Voice Enhancement

VoiceDefender™

VoiceDefender™ 2x2 microphone array technology enables superior, Microsoft Teams certified voice transmission clarity for OTH headphones.

About VoiceDefender™

Bluetooth headphones have come a long way since the first A2DP stereo headset hit the market in 2004. But while today’s headphones are leaps and bounds ahead in terms of sound quality, comfort, and battery life, they often fall short of our expectations when it comes to voice processing. The ability to make clear, noise-free voice calls from any environment is no longer seen as a “nice to have” feature – it is a “must-have” capability.

If you want to elevate voice quality from "afterthought" to "Amazing!" on your upcoming headphones product, look no further: Alango VoiceDefender™ can help. An advanced voice processing technology for on-ear and over-ear headphones, VoiceDefender employs adaptive directional beamforming on 4 microphone signals (2 per ear). Compared to dual-mic beamforming on a single earcup, VoiceDefender adds an additional dimension of voice pickup. A combination of end-fire and broadside beamforming is used to create a single enhanced output, providing a sphere of voice preservation. This ensures clear transmission of the user’s voice even in high noise or windy conditions, as can be heard in the audio examples below.

VoiceDefender incorporates Alango’s echo cancellation and multi-microphone noise reduction technologies, equalization, and gains management technologies. This makes VoiceDefender a complete solution for enabling unparalleled voice quality in headphones. With VoiceDefender, the clarity of voice pickup in multiple environments can become a distinguishing feature of your next product and a competitive advantage in a crowded market.

Audio Examples

Additional Technologies for Headphones

AUTOMATIC VOLUME & EQUALIZATION

AVQ empowers headphones to offer a comfortable listening experience in conditions with dynamically changing background noise. Using the device microphone, AVQ continuously analyzes both the level and spectrum of ambient noise in the user’s environment. Accordingly, AVQ amplifies and equalizes the music to provide equal perceptual loudness, intelligibility, and sound coloration in conditions where noise level and spectrum change dynamically. The technology can be used for music as well as phone calls and greatly improves the listening experience in mobile conditions.

TECHNOLOGIES → Audio Enhancement → Automatic Volume & Equalization

LISTENTHROUGH™

ListenThrough is a smart algorithm for headphones that adds environmental alertness during music playback. ListenThrough filters in important environmental sounds (such as alarm, car horn, train, etc.), which are then amplified and mixed with the music. Unlike simple “transparency mode” algorithms, ListenThrough does not let every sound in. It also filters out constant-level background noise, thus allowing the user to be aware of their surroundings while still maintaining the sound isolation provided by the headphones.

TECHNOLOGIES → Audio Enhancement → ListenThrough™

VOICE ACTIVITY DETECTION

Alango’s Voice Activity Detection (VAD) technology reliably detects human speech in an acoustic signal. The technology is based on a proprietary, high-resolution spectral noise estimation algorithm operating in real time. VAD’s sensitivity level is adjustable and ensures minimization of false positive detections in a presence of background noise and other non-speech sounds. In headphone applications, VAD enables always-on voice detection at low standby power by allowing MIPS-heavy signal processing to “sleep” until voice is detected.

TECHNOLOGIES → Voice Enhancement → Voice Activity Detection

Alango Sound Effect Normalization (SEN) technology has been developed to improve speech intelligibility in movies through de-emphasis of background sounds and music - reducing listening fatigue for the headphones user.

TECHNOLOGIES → Voice Enhancement → VoiceFirst™

Learn More

VoiceDefender™ (PDF)

VoiceDefender™ (Simplified Chinese. PDF)