Background

The personal noise reduction is a new approach for identifying and removing ambient noise in telephony. As explained in a previous post, the personal noise reduction is superior to any existing approaches for noise reduction. In this post we will discuss different usage scenarios for mobile phones.

Filtering outgoing audio (Tx) in handheld mode

In handheld mode, there are common techniques for noise removal that utilize multiple microphones and/or sensors. The personal noise reduction can improve audio quality on top of these existing techniques.

Handheld mode

The most strait forward integration in this scenario is by keeping the phone’s structure as-is and simply adding the personal noise reduction to the audio path.

SoliCall for Tx audio in handheld mode

Filtering outgoing audio (Tx) in hands-free (speakerphone) mode

The usage of hands-free mode is very common in many scenarios: during driving, during video calls, etc. When the phone is used in hands-free mode, the existing noise reduction solutions are very limited and provide very poor results. In such case the personal noise reduction, when added to the audio path, improves the audio quality in an order of magnitude.

Hands-free mode in a video call

Filtering incoming audio (Rx)

The audio that the mobile phone user hears coming from the other side (the far-end) might be noisy depending on the location of the far-end and the quality of their phone. For example if the far-end is located in a dance club or a noisy street, the mobile phone user will probably hear a lot of ambient noise coming from the far-end.  The Personal NR can significantly improve the quality of the audio that is being heard. The algorithm will automatically select a personal profile based on the Caller-ID.  As a result, the user of the phone experiences a significantly improved  audio quality.

SoliCall for Rx audio

Conclusion

The Personal Noise Reduction is a unique technology that can improve audio quality for mobile phones in many scenarios. The personal NR can be combined with any existing NR solution or it can be used as a stand-alone NR solution.