Akustica unveiled a new family of high-definition (HD) micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) microphones said to cater to a wide swath of consumer electronics applications Target markets include ever segment of the consumer electronics market including smartphones, tablets, laptops and hybrid convertibles straddling the tablet/laptop fence.
Wireless carriers are driving the need to build HD voice capabilities into new handsets. Conversations over low-noise wideband audio channels can enhance the user experience, making you feel almost like you're there.
20 carriers have announced support for wideband audio, including Sprint in the U.S. Most of the other 220 carriers worldwide are following suit, many in 2013.
HD audio channels are already widely used in audio conferencing devices and by voice-over-IP (VoIP) carriers. But with HD audio going global over conventional carrier voice channels, wideband capabilities will need to become standard equipment on future handsets. And for any electronic device, HD voice begins with the microphone.
Akustica has tried to meet needs of all the different types of HD audio devices with a line of four different models: two analog mics (AKU142 and AKU342) for legacy designs, and two digital mics (AKU240 and AKU440) for next-generation handsets, tablets, laptops and convertibles. Whether designers choose analog or digital, each can also be ordered with either top- or bottom-port configurations.
All four models (analog/top, analog/bottom, digital/top, digital/bottom) are plug-compatible with existing MEMS microphone pin-outs, making them drop-in replacements for redesigning HD wideband voice capabilities into existing handset models.
All four MEMS mics provide a 63 dB signal-to-noise ratio and flat frequency response from 50-Hz to 14-kHz. Multiple microphone arrays are matched to within plus or minus 2-dB. Packages are 3-by-4 and 2.95-by-3.76 millimeters for digital and analog models, respectively.
The AKU142, AKU342, AKU240 and AKU440 are currently sampling to lead customers, and will be ramping to mass production in Q1 2013.
