CEVA, Inc (NASDAQ: CEVA), a licensor of wireless connectivity and smart sensing technologies, and Bragi GmbH, a technology company based in Munich, Germany, announced a strategic collaboration to drive a new class of hearable devices where the user experience is “customizable via the industry’s first hearable app store.” Target devices include headsets, hearing aids, True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds, and a host of other smart audio devices for the consumer and the smart home.
According to the companies’ announcement, the partnership takes advantage of the low power, CEVA-BX DSP architecture, along with its LLVM compiler and Eclipse based development tool chain, and Bragi 4, a newly defined operating system (OS) specialized for hearables. In conjunction with Bragi 4 OS, Bragi’s patented commercial app store will “help enable technology partners and experts to offer software apps and services such as voice activation, voice biometric, audio post processing, and music services.” These software packages can be licensed and downloaded directly to devices based on this architecture, allowing individuals to personalize their hearables user experience. CEVA will also offer a range of its value-added software via the Bragi app store, including ClearVox for noise reduction, WhisPro for speech recognition, MotionEngine for sensor fusion, and the SenslinQ framework for contextual awareness.
“Imagine buying headphones that adapt according to the needs of the user. Purchase noise-canceling software just before boarding a plane,” said Nikolaj Hviid, Founder and CEO of Bragi. “Encrypt communication data for sensitive business conversations. Discover that you hear better with voice amplification through try-to-buy offers. On business travel, use your headphones to translate from Chinese into English. Add a feature that alerts someone if your headphones detect you’ve fallen over. The possibilities are endless.”
Through this collaboration, “hearables and other smart audio devices will transform in the same way as the mobile phone industry in the ’00s, by replacing single-purpose feature products with flexible products capable of adapting their functionalities to the users through post-purchase apps and services.”
“Our collaboration with Bragi brings a game-changing approach to the design of hearables and other audio devices, where the user experience can be adapted, instantaneously,” said Moshe Sheier, Vice President of Marketing at CEVA. “Our CEVA-BX audio DSPs, voice processing and motion sensing software, and SenslinQ context-aware framework perfectly complement Bragi’s OS and unique capabilities in providing a direct channel for OEMs and ODMs to offer a customizable user experience to consumers through enhanced software and services.”
For customers wishing to integrate wireless connectivity into their SoC design, CEVA provides Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and NB-IoT solutions, including the latest Bluetooth LE Audio standard. Any of these technologies can be seamlessly integrated into a SoC design and linked together with the audio offerings via the SenslinQ framework. For further information, visit: https://www.ceva-dsp.com/product/ceva-senslinq/.
Source: CEVA, Bragi GmbH
Images: CEVA, Bragi GmbH
