Acoustic Technologies Raises $13.8M in Funding for SoundClear Full-Duplex Voice Clarity Products Used in Cellular Handsets and Hands-Free Speakerphone Applications.Business Editors MESA, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2003 Acoustic Technologies, a developer of high-quality full-duplex communication software and ICs for cellular, Bluetooth, VoIP, and other telephony products, today announced it has closed on $13.8 million in its third round of funding. The cash will be used to fund additional new product development and to grow sales and technical support resources to respond to the increasing demand for the company's new products. "Acoustic's SoundClear products for improved voice quality offer a unique value proposition to makers of cellular handsets, hands-free car kits, and other speakerphone-enabled telephone products," commented Bill Turner William R. "Bill" Turner (born February 18, 1944) is an American 6'7" retired American professional National Basketball Association player. Turner played college basketball at University of Akron. , managing director and co-founder of Signature Capital Management, LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control . "Like Acoustic's customers, our investor network saw the value and responded by purchasing all shares offered. We are delighted to work with Acoustic Technologies and help raise the capital they need to grow their business." "We believe our business is poised for rapid revenue growth as we move our products from development to design-in and production. Customer activity is high, especially with cellular handset The part of the telephone that contains the speaker and the microphone. On a desktop phone, the part you hold in your hand is the handset. On a cellphone, the entire phone is the handset. See multihandset cordless and headset. vendors, and the additional capital should fund us through business development and production ramp," said Samuel Thomasson, president and chief executive officer, Acoustic Technologies Inc. "Signature Capital has an impressive investment track record. We are pleased to have their network of investors as our financial partners bringing us capital as well as relationships and industry insight that is critical to our success." A limitation to existing speakerphone-enabled cell phones is the unnatural way they deal with echo. The way to solve echo and background noise for normal cellular handset use is very different from the solution when in speakerphone speak·er·phone n. A telephone or telephone attachment that contains both a loudspeaker and a microphone, allowing several persons to participate in a call at the same time without the telephone receiver being held. Noun 1. mode. Many existing cellular speakerphones simply use the same handset echo cancellation The elimination of an echo in a two-way voice transmission. Echo is created in the telephone company's central office switch when two-wire lines from the customer are converted to four-wire lines for backbone trunks. techniques in this more complex speakerphone environment. As a result, the communication becomes choppy chop·py 1 adj. chop·pi·er, chop·pi·est Having many small waves; rough: choppy seas. [From chop1. and part of the meaning is easily lost. For speakerphone operation, more performance is needed to achieve good voice quality, speech intelligibility Noun 1. speech intelligibility - the intelligibility of speech (usually measured in the presence of noise or distortion) intelligibility - the quality of language that is comprehensible , and full-duplex communication. Full-duplex communication refers to natural conversation flow -- just like a face-to-face conversation. Without full-duplex capability, conversations can be fatiguing and people find they must use extreme concentration just to understand the dialogue. Also, people must wait for pauses in conversation in order to interrupt the other speaker. Full-duplex operation helps eliminate the misunderstanding that comes from lost syllables or word clipping (1) Cutting off the outer edges or boundaries of a word, signal or image. In rendering an image, clipping removes any objects or portions thereof that are not visible on screen. See scissoring. See also WCA. . Cellular users, network operators, and telephone manufacturers are demanding products that solve the problems of poor voice quality caused by echoes and harsh noise environments. Acoustic Technologies' unique SoundClear(R) products enable natural full-duplex voice communication for cellular and desktop speakerphone applications. SoundClear uses a combination of patented techniques including echo cancellation, noise reduction, and sound enhancement along with voice activity detection and non-linear processing to offer clear and natural bi-directional speakerphone operation. The Acoustic Technologies SoundClear solutions are implemented as DSP (1) (Digital Signal Processor) A special-purpose CPU used for digital signal processing applications (see definition #2 below). It provides ultra-fast instruction sequences, such as shift and add, and multiply and add, which are commonly used in math-intensive software for mobile applications and as ICs for use in other telephony products such as hands-free car kits, Bluetooth products, VoIP phones See IP phone and softphone. , and conference phones. About Signature Capital Signature Capital is a results-oriented venture capital firm that uses its insight, wisdom and a proven track record to help businesses striving to reach their full potential and investors striving for significant financial rewards. You might say they specialize spe·cial·ize v. 1. To limit one's profession to a particular specialty or subject area for study, research, or treatment. 2. To adapt to a particular function or environment. in the art of product legacy and wealth creation. What sets Signature apart from other venture capital firms Name Location Founding date Managing Partners/Directors Specialty Capital managed 5AM Ventures Menlo Park, CA; Waltham, MA 2002 John Diekman, PhD (managing partner), Scott Rocklage, PhD (managing partner), Andrew Schwab (managing partner) life sciences $200M [1] is its intense commitment to clients and its focused and disciplined investment approach. Unlike other firms, Signature offers substantial value beyond capital. For more information on Signature Capital or any of the companies in its portfolio, visit their Web site at http://www.sigcap.com. About Acoustic Technologies Founded in 1998, Acoustic Technologies is a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. headquartered in Mesa. Acoustic Technologies creates high-quality semiconductor and software solutions for leading telecom manufacturers worldwide. The SoundClear(R) brand of patented full-duplex communication and echo cancellation solutions is enabling significant advancements in telecommunications voice quality. SoundClear provides natural bi-directional communication in business speakerphones, mobile phones, VoIP telephones, hands-free car kits, Bluetooth accessories, and other speakerphone-enabled products. For additional information, the company can be reached directly at 480/507-4376, or via the Internet at www.acoustictech.com. SoundClear is a registered trademark of Acoustic Technologies Inc. Sub-band Adaptive Spectral Slicer, Ultra Long Echo Tail, QuadraVAD, and eXcho are trademarks of Acoustic Technologies Inc. All other service marks and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
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