Belt-mic for phone and in-vehicle communication - Pushing handsfree audio performance to the next level

Abstract

Today's handsfree systems for in-vehicle use have reached their performance limits. With microphone arrays, beam forming and sophistcated handsfree audio processing the physical limits of the applied technology are reached. However the quality of the handsfree audio especially as experienced by the far end listener of the communication link is still poor. With the expected introduction of wide band audio in the cellular network, users will experience superior performance when using their cell phone outside the car. This will further raise the expectations on the handsfree audio quality from vehicles. To overcome the physical limits of today's systems a new approach for placing the microphone in the vehicle is required, with the award winning belt-mic system the signal-to-noise ratio can be substantilly improved by putting the microphone close to the speakers mouth. This also opens the door for in-vehicle communication support, i.e. front to rear seat communication. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.