Hands-free mobile and video calls with exceptional speaker quality

Wolfson’s Ez2 grouptalk delivers an outstanding hands-free speakerphone calling experience from a smartphone or tablet computer, something that was previously only possible on a table-top speakerphone device. Whether it is on a one-to-one call or on a group call, Ez2 grouptalk software enables those speaking on a hands-free call to move up to five metres away from the device and their voices will be picked up perfectly clearly. During a group situation, such as a conference call, acoustic echo cancellation, noise suppression and acoustic gain control help track the voice of the strongest speaker on the call at any one time, so that they can be clearly heard by those on the other end of the call, regardless of external environment noise, resulting in rich, clear conversations.

Wolfson’s Ez2 facetalk enables outstanding audio quality during video calls on smartphones, tablets and also PCs and TVs, ideal when in a noisy office or living room, for example. Beam forming technology ensures that the focus is on the person speaking and suppresses noise sources outside the beam, while full duplex echo cancellation enables natural two-way conversations, up to one metre away from the smartphone, tablet, PC or TV.

Stephen Evans, VP of Software at Wolfson Microelectronics commented: “Hands-free voice calling on smartphones and tablets using the speakerphone facility is becoming increasingly common in the home, office and outdoors. However, the audio quality from this facility in these devices is traditionally rather poor, especially in comparison to a standard office speakerphone device. External background noise tends to drown out the voice of the person speaking, or the audio isn’t picked up if the person moves even a few feet away from the device. Similar issues can also affect the audio during video calls on smartphones and, tablets, as well as on PCs and TVs.

“Wolfson’s Ez2 grouptalk is an important breakthrough which provides the ideal solution to these traditional speakerphone issues, resulting in perfectly natural conversations from up to five metres from the device, free of external noise, while Ez2 facetalk enables the ultimate audio and video calling experience on speaker mode.”

Ez2 grouptalk and Ez2 facetalk are designed for use with Wolfson’s micro-electro-mechanical systems microphones. The software is configurable for two and four microphones and tunable for different microphone positions.

Ez2 grouptalk and Ez2 facetalk are the latest software features to be introduced from Wolfson’s Ez2 software collection, supporting the four HD Audio solutions categories: HD Audio Voice, HD Audio Playback, HD Audio Capture and HD Audio Share, which uniquely combine to provide a complete ‘mouth-to-ear’ audio experience.

HD Audio Voice features advanced noise cancelling techniques, including Wolfson’s previously announced Ez2 hear Rx ANC, to enable exceptionally crisp and clear voice calls in any environment; HD Audio Playback, using Ez2 listen, includes many sound enhancement features, for example, 5.1 Virtual Surround Sound, base and treble boost to allow audio to be enjoyed at the highest quality; HD Audio Capture enables voice and gesture control of smart devices using Wolfson’s previously announced Ez2 control, and hi-fi audio recording on mobile devices in all environments, for example, at home, outside and even in a noisy venue like a club or concert; and HD Audio Share, using Wolfson’s Ez2 grouptalk and Ez2 facetalk, which enables mobile phones, tablet computers, personal computers or televisions to be used in speaker mode for ultra-high quality mobile or internet conference calls for individual one-to-one calls, or for calls in a large conference room or living room with multiple people.