If you’ve ever noticed how many people are wearing headphones in the street or on public transport, you won’t be surprised that audio has become the biggest market for Bluetooth.

The recently published market update from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) forecasts that Bluetooth audio streaming device shipments will grow at a 7% CAGR to reach 1.8 billion annually by 2026, with earbud shipments growing by a factor of three in that time. 

While Bluetooth dominates the consumer wireless audio market, it has some limitations – it doesn’t have native support for audio streaming to true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds, and it is only a one-to-one technology, with no capabilities to broadcast audio to multiple devices. With TWS set to be the biggest market for Bluetooth in audio, expected to reach 850 million units shipped annually by 2026, this is a problem for device vendors.

Now, these issues have been addressed by the Bluetooth SIG, in its recently announced Auracast standard. This new audio sharing standard, based on the Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) Audio broadcasting specification, enables a single Auracast transmitter device, such as a smartphone or TV, to broadcast one or more audio streams to an unlimited number of Auracast receiver devices, such as TWS earbuds, speakers, or hearing aids.

Previously known as Bluetooth Audio Sharing, Auracast is set to transform the shared audio experience. It will open up significant new opportunities for innovation, including personal and location-based audio sharing.

Potential use cases include flight-specific audio broadcasts at an airport, multiple TV channels being shown in a gym, or multi-language options at a museum. Anywhere there is a TV in a public space, Auracast will make it easier to hear what is being shown – which will often be as simple as just scanning a QR code on the wall with your phone. You’ll also be able to easily share music, or audio from a movie you’re watching, with your friends.

For people with hearing loss, audio in public spaces can be broadcast directly to Bluetooth hearing aids and cochlear implants. This provides a high quality, affordable alternative to traditional inductive loop systems.

Expanding on previous articles about bass shakers and motion platforms, this article from Mike Klasco (Menlo Scientific) looks at exciting evolutions in haptic transducers and actuators that are being used in a growing number of applications - all of which depend upon audio sources for input. The ability to interact with the world through vibration and touch is central to all of our lives, and now increasingly so. Examples include binaural beats and vibrations used as therapy and wellness concepts, embedded home theater approaches, vibrational chairs and seats, dream pillows, haptic belts, vests, headphones, and even shoes. As Mike Klasco explains, the music and the auditory fields encompass not only airborne sound energy, but also structure-borne energy, which is perceived by our haptic senses. The ability to interact with the world through vibration and touch is central to all of our lives, and now increasingly so. This article was originally published in audioXpress, February 2022. Read the Full Article Now Available Here

In this article, James Croft reviews a generic “Loudspeaker” concept patent, granted to Teppei Yamada, of Tokyo, Japan, on behalf of Zorzo Co., Ltd. and which describes a somewhat surprising concept of a loudspeaker that includes a hermetically sealed enclosure, with a driver outside of an enclosure and a second driver inside, with a pipe communicating between the two drivers. The second driver is configured to output a signal of opposite phase to that of the first driver. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, September 2016.  Read the Full Article Now Available Here