Knowles Releases Bluetooth Standard Solution Development Kit to Speed up Voice Integration

Knowles Corporation, a leading provider of advanced micro-acoustic microphones and speakers, audio processing, and precision device solutions, announced the AISonic Bluetooth Standard Solution, a complete development kit that enables fast voice integration to Bluetooth devices. The kit is built upon the Knowles AISonic Audio Edge Processor IA8201, a high-performance, ultra-low power audio-centric OpenDSP, and includes SDK, pre-integrated mics, and integration support for Bluetooth chips.

Google held the company's traditional hardware announcements event. Apart from a new mandatory phone, the star of the event was the new Nest Audio smart speaker, bigger and more powerful than the Google Home that it replaces. Rumored for months, the new smart speaker reflects the hard work by a dedicated engineering team, resulting in a better overall speaker design, but also improved multi-room streaming features. Inside, there's more intelligence to support voice commands locally, and there's even a microphone "privacy" mute switch, when required.

Amazon.com introduced its all-new line-up of Echo devices, featuring completely new designs, enhanced audio, more powerful hardware, and experiences that make Alexa voice assistant more engaging, and helpful. Most of the new Amazon products will be available at the end of October 2020, and that includes an all-new Echo (4th Gen), now with better sound and integrated smart home hub; the new Echo Dot and Echo Dot Kids Edition featuring the new spherical designs and improved audio, and Echo Show 10, the smart speaker with screen.

Syntiant, a California-based AI chip company focused on moving machine learning from the cloud to edge devices, announced a partnership with Infineon Technologies, to service the rising demand for voice user interface (VUI) in electronic devices. Optimized for battery-powered devices from true wireless earbuds to mobile phones to smart speakers, Syntiant’s partnership with Infineon enables more efficient voice control and custom command detection to numerous product configurations.