Bosch Launches World’s Smallest MEMS Accelerometers for Wearables and Hearables

Meeting the market momentum for hearables that combine bone conduction, Bosch Sensortec has announced the new BMA530 and BMA580 MEMS accelerometers, currently the world’s smallest devices of this type, with just 1.2 x 0.8 x 0.55mm³. This is also an easy-to-integrate variant with voice activity detection, saving power and extending battery life, while allowing advanced audio processing features.

Bosch Sensortec announced the acquisition of Arioso Systems, the Fraunhofer IPMS spin-off company that developed its own innovative sound transducer principle for miniaturized MEMS microspeakers based on the patented Nanoscopic Electrostatic Drive (NED) principle. With this acquisition Bosch expands from MEMS microphones to the attractive market segment of silicon microspeakers, soon to be at the core of new generation true wireless hearables.

In the wake of the acquisition of the Hillcrest Laboratories (Hillcrest Labs) business from InterDigital in mid-2019, CEVA now introduced the Hillcrest Labs MotionEngine Hear, a sensor and processor agnostic embedded software solution for hearable devices. The new solution allows SoC vendors, OEMs and ODMs to take advantage of a configurable sensor fusion platform to add intuitive user interface, gesture control, activity tracking and spatial audio capabilities to hearable devices.