Electrostatic Pure Silicon Microspeakers for Wireless Earbuds

This contributed article by Hermann Schenk, and Lutz Ehrig describes a new transducer technology that promises to be a power efficient solution for wireless earbuds. Arioso Systems is a successful Fraunhofer IPMS spin-off company that is now launching an innovative sound transducer principle for miniaturized headphones, in-ears and hearables. The article describes how this new technology, and specifically the company's new MEMS topology can contribute to the next-generation of true wireless earbuds.

Following a year of private demonstrations of its novel MEMS speaker design, xMEMS Labs is now coming out of stealth mode with is first piezo-MEMS speaker. Montara is the name for what the company claims to be "the world’s first true MEMS speaker," using a monolithic process that eliminates calibration and driver matching, and is SMT-ready. Montara also offers full-bandwidth (20Hz-20kHz), and is fully water, dust and shock resistant.

When both Amazon and Microsoft promoted their own designs and vision for the true wireless earbuds category, what I found most interesting about Microsoft's Surface Earbuds was the design itself. Yes, they have that big round surface that will confer a distinct "iconic" look to the user - just like the AirPods do in a different way - but inside they also use the loose-fit design that Apple adopted since the EarPods (and which Bose pioneered). Just like Apple's design, they do not go inside the ear and do not completely block the ear canal.