Personalized listening – Alango Technologies on Snapdragon S7 and S5 Gen 1 Sound Platforms

If you design or manufacture audio products, you may remember my post last year about Alango Technologies. Their software takes advantage of the digital signal processor (DSP) on Qualcomm Technologies’ hardware, enabling you to build their high-quality voice communication and audio experiences into your products. Alango ported their sound processing software to our system-on-chips (SoCs) and started offering their SonicVibrance audio enhancement suite on the Qualcomm® QCC5100™ series.

Now, Alango has ported their DSP software to Snapdragon® Bluetooth audio SoCs: the Snapdragon® S7 and S7+ Gen 1 Sound Platforms, and the Snapdragon® S5 Gen 1 Sound Platform. With the porting and optimization work they’ve done, you can offer your customers noise-free voice calls, clearer sound in noisy environments and customizable settings for personalized hearing amplification.

Here’s a look at those audio SoCs and more details on the Alango features now available on them.

Snapdragon Sound Platforms

Consumers are using wireless audio devices more often and for longer periods of time. For almost three out of four users, it’s a priority to ensure that sound quality on those devices improves with every purchase. But they want the devices optimized for multiple use cases so they don’t need specific devices for each activity.

Our line of Snapdragon audio SoCs gives you the flexibility to meet your customers’ needs at different tiers.

• Snapdragon S7 Gen 1 Sound Platforms – Designed for the premium tier of audio performance, these platforms offer up to 6 times more compute power, almost 100 times the AI power of our previous-generation platforms and a low-latency DSP. With 4th-generation Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), Hearing Loss Compensation and personal sound amplification, users can focus their hearing even in extremely noisy environments. The Snapdragon S7+ Gen 1 Sound Platform adds Qualcomm XPAN® technology to keep audio devices connected over Wi-Fi, far beyond the range of Bluetooth, while maintaining ultra-low power.
• Snapdragon S5 Gen 1 Sound Platform – For use cases including music listening, gaming and enterprise, this platform can offer rich and immersive sound with optimal power consumption for premium earbuds, headphones and speakers.
• Snapdragon S3 Gen 1 Sound Platform – Optimized for mid-tier earbuds, speakers and headsets, this platform is designed as a unique way for audio OEMs to differentiate and shorten time to market. Developers can enjoy access to and support for features including AI, hearing enhancement, echo cancellation and noise suppression, plus spatial audio.

Those platforms join the existing Qualcomm® S5 Gen 2 Sound Platform and Qualcomm® S3 Sound Platform.

Alango enhancements for Snapdragon Sound series

Alango’s enhancements take advantage of the DSP in the Snapdragon S7 Gen 1 Sound Platforms and Snapdragon S5 Gen 1 Sound Platform described above. The enhancements give you access to features in several areas of audio experience.

Voice enhancement

• The Voice Communication Package ensures high-quality, full-duplex, noise-free communication in varied environments, making conversations clear and seamless.
• OnlyVoice for true wireless earbuds combines advanced beamforming technology and an internal bone conduction vibration sensor or microphone to isolate and preserve the speaker's voice.
• VoiceDefender for headphones uses multi-microphone array processing to create a zone of voice capture and preservation, enabling clear voice transmission.
• EasyListen dynamically slows down incoming speech in real-time during phone calls or podcasts to enhance naturalness and intelligibility. It works with Western and Eastern tonal languages.

Audio enhancement

• As described in my earlier post, SonicVibrance enriches the audio experience by dynamically enhancing perceived audio quality, allowing flexible adjustments that result in undistorted, natural sound.
• Automatic Volume & eQualization Control ensures consistent loudness and intelligibility under dynamically changing conditions by modifying the loudspeaker signal according to the level and spectrum of ambient noise.
• Multi-Channel Dynamic Range Processor works not only on individual frequency sub-bands but also on the entire audio signal. It is essential for true sound personalization and hearing-loss compensation.
• VoiceFirst technology enhances speech intelligibility in movies, shows and sporting events by suppressing background audio effects and music. The results are improved clarity of dialogue and reduced user fatigue.

Personalized Amplified Transparency

• ListenThrough is a smart sound transparency technology for earbuds and headphones. While suppressing background noise, it preserves and amplifies important ambient sounds like car sirens and announcements even during loud audio playback.
• SirenSense technology helps people with impaired hearing by detecting sirens in real time. The headphone volume is then lowered and transparency mode enabled so users can promptly be alerted and act.
• The Hearing Enhancement Package presents consumer-tested, personalized hearing amplification technology for people with mild to moderate hearing impairment. The software suite empowers users to effortlessly customize and fine-tune their hearing amplification within minutes, after which sounds are tailored to the user's hearing profile.

Alango Sound Processing Module (ASPM)

The ASPM serves as a cost-effective platform for developing and testing applications on the Snapdragon S7 Gen 1 Sound Platforms and the Snapdragon S5 Gen 1 Sound Platform. It also supports rapid deployment of advanced audio features without custom sound engineering. The ASPM is ideal for designers and manufacturers of devices such as conference phones, headphones and Bluetooth speakers, allowing them to tune, evaluate and test the module thoroughly.

Next steps

Want to find out more? The combination of Alango’s software and Qualcomm Technologies’ hardware is typical of what you can expect from the Qualcomm® Voice and Music Extension Program. Alango is a long-time member of the program and one of the first software providers to port their enhancements to our Bluetooth audio SoCs.

The program is designed for OEMs and developers like you who want to differentiate their product offerings. It features innovative technologies that are optimized to complement and enhance the latest Snapdragon S7 Gen 1, S5 Gen 1 and S3 Gen 1 Sound platforms, and the existing Qualcomm S5 and S3 Sound platforms. You can join for free and start participating to get increased access to Qualcomm’s broad base of OEM customers and direct support from our audio engineers.

Meanwhile, join our Developer Discord for more insights on voice, music and audio, plus real-time conversations with fellow developers and our technical experts.