STMicroelectronics has announced its latest headphone-focused UI chip, the LSM6DSV16BX, an integrated product that is intended to replace 2 or more components in a TWS device.
This combines 3-axis wide band accelerometer and 3-axis gyroscope with an audio accelerometer, electrostatic sensor (Qvar) and processing. It enables multiple functions needed in many TWS devices:
- Bone conduction for voice activity detection (audio accelerometer)
- Activity monitoring (wide band accelerometer, and gyro)
- Headtracking for 3D audio (gyro)
- User gestures (wide band accelerometer, and Qvar)
- In ear detection (Qvar)
All of this with a large saving in power and chip size, which can enable smaller TWS form factor with smaller batteries, longer battery life (or a combination of both).
In recent research, SAR Insight has shown that bone conduction for voice communication is enabled in most high-end TWS devices and many devices in the mid-range. This market need is only expected to grow with the increased demand for Extended Reality Devices (XR) to supplement MEMS microphone audio pickup.
STM has dominated the market for bone conduction sensors but there is increased competition in the market.
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