Based in Maryland, close to CEVA’s sensor fusion R&D development centre, the VisiSonics spatial audio R&D team and software will help to extend the company’s application software portfolio for embedded systems, and will bolster CEVA’s position in hearables market, where spatial audio is fast becoming a key feature.
Spatial audio is also set to drive innovation in a number of end markets, including gaming, AR/VR, audio conferencing, healthcare, automotive and media entertainment, all which CEVA can further address following this acquisition.
Future Market Insights estimates that the market for 3D audio will grow 4.1X from 2022 to 2032, reaching nearly $32bn in 2032.
Amir Panush, CEO of CEVA, commented, “The acquisition builds on an already strong relationship and allows us to better serve OEMs who wish to enhance the audio experience of their products with a best-in-class immersive spatial audio solution with such world-class providers as THX. The software is market-proven with industry leaders in gaming and hearables and presents us with an opportunity to expand our customer base by delivering on the true potential of this technology, including entry into the burgeoning consumer IoT and automotive markets.”
RealSpace spatial audio rendering software provides accurate digital simulation of real-life, immersive sound and its proprietary algorithms create a realistic aural experience through as little as two-channel stereo audio while supporting full multi-channel and ambisonics.
With dynamic head tracking enabled, the RealSpace user experience can be made even more immersive, as the sound sources are held stationary while the users head is moving, simulating listening experiences in the real world. This allows the user to experience theatre-like sound through headphones or earbuds when watching movies, playing video games or listening to music, podcasts or conference calls.
By integrating VisiSonics’ spatial audio software with CEVA’s MotionEngine sensor fusion software, RealSpace will provide a complete spatial audio solution with dynamic head tracking. This combination can be implemented directly on headphones or earbuds, as it is available as an embedded library for use on wireless audio SoCs and is already ported to both DSPs and Arm Cortex-M class MCUs.
VisiSonics’ partner THX, an audio and video certification and technology company, has utilised this technology in its tools for game developers and music producers, and in advanced THX audio personalisation for headset manufacturers.
