Sonion Combines Voice Pick Up Bone Sensor With Qualcomm Bluetooth SoC to Improve Speech Intelligibility

Sonion, the manufacturer of components and solutions for hearing aids and in-ear headphones, announced that it is now a member of the Qualcomm Extension Program and will offer the Sonion Voice Pick Up Bone Sensor on the Qualcomm Ultra-Low Power QCC5100 Bluetooth SoC series in Q1 2020. The combination will allow other audio manufacturers to implement reliable voice quality and voice recognition applications that are not hindered by surrounding noise.

Consumer appetite for premium headphones continues to grow, with global revenues rising five times faster than shipments in Q1 2019, according to the latest market tracker report from Futuresource Consulting. As the CE Team at Futuresource highlights in its latest update of the Worldwide Headphone Market Report, headphone market revenues have reached $5.9 billion. True wireless maintained its ascendance, outperforming all other form factors with growth of 223% in units and 188% in value.

Creative Technology has been investing considerably in new classes of personal audio products and now they announced the launch of its first true wireless in-ear headphones, the Creative Outlier Air. These combine long-lasting battery life, boasting a playtime of up to 30 hours with the charging case, a 5.6 mm graphene driver diaphragm and a Bluetooth 5.0 implementation with aptX and AAC audio support. The Outlier Air is also certified IPX5 water-resistant with a comfortable fit for all-day wear. All at an irresistible price of $119.

Beats is an Apple-owned company. As Beats benefits increasingly - and exclusively - from Apple's own technologies and developments, this also means that we get new Beats products after Apple's own releases. So, the new Powerbeats Pro are unveiled after the second-generation AirPods, because they use the same H1 wireless chip. Otherwise, they are Beats first true wireless, and a totally different product.

Scottish headphone brand RHA has confirmed the launch of its first true wireless earbuds, the TrueConnect. Engineered for high quality sound and call quality with 25-hour battery life (5+20) and IPX5 rating, the new RHA TrueConnect earbuds are designed to deliver wireless audio all day, whatever the weather. With an ergonomic stem design, the RHA earbuds are truly unique, leveraging the combination of the latest Bluetooth 5 technology, a dynamic driver and USB-C charging.