The Future of MEMS Directional Microphones Goes Digital: Soundskrit Announces the SKR0410

Soundskrit, the Canadian company determined to evolve MEMS microphones for consumer electronics, announced the availability of its second product, the SKR0410, touted as the world’s first digital directional MEMS microphone. The SKR0410 brings the latest innovations in MEMS and acoustic transducer design to the digital domain to enable directional audio capture in consumer devices of all form factors.

ArkX Laboratories, a joint venture between hardware design and development firm Surfaceink and consumer electronics manufacturing company Ark USA, announced its EveryWord Ultra Far-Field Reference Design Kit has been qualified by Amazon AVS. The advanced far-field development kit features Cirrus Logic SoundClear Technology and NXP i.MX 8 host processor technology and is a powerful solution for manufacturers dealing with noisy environments, different mic array geometry challenges, and the need to support 3 or 5 channels for surround use cases.

TDK Corporation introduced the InvenSense ICS-40638 MEMS analog microphone, a new high-performance solution enabling clear audio capture in loud and noisy conditions, with an extended frequency response from 35 Hz to 20kHz. The ICS-40638 microphone offers an ultra-high Acoustic Overload Point (AOP) of 138 dB Sound Pressure Level (SPL), exceptionally efficient 170 µA low power operation and high Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of 63 dB in a small 3.5 mm x 2.65 mm x 0.98 mm bottom port surface‐mount package.

As the Internet of Things (IoT) delivers greater connectivity for industrial and home applications and as connected vehicles enhance cabin and operational features, higher-performance microcontrollers are required for better real-time control as well as to enable enhanced human machine interface applications. Microchip Technology announced its next generation AVR DA family of microcontrollers (MCUs) – its first Functional Safety Ready AVR MCU family with Peripheral Touch Controller (PTC).