As a leading global provider of wireless and voice-processing chipset solutions for converged communications, DSPG wanted to accelerate its development and rapid deployment of advanced audio technologies. The new Straubing team will enhance DSP Group's current offerings while adding domain-specific expertise in automotive audio, in-cabin and road ANC, hearables, and professional audio.
Even though DSP Group didn't disclose that information, a brief investigation allowed audioXpress to confirm that the majority of the expert team that is now hired by DSP Group was previously working for Harman Becker Automotive Systems (Straubing Division), which was shutdown in 2020. This operation focused on design and manufacturing of automotive infotainment systems, voice control, human-machine interfaces, and audio and entertainment technologies, and was previously relocated to other Harman facilities in Hungary and Asia. The large Harman Becker manufacturing compound and offices in Straubing have been acquired last year by Strama-MPS, a local mechanical engineering company and manufacturer of special-purpose machinery, and production equipment. The approx. 45,000 m² site includes production and office space buildings totaling around 23,000 m², and is partially now being rented to other firms, including DSP Group.
With the recent acquisition of SoundChip SA, a leading supplier of active noise cancellation (ANC) technology, and production-line test systems for headphones and headsets, based in Switzerland, and with research facilities in the United Kingdom, DSP Group reinforced significantly its presence in Europe. DSP Group is headquartered in San Jose, California, and Herzliya, Israel, and already has an operation in Germany, mainly to support some of its largest clients, which included Harman's Automotive and Lifestyle Audio divisions.
The establishment of the Straubing lab also comes at a time of rapid advances in voice integration and active approaches to noise cancellation in automobiles. These approaches are leveraging multiple microphones and digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms integrated into increasingly advanced automotive audio systems to cancel noise. This ensures a pleasant driving experience, while also enabling higher-performance voice user interfaces (VUIs) for calls and system control.
"The field of voice, audio, and acoustic engineering is advancing rapidly, and recent technology breakthroughs that combine acoustic engineering, signal processing, and AI are elevating requirements and device performance," says Ofer Elyakim, CEO of DSP Group. "It has become clear to us that to complement our capabilities and meet customers' needs we should adopt a holistic full-system approach to optimize audio performance while adding specific capabilities that will bring our portfolio of technologies to broader markets such as automotive and various consumer devices. The Straubing team have a proven track record of 20+ years of innovation in the audio field and of pushing the envelope in these, and other audio applications. We are very excited to welcome them to the DSP Group family."
As DSP Group also details, the Straubing team’s automotive expertise contributed to over 200 patents related to in-cabin voice processing, ANC, audio sound processing, as well as automotive audio system design. For consumer audio, the team includes authors or named contributors in hundreds of patents, from far-field voice with beamforming to 3D audio effects.
"With this new team and their expertise, DSP Group will be able to quickly expand into exciting new market segments, including automotive audio technology as well as additional applications including vacuum cleaners and other home appliances," says Heinz Thuerauf, President of DSP Group, Germany.
www.dspg.com
