Bose and Bragi Unite to Provide Brands with Turn-Key, Licensable Audio Solutions for Headphones and Earbuds 

Bose, a global leader in audio innovation for the home, car and on-the-go, and Bragi, the pioneer of AI headphones, have announced a partnership aimed at delivering cutting-edge, turn-key licensable audio wearable solutions – simplifying the process of building high-quality audio products for brands worldwide.

Enter Sonical Headphone 3.0. A fully integrated approach for the product development of headphones and earbuds that allows consumers to load their own apps. audioXpress talked to Gary Spittle, the CEO and founder of Sonical, a young company that developed a chip and a real-time operating system for headphones and hearables. "Hearables should not be defined by the functions of a chip or the Bluetooth profiles, there is a lot more that product makers want to do," says Gary Spittle, the CEO and founder of Sonical.

Voicemod, a company from Valencia, Spain, specializing in voice effects and interactive voice modification experiences, is enabling Bragi’s new audio platform to incorporate voice modulation capabilities into smart earbuds and headsets for mobile, console, and handheld devices without tethering to a PC. The Voicemod-enabled B2B software solution integration with Bragi allows headphone OEMs to include untethered, hands-free, real-time voice augmentation features.

True wireless earbuds that offer truly differentiated features, such as hands-free control via simple voice commands, personal audio profiles, and software updates, are now a reality under $100. Coming from Skullcandy, the popular headphone brand leading that price category, the new Grind Fuel and Push Active TWS designs offer those features thanks to Bragi OS, and over 18 months of development effort by the Skullcandy and Bragi teams.

There’s a lot happening in the true wireless stereo (TWS) category and this market update article intends to provide a quick overview of the state-of the-art technologies and platforms in the space, as well as some reference approaches in product design. This audioXpress Market Update addresses what is happening in this vibrant product category in 2021.

IFA 2020, in Berlin, Germany, was "the first major global fair for consumer and home electronics" to physically take place since the pandemic. This limited push to promote a trade show again, lead some major consumer electronics companies and brands to converge their announcements in the week from September 1-5, with showcases streamed to the world live from the Berlin exhibition grounds. Some announcements were relevant to the audio industry and included the Qualcomm press conference, which used the opportunity to launch its latest Adaptive ANC platform, an important step towards smart true wireless earbuds.

CEVA, the leading licensor of wireless connectivity and smart sensing technologies, and Bragi GmbH, the hearables pioneer from Munich, Germany, announced a strategic collaboration to drive a new class of hearable devices where the user experience is customizable via the industry’s first hearable app store and the new Bragi 4 operating system. Target devices include headsets, hearing aids, True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds and a host of other smart audio devices for the consumer and the smart home.

Bragi announced its inclusion in ST Microelectronics Partner Program to create software solutions that address the current needs for modern IoT development, granting shorter development time as well as reducing the time and cost to market. Bragi offers state-of-the-art configurable, scalable, and power-efficient software building blocks of its Intelligent Edge computing platform, combined with products, technologies, and solutions from ST.