[May 06, 2014]

Conexant to Bring Nuance Voice-Enabled, Wake-Up Capability to Everything from Smart TVs to Home Appliances - and More

Conexant Systems Inc. has partnered with Nuance Communications, Inc., a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world, to integrate Nuance (News - Alert) Wake-Up-Word technology into its voice input processors. Nuance's low-power, speech recognition engine, or 'Wake-Up-Word' technology, coupled with Conexant's technology enables appliances to wake-up with a voice command - even while the appliance is powered off. This integration offers a highly-accurate, robust way to control televisions and other smart home appliances, even in distant speaker or far-field conditions where the user is not close to the device.

An audio and imaging innovation leader, Conexant offers the industry's only far-field voice input processing chip solution in production today that is capable of functioning at a distance of up to five meters (5m). The partnership with Nuance is significant as voice interfaces continue to grow in popularity in a variety of smart home appliances, mobile devices, gaming consoles, automobiles, and wearable computing - creating a world of intelligent systems that listen, understand and engage on a human level.

"It's important to understand that when we talk about far-field 5m conditions, we mean that users can use their voice as a natural extension of the user interface from across the room - not just at arm's length away," said Saleel Awsare, Conexant vice president and general manager. "In the future, Conexant's audio solutions will enable voice control of everything from tablets to home appliances, even at a distance."

Conexant adio processors, combined with Nuance Wake-Up-Word technology, create context-aware, voice-enabled devices. Additionally, the solution meets worldwide energy conservation requirements due to its low-power state. Nuance Wake-Up-Word technology consists of speech recognition, natural language understanding and a content ecosystem of Nuance Cloud Services that enable manufacturers, service providers, carriers and developers to create unique mobile experiences across devices and platforms, and in more than 40 languages.

"Our partnership with Conexant is particularly exciting, because we share a vision where people can connect with their devices on their own terms and, ultimately, on a more a human level," said Michael Thompson (News - Alert), senior vice president and general manager, Mobile Division, Nuance.

Conexant Far-Field 5M Technology

Current voice processing solutions are optimized for phones being held within a few centimeters of the user's mouth (near-field conditions). Today, people communicate through and control a broader range of connected devices, where the device will not likely be held close to the user's mouth and in environments where the surrounding noise level may be high. In these situations, where traditional near-field voice processing solutions fail, Conexant's AudioSmart^TM far-field voice processing solution mitigates the effects of these challenging conditions and enables the clear voice communication and accurate speech control that users expect.

About Nuance

Nuance Communications (News - Alert), Inc. is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with devices and systems. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

About Conexant

Conexant Systems (News - Alert), Inc., an audio and imaging innovation leader, combines its significant IP portfolio in DSP and mixed signal technology with embedded software to deliver highly innovative software and silicon solutions to enrich and expand audio and imaging capabilities. Both enterprise and consumer markets are addressed by Conexant's AudioSmart^TM and ImagingSmart^TM solutions. Products with the company's technology built-in include PCs, tablet computers, smart phones, TVs, headsets, printers, video monitors, game consoles and a variety of other devices. Founded in 1999, Conexant is a privately-held fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Irvine, Calif. with offices worldwide and design centers in the U.S. and Asia. To learn more, please visit www.conexant.com, follow them on LinkedIn and like them on Facebook.

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