Intelligent microphones are a prerequisite for a perfect user experience with voice assistants or voice-controlled user interfaces in industrial systems and plants. They also ensure a high level of intelligibility in modern communication systems and in-car infotainment solutions. Their use enables completely new device designs and eliminates the need for a gooseneck microphone. By using INTER connect's beamforming algorithms for microphone arrays, the highest quality voice signals can be captured. This allows devices to be operated by voice from a greater distance, even in the presence of interference or competing speakers.
The vicMICM4 evaluation kit can be used to test a miniaturised beamforming microphone and its spatial noise suppression and speech enhancement capabilities. vicMICM4 consists of a circuit board with four high-quality MEMS microphones and an integrated controller for signal processing. The kit allows the microphone array to be mounted flat behind a device front. Nevertheless, the intelligent combination of the individual microphone signals enables a directional effect to be achieved perpendicular to the front of the housing. This characteristic allows, for example, the optimal detection of a speaker directly in front of the microphone (in the sense of an improvement in range) as well as the suppression of noise coming from the side. The corrected speech signal is output in analog form or via the USB interface.