Bang & Olufsen Adopts Fraunhofer IIS LC3plus Audio Codec for High-Resolution Wireless Audio Products

In order to meet the quality expectations of their users, high-end consumer electronics manufacturer Bang & Olufsen decided on the new open standard LC3plus codec from Fraunhofer IIS for their wireless streaming devices. LC3plus is currently the most advanced solution that combines support for high-resolution audio with low delay. LC3plus has been standardized by ETSI as TS 103 634, and is the first solution to support high-resolution music streaming services also over wireless accessories.

In this article for audioXpress, Hans W. Gierlich, managing director of HEAD acoustics, explains how to test the different performance parameters of smart speakers and smart home devices under real-life conditions, how to deal with the challenges of optimizing systems for voice and audio quality, how to simulate environmental conditions, user behavior, and test the performance of the various functionalities. This article was originally published in audioXpress, January 2019.

Users of mobile phones, voice-operated smart home devices or hands-free terminals have to deal with different background noises and room reverberation that impair their user experience. Therefore, realistic performance tests of communication devices do not only need to consider background noise but also reverberation. HEAD acoustics launches 3PASS reverb for this purpose, a software option for its background noise simulation systems 3PASS lab and 3PASS flex.

Listen has launched the ETSI standard background noise generation module, a SoundCheck test sequence which calibrates a 4.1 speaker array to conform with the ETSI ES 202 396-1 Standard. This provides an equalized, calibrated playback solution to stress devices in a standardized and repeatable way. With a purchase price of just $5,000 for the test sequence, this offers an extremely economical alternative to a conventional $20,000+ stand-alone background noise generation system.