enhances voice call quality in noisy environments by picking up the speaker’s voice and rejecting ambient sounds.

More than ever, consumers use audio devices, such as TWS earbuds, for voice communication on the move, frequently in public places. Distracting noises typical in restaurants, airports, and public transportation, present challenges for accomplishing high-quality communication with conventional noise suppression techniques. High winds and traffic noise can also severely impair voice call clarity in outdoor environments.

The device is developed to solve these challenges and selectively pick up the speaker’s voice whilst suppressing all other sounds. Blending low-band voice signals from the device with the high-band voice signals utilising today’s TWS microphones allows a consistent, reliable, and frustration-free voice call experience in these environments. As well as enhancing voice call quality, this sensor allows other use cases like voice activity detection, imposter rejection, and personalisation.

“Frictionless communication from anywhere using Bluetooth headsets has become a basic expectation from consumers. We are more on-the-go than ever, and the new ‘work-from-anywhere’ culture means dialling into conference calls from cafes, trains, and lounges,” said Saket Thukral, senior director of Product Line Management for microphones at Knowles. “We are excited to offer our customers an easy-to-use, high-performance solution to meet this expectation and help them delight consumers.”

“Bone conduction sensors are fast becoming an essential feature in TWS designs to improve voice pick-up in noisy environments. Until now, solutions in the market have tended to deliver less-than-ideal performance or have been challenging to integrate due to their size, robustness, high power consumption, or some other significant trade-off. I had a chance to experience the new Knowles V2S200D sensor at CES 2023. The unique solution provides remarkable performance, with low power, in a tiny package -- the sweet spot for many applications in today’s market,” said Peter Cooney, founder and research director of SAR Insight.