CSR upgrades noise suppression to fifth generation

EDN Europe, 02 Jun 2009

CSR has announced its fifth generation Clear Voice; CVC 5.0 provides audio enhancements and noise suppression to the near and far end; as well as providing packet loss and bit error concealment for an improved user experience when using a Bluetooth headset. CVC 5.0 features in CSR’s new BlueCore ROM mono headset solution BC6140 and as a software feature in BlueCore5-Multimedia. It will also be available on the forthcoming BC6150 chip.
CVC 5.0 is a modular suite of advanced speech processing algorithms that works with both single and dual-microphone headsets, and brings a range of powerful audio enhancement technologies to the near end user, as well as providing excellent speech quality for the far end. A dual-microphone option delivers more than 30dB of dynamic noise suppression in harsh acoustic conditions irrespective of the direction of noise. It also features packet loss and bit error concealment technologies to improve the robustness of incoming wireless audio and mask any break-up in signal caused by surrounding RF interference. Such break-up can come from being close to a ‘noisy’ device such as a microwave oven or simply from cross-body interference.
At the near end the suite of audio enhancements provide a unique noise suppression algorithm to significantly reduce unwanted noise embedded in the received speech. The software also incorporates an adaptive equaliser that improves intelligibility by shaping the received speech to exploit the naturally sensitive areas of the human hearing system. The system is also able to compensate for the background noise the user is experiencing by adapting to external noise levels. An automatic gain control dynamically adjusts the amplitude of the received speech to ensure that the headset user can hear the incoming voice clearly.
CVC 5.0 also provides advanced far end audio enhancements including an acoustic echo canceller to reduce acoustic coupling between the loudspeaker and the microphone.