2025 AES International Conference on Headphone Technology, Finland

The Audio Engineering Society promotes two major conventions every year, one in Europe and another in the US. And yet, its themed conferences, some happening only every two years, are by far the most insightful and successful events, as seen particularly with the recent Automotive Audio events and, of course, the Headphone technology conferences. The next one is scheduled to take place in Finland, in the same Aalto University where the 2023 AES Europe conference was so successfully held.

Luxshare-ICT, one of the largest manufacturers and supplier for global consumer electronics brands, and Austrian MEMS pioneer USound have developed Gemini, an innovative hybrid audio module that offers numerous advantages through its 2-way audio technology combining a MEMS and a dynamic driver coaxially aligned. The solution not only enhances sound quality but allows effective active noise cancellation (ANC) applications with MEMS drivers.

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.

As a much touted unofficial closing event for CES, Samsung Electronics introduced its latest line of Galaxy smartphones. As the annual tradition mandates, apart from smartphones of multiple sizes, some of which come with a stylus, Samsung also introduced accessories for those phones. In this case, an updated set of True Wireless Earbuds with improved sound quality and intelligent ANC, available in multiple colors, including purple. As a differentiator, the Buds Pro use a two-way driver design.

Bragi, the company which can rightfully claim to be the creators of the world’s first Hearable, is unveiling the next-generation of its technology suite and is to introduce it at MWC 2019. As previously announced, Bragi is now developing ultra-efficient artificial intelligence and edge computing technologies for ultra-low power devices that intends to make available to other manufacturers. At MWC 2019, the German company will disclose details of the new platform as a reference design for professional Hearables.

Predicting that over 50% of all wireless headphones will incorporate Hearable Voice assistants, touch sensors and other interface technologies, a new report by Juniper Research forecasts that hearables will become the new standard for personal audio in under 5 years. The new report from Juniper has found that there will be an estimated 417 million hearables in use by 2022. This includes fitness-focused devices, hearing augmentation and purely audio-focused devices.