The Vesper VA1200 comes in a tiny, industry standard package (2.90x2.76x0.9mm3) that is reflow solder compatible with no sensitivity degradation. It reduces design time and design complexity, making it very easy to integrate into in-ear hearable products. “The VA1200 offers the best combination of low power, low cost, and high performance available on the market. The VA1200 extends Vesper’s technology leadership in the rapidly growing wearable consumer market,“ the company states.
The VA1200 is the first non-microphone product based on Vesper’s patented piezoelectric MEMS transducer technology. This validates that Vesper’s piezoelectric MEMS technology platform can be used for a broad array of sensor types.
The piezoelectric voice accelerometer picks up the vibration of the user’s voice through the skull. By design, it filters out background noises such as wind noise, music, subway noise and crowd noise. Of course, the fidelity of the user’s voice that is captured through bone conduction is not as faithful as the signal captured by a traditional microphone, but it can be used to improve the filtering that is required to separate the voice from any background noise.
“Existing earbuds rely heavily on mic arrays and algorithms to suppress environmental noise during voice calls. Unfortunately, many products available on the market provide poor speech intelligibility and speech quality when exposed to challenging noisy environments. As a result, the user experiences poor voice-call quality. The VA1200 solves this issue at a compelling price point,” says Roberto Condorelli, Senior Director of Marketing at Vesper. “This technology will enable a new class of products such as earbuds, TWS, smart frames, smart glasses, headsets, and more. For Vesper, it represents a stepping stone towards full AR/VR applications which require more sensor miniaturization and integration. Vesper is already engaged with leading customers and partners who plan to roll out products using the VA1200 this year.”
Envisaged target applications for the VA1200 include all types of earbuds, including basic TWS (True Wireless Stereo) designs or sophisticated hearables. In those designs, the VA1200 sensor also enables advanced features including high-fidelity VPU, Automute, Tap Detection, and Voice Authentication.
The VA1200 is now available in volume and mass production.
www.vespermems.com
