HARMAN Embedded Audio, a business unit of HARMAN International and a global manufacturer of audio technologies, has announced its ClariVoice, far-field voice capture innovation software that is designed to enhance the conference room meeting experience by optimizing audio for intimate conference room environments.
HARMAN Embedded Audio states this new technology improves the virtual conference room audio experience by integrating accurate voice capture and crystal clear sound quality, precise enough to make it sound like the participants are in-person. HARMAN ClariVoice will be embedded in a voice solution conference speakerphone with algorithms that are purpose-designed for challenging acoustic environments that include:
- Stereo Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC): removes echo from the microphone audio input and enables to detect voice signals even when high-volume audio is playing through the product, enabling barge-in across the audio stream.
- Adaptive Beamformer: identifies the ‘Direction of Arrival’ and isolates the voice of interest. This can be read to the host processor or, in a conference calling application, converted into LEDs to indicate who is speaking.
- Echo and Noise Suppression: nulls stationary and non-stationary diffuse noise sources and enables accurate, consistent voice detection. For example air-conditioning and road noise where the frequency characteristics don’t change over time.
- Automatic Gain Control (AGC): tunes the output channels for best results, whether that’s for an Automatic Speech Recognition Service (ASR) or communications.
- De-reverberation: effects of reverberation are removed from sound that has picked up by microphone.
These features and algorithms work in tandem to ‘clean up’ the voice signal for automatic speech recognition systems and optimize them for the human ear in conference calling solutions.
“Our ears automatically tune out background noise to focus on and amplify the sound we want to hear, but a microphone captures the whole soundscape – including all the surrounding, unwanted noise such as conversation, traffic noise, appliances, air-conditioning, birdsong and dogs barking,” says Bruce Ryan, director of engineering for HARMAN Embedded Audio at HARMAN International.
“As the workplace continues to transform, we knew it was critical to develop an audio technology that worked just as our ears do where listeners can close their eyes and truly feel as though they are in-person with their colleagues.”
The company adds ClariVoice is available to be implemented in upcoming voice solutions with 360-degree voice pickup, plug and play connectivity, universal capability and high fidelity sound.
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