HEAD acoustics ACQUA Adds Listening Effort Prediction Option

With LEAP (Listening Effort Prediction from Acoustic Parameters) now integrated into ACQUA 6.1.100, HEAD acoustics offers an optional tool for on-site prediction of the perceived listening effort. The software predicts the perceived listening effort of a listener when hearing an impaired speech signal without the need for an undisturbed reference signal. This makes it possible to carry out measurements more efficiently under laboratory conditions and in real-world applications.

Renesas Electronics, the advanced semiconductor solutions supplier, and Cyberon, a leading embedded speech solution provider, have partnered to deliver voice user interface (VUI) solutions using Renesas’ entire RA MCU line. Renesas RA customers will now have complimentary access to Cyberon’s industry-leading continuous command-based VUI toolchain, enabling them to add voice-recognition to a variety of endpoint applications, including home appliances and wearables.

SoundHound and Qualcomm announced a multi-year, joint agreement that will give app developers and device manufacturers access to an easy-to-deploy voice artificial intelligence (AI) solution running on Snapdragon platforms. The integration consists of SoundHound's automatic speech recognition, natural language understanding, and text-to-speech conversion software with select Snapdragon platforms from Qualcomm.

Boston-based ReadSpeaker, an independent voice developer, unveiled its Neural TTS Engine, a Deep Neural Network (DNN) engine powering the company’s voice enablement platform. With the Neural TTS Engine, ReadSpeaker can generate superior-quality speech using DNN-trained models, and produce voice solutions at a fraction of the time required by legacy offerings. The enhanced platform comes amid explosive interest among businesses to use voice technology to best engage audiences in an increasingly contactless world.