Audio Foundry Expands Automotive Audio Alliance with BdSound

Audio Foundry, the automotive audio technology collaborative, welcomed BdSound to its alliance of pioneering audio and technology companies. Renowned for their cutting-edge voice technology that enhances in car hands-free calls, communication between cabin passengers, and interaction with voice assistants, BdSound brings world-class expertise in signal processing and embedded software to Audio Foundry’s growing ecosystem.

BdSound and NXP Semiconductors have joined forces to combine advanced audio signal processing and voice technology with NXP's latest automotive SAF9100 audio DSP device. BdSound aims to provide cutting-edge integrations to improve voice user experience in next-generation vehicles, through NXP’s recently announced high-performance SAF9100 audio DSP. This platform features dedicated neural-network engines that BdSound will be able to fully explore.

For this last edition of 2018, audioXpress compiled a Voice Market Update that explores some of the latest developments and platforms for voice processing, with contributed articles from world-renowned experts in voice. The December 2018 edition reviews the ZOTL Ultralinear Power Amplifier from Linear Tube Audio; explains how to explore Soviet Germanium Transistors; and measures new SMT Low-Voltage JFETs. This is an edition you don't want to miss.

From September 12-14, the mobile industry will once again meet in Los Angeles for the 2018 Mobile World Congress Americas. HEAD acoustics, one of the world’s leading software and hardware companies for optimizing voice and audio quality will attend and promises to show its latest measurement technology for voice and audio quality testing at booth S.2618.

In previous editorials, I have highlighted the important role of smart speakers in promoting the user case for voice personal assistants (VPAs) and voice recognition applications - given the ideal combination of far-field microphone arrays with a complete audio ecosystem that encompasses digital signal processing, acoustic echo cancelation, noise cancellation, and many other technologies. This opens significant opportunities for the audio industry, given we understand the challenges.