CEVA, Inc., a licensor of wireless connectivity and smart sensing technologies and custom SoC solutions, has announced the acquisition of the RealSpace 3D Spatial Audio business, technology and patents from VisiSonics Corporation. The acquisition will expand CEVA’s software portfolio for embedded systems where hearables are demanding spatial audio.
Spatial audio will also drive innovation in many other 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 [$31.9 billion (€29.62 billion)] in 2032.
Amir Panush, CEO of CEVA, comments “The acquisition of the VisiSonics’ spatial audio software and business 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 Ltd. 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 the accurate digital simulation of real-life, sound in the industry. Its proprietary algorithms create a realistic aural experience through as little as two-channel stereo audio while supporting full multi-channel and ambisonics. With head tracking enabled, the RealSpace user experience high performance, 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 theater-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 provides a complete spatial audio solution with 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. This gives OEMs and semiconductor companies a simple way of incorporating high performance spatial audio with precise head tracking in their products, with low power and minimal system requirements.
Ramani Duraiswami, founder and chief executive officer of VisiSonics, states “For more than a decade, we have pushed the boundaries of innovation in the areas of capture, rendering, and personalising spatial audio to create our spatial audio software. Now as spatial audio is set to become mainstream, CEVA is the right company to take our technology forward and fully exploit its potential through their global presence and synergistic technologies, and with key partners like THX Ltd.”
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. Also, CEVA and VisiSonics collaborated to bring the complete RealSpace spatial audio solution to boAt, India’s hearable and wearables company, as they announced their initial spatial audio headphones with head tracking – boAt Nirvana Eutopia – earlier this year.
Chief executive officer of THX Ltd, Jason Fiber, adds “We have enjoyed a successful relationship with the VisiSonics 3D spatial audio team, incorporating their leading-edge software into our spatial audio solutions for gaming, music, and hearables. CEVA is an ideal company to work with THX to take spatial audio solutions to the next level given its synergistic voice, audio and sensor fusion solutions and embedded systems expertise. I look forward to working with CEVA to create further enhanced entertainment experiences for our customers.”
For more information on CEVA’s RealSpace spatial audio solution, visit CEVA. For further information about THX, please visit THX.
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