Voice Algorithm Software Ecosystem Expected to Increase Significantly

The massive growth in the voice assistant market has created a vibrant ecosystem and significant opportunities for hardware and software developers. Total voice software unit shipments are expected to increase significantly to 2024, according to SAR Insight & Consulting. The firm latest report forecasts a larger increase in voice software, especially within home devices such as smart speakers, soundbars, smart TVs and smart appliances.

Voice UI chipset specialist DSP Group, and Harman International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, announced their cooperation implementing voice input technology, based on DSP Group’s SmartVoice Audio/voice SoC and HDClear far-field multi-mic algorithms. The cooperation will enable expanding Harman's Sonique Total Voice Solution platform into a new generation of voice-enabled products.

XMOS announced that it has completed the acquisition of Setem Technologies, a pioneer on algorithms that enable separation of voice or conversation signals within a crowded audio environment to achieve optimized input into speech recognition systems. The two companies have been collaborating on next generation voice interfaces and decided upon the combination of the companies to create a leading vendor in the fast-growing application area.

The new miniDSP UMA-8 is a high-performance yet low cost multichannel USB microphone array built around XMOS multicore technology, designed for voice-recognition application development. Seven high-performance MEMS microphones are configured in a circular arrangement to provide high-quality voice capture for a wide range of applications. Leveraging the onboard DSP processing, the UMA-8 supports voice algorithms including beamforming, noise reduction, acoustic echo cancellation and de-reverb.

According to the latest report from SAR Insight & Consulting, strong growth is expected for all voice software, driven by its inclusion in increasing numbers of voice-enabled devices and by the increased use of digital assistants. “SAR has repeatedly discussed the scale and opportunity of the voice tech market,” says Peter Cooney, principal analyst at SAR. “Voice will be the main interface technology for many devices and the opportunities for hardware and software vendors will be huge.”

Audyssey eVR is a complete suite of advanced acoustic and voice algorithms to enable accurate voice recognition and clear voice communication on any device. According to the Los Angeles audio solutions company, this new embeddable platform allows best-in-class far field performance in consumer electronics products that rely on voice-based user interaction. The new Audyssey eVR suite of audio technologies is now available to manufacturers.