Author - Jerry Paxton

MEMS audio and semiconductor pioneer xMEMS Labs today announced an innovative reference design for the fast-growing sleep buds product segment that will be available for demonstration at CES 2024 (Venetian Suite 29-235) from January 9-12 in Las Vegas.

The reference design utilizes the company’s patented Skyline DynamicVent technology to deliver improved comfort and automatic ambient control using a physical vent and DSP noise detection.

According to xMEMS VP of Marketing and Business Development Mike Housholder, the purpose of the design is to demonstrate how such technologies can power a new generation of sleep buds that provide sound isolation with closed vents to assist sleep, while also enabling enhanced comfort through open vents when ambient noise is low.

“Today’s sleep buds typically rely on noise masking sounds from a legacy coil speaker and noise blocking from a silicone or foam eartip,” Housholder said. “However, these eartips occlude the ear and amplify self-generated noises such as your own breathing, snoring or your ear rubbing against the pillow. Our Skyline DynamicVent leverages a noise-detecting microphone and DSP to vent the ear and reduce these occlusion effects that could disrupt sleep. But when outside noise is detected, the vent will close to achieve the best noise isolation. All told, this technology takes the sleep buds category to new levels of usability and more importantly, comfort.”

Skyline can be closed for superior noise blocking, or opened to vent the ear and reduce occlusion effects. If required, during times of louder noises, xMEMS’ Cowell MEMS micro speaker can also be turned on to provide noise-masking sounds that work in conjunction with the noise blocking eartips and closed vent.

The reference design is available to xMEMS partners, customers and equipment manufacturers to serve as a starting point for their own product innovations. The design consists of a pair of tiny wireless earbuds and a charging case, similar to consumer true wireless earbuds. Inside the earbuds are the xMEMS Cowell micro speaker, the Skyline DynamicVent, a MEMS microphone and a Qualcomm QCC5171 true wireless stereo system-on-chip for Bluetooth connectivity and DSP functions.

Attendees who visit the xMEMS suite at CES 2024 will also get to experience other revolutionary solutions, including:

• Cypress: World’s first ultrasonic amplitude modulation speaker to achieve >140dB low frequency SPL for ANC True Wireless Stereo earbuds. (By appointment only)
• Presidio: Two-way, over-ear headphone reference design using a 35mm dynamic driver for bass and xMEMS Cowell or Montara Plus as a tweeter for superior mids and highs. Both xMEMS products provide high speed and phase coherence to significantly improve the soundstage and ensure pinpoint positioning of individual instruments for music or background sound effects for modern gaming.
• 2-way true wireless earbuds: Creative Aurvana Ace2 and Noble Audio Falcon Max using xMEMS Cowell tweeter.
• Cowell is the world’s smallest solid-state micro speaker and delivers superior high-frequency response and clarity, plus a wider sound stage, for TWS earphones and hearing aids. Montara Plus, the world’s highest output MEMS micro speaker, is capable of sound pressure levels up to 120 dB @ 200 Hz, making it an ideal full-bandwidth transducer for audiophile-grade in-ear monitors and high-end over-ear headphones.

“CES is the premiere destination to launch and demo the technologies that will shape not only the products we buy, but the processes behind how those products are produced,” Housholder concluded. “Through sleep buds and various other reference designs at CES 2024, xMEMS is demonstrating how our world-first all-silicon, monolithic MEMS micro speakers and DynamicVent products deliver exceptional sound quality, comfort, and style for consumers, while unlocking new efficiencies for manufacturers through our solid state semiconductor manufacturing process – which delivers a better sounding speaker with far greater production efficiency and product uniformity.”

For more information about xMEMS and its solid-state fidelity solutions, visit xmems.com.