Vesper, a global MEMS supplier of the most advanced piezoelectric sensors, today introduced the VA1200, the world’s first analog piezoelectric voice accelerometer (a.k.a. bone conduction sensor). It is a disruptive, low-power vibration sensor that enables high-fidelity Voice Pickup (VPU) in TWS applications.
The VA1200 comes in a tiny package (2.90×2.76×0.9mm3). It reduces design time and design complexity, making it very easy to integrate into in-ear hearable products. The VA1200 offers the best combination of low power, low cost, and high performance available on the market. The VA1200 extends Vesper’s technology leadership in the rapidly growing wearable consumer market.
Working Principle
The VA1200 picks up the vibration of the user’s voice through the skull. It filters out background noises such as wind noise, music, subway noise and crowd noise. Unlike a traditional microphone, the VA1200 is completely immune to ambient sounds, and only picks up the user’s voice.
The VA1200 is the first non-microphone product based on Vesper’s patented piezoelectric MEMS transducer technology, which leads the industry for quality, robustness and performance. This validates that Vesper’s piezoelectric MEMS technology platform can be used for a broad array of sensor types.
“Existing earbuds rely heavily on mic arrays and algorithms to suppress environmental noise during voice calls. Unfortunately, many products available on the market provide poor speech intelligibility and speech quality when exposed to challenging noisy environments. As a result, the user experiences poor voice-call quality. The VA1200 solves this issue at a compelling price point.” said Roberto Condorelli, Senior Director of Marketing at Vesper. “This technology will enable a new class of products such as earbuds, TWS, smartframes, smartglasses, headsets, and more. For Vesper, it represents a stepping stone towards full AR/VR applications which require more sensor miniaturization and integration. Vesper is already engaged with leading customers and partners who plan to roll out products using the VA1200 this year.”
Target applications for the VA1200 includes: Earbuds, TWS (True Wireless Stereo), VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), Smartframes and Smartglasses.
VA1200’s disruptive features in the TWS application: High-Fidelity VPU, Automute™, Tap Detection, Voice Authentication.