Audio

young woman with headphones looking at her smartphone

As the world of communication and entertainment evolves at a relentless pace, speech intelligibility and sound quality are crucial factors in meeting today’s consumer expectations for any device reproducing music or transmitting speech.

Manufacturers of electroacoustic equipment are under continuous pressure to deliver high‐quality acoustic performance by continuously innovating and optimizing their products and processes – from design, development, manufacture and beyond.

Our HATS provides unprecedented audio realism through physical reproduction of human ear features, reducing product development times and improved audio quality to consumers.

Accurate and repeatable measurements throughout the product life cycle ensuring that quality products are delivered to the customer.

Customers expect and receive assured quality and reliability in the products we deliver.

Your Partner Through the Entire Product Life Cycle  

New electroacoustic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and speakers keep pushing the boundaries of design, with manufacturers trying to squeeze in ever-more impressive capabilities while fulfilling international telephone standards for voice capture and reproduction. With HBK speech and hearing simulation solutions, manufacturers can accurately evaluate their products to provide advanced acoustic and electronic signal processing combined with superior design.

engineer showing in the computer a human ear in 3D, with an HBK's HATS above the desk

Protecting brand value increasingly requires living up to the quality expectations of customers, and manufacturers are constantly enhancing production tests to ensure and maintain the quality achieved in design and development. Applying HBK knowledge and systems to production testing gives a competitive advantage to products, ensuring products live up to consumer expectations and international regulations and standards.

production machine working on a smartphone

With the products in the hands of consumers, now is the time for manufacturers to learn from the mistakes made in the introduction and growth stages. Data collected from products returned for service or repair can be gathered and used not only for immediate fixes but also for extended product life and future development. Using HBK's acoustic test products allows rapid evaluation of returned products, improving customers’ understanding of in-service issues.

man touching his hand in an audio testing equipment

Key Areas of Application

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Communications
Audiology
Audio

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man smiling and talking on the mobile phone

Advances in high-speed technology has changed the way we communicate, with the mobile phone – with an estimated installed base of 6.3 billion – largely responsible for this evolution. Constant connectivity – often to several devices simultaneously – is affecting our daily lives and the way we socialize. We demand high-quality audio in every situation – from chatting on the phone on a busy street to taking business calls in a car. And to stay ahead of the game, manufacturers must deliver the quality of sound as promised by the brand.

Headset and handset testing

Consumers expect high voice-quality phone conversations, so the acoustic perception of a device is critical to user acceptance and compliance with standards. Evaluate headsets and handsets in situ on a range of acoustic performance parameters with HBK.

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Smartphone testing

To stay competitive, manufacturers squeeze in more features while meeting standards. Phone design is a balance between cost, appearance, weight, and sound quality. Poor case design can lead to uncontrolled resonances and lower acoustic performance.

Smart speaker testing

A rapidly expanding industry with an estimated 320 m sold worldwide. With consumer satisfaction linked to how well smart speakers understand voice commands, speech intelligibility and sound quality are crucial in meeting customer demands.

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Infotainment system

These systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated with voice control providing drivers with safe, hands-free means of making calls, controlling music and navigation. For the best in-vehicle experience, acoustic performance is a crucial factor.

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hearing aid tested in an ear, with a graphic of sound waves in front

An estimated 1.5 billion people suffering some form of hearing loss globally, an ageing population and a growing and substantial incidence of hearing loss among young people (most likely as a result of excessive noise exposure) are all fuelling the market for audiology devices. The challenges facing today’s manufacturers not only relate to sound quality and background noise rejection, but increasingly to personalisation and design for specific inner and outer ear conditions.

Hearing aid testing

Rapid advancement in hearing aid technology has increased the demand for more tests over a shorter time. HBK has a full range of measurement instrumentation for standardized and individual in-house testing of all types of hearing aids.

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Bone conduction

Bone conduction technology bypasses the outer and middle ear to deliver sound to the cochlea. Learn more about our solution for the measurement of bone conduction devices used in audiology and communication.

woman music listening headphones music train window looking passenger sitting public transport

Audio performance has become increasingly important to our everyday lives, both in entertainment but also, crucially in communication, where real-time global meetings between multiple people are held in often challenging environments with high background noise levels. Addressing these issues requires complex designs and accurate measurements to ensure customer satisfaction with the audio quality.

Soundbar testing

Soundbars contain multiple speakers that create stereo or a surround-sound effect. These speakers have to produce a lot of sound for their size and if not carefully designed will cause distortion and a rattling of the enclosure.

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Headphone testing

To help manufacturers deliver great audio quality while protecting the listener’s hearing, we provide a realistic reproduction of the acoustic properties of an average adult human head and torso, enabling real-life evaluation of acoustic performance.

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Our Customer Stories

Portrait of Jude Mansilla, founder of Head-Fi.org, next to HBK's HATS (high-frequency head and torso simulator) type 5128

Headphone measurements: the new standard, part 1

The IEC 60318-4 standard, a more human-like standard for measuring headphones, is an important step toward more realistic and meaningful headphone measurements. See how HBK’s High-frequency HATS helps close the gap between headphones as we hear them and the headphone measurements we look at.

Sound audio testing piano HATS concert church

Three HATS, one church and experimental music

To create new sound experiences, musician Kristian Rynkier explores the possibilities of auditory augmented reality installations via binaural recordings, and investigates how the sound quality of HBK's head and torso simulators is perceived compared to ordinary stereo and surround setups.

Testing anechoic chamber sound audio insulation soundproof

Testing for clarity – from the lab to the consumer

Jabra designs and produces quality headphones, headsets and speakerphones. With many tests to perform, Jabra uses HBK’s head and torso simulator (HATS) to help ensure that its products and all their associated accessories combine to enable clear, accurate and effortless communication.

woman on airplane plane sitting looking window flying onboard headphones music comfort

Improving the audio quality of Sony headphones

In the pursuit of perfection and presented with a product development challenge, it was natural for Sony, pioneers in the design of audio equipment, to collaborate with and leverage the knowledge of HBK, who were facing similar issues with a prototype of its new HATS.

blue whale diving in the ocean with flippers above the water

Diving deeper into the sound of blue whales

To manage and mitigate risks to the blue whales’ survival, it is vital to gain a better understanding of how, why and where blue whales communicate as well as the level and effect of noise disturbance from ship engines. Project Blue Whale was created to dive deeper into these issues.

Customer Stories 1
Customer Stories 2

Industry Insights

A new approach to the evaluation of BSR artifacts in audio reproduction

Why do we like the sound of analogue recordings when measurements look bad?

Testing piezoelectric MEMS micro speakers

Audio speaker. The musical equipment. Close-up

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There are many, well-established approaches to measuring and evaluating distortion that impact audio quality in products.

THD and rub & buzz metrics are used for evaluating harmonic distortion and the PEAQ algorithm is effective in evaluating total distortion when accurate and aligned reference signals are available. But the harmonic metrics cannot evaluate many artifacts that are characterized as buzz, squeaks, or rattles (BSR) when not coherent with the source, and the PEAQ algorithm is optimized for detecting small impairments from various general audio issues and depends on accurate time-alignment of the reference and output signals.

An alternative approach, using a difference model of time-varying loudness, is proposed.

A needle on a turntable that plays music

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Simple frequency response measurements were made on a range of sound reproduction systems including:

1. Compact disc

2. Streaming audio (MP3)

3. A vinyl record player

The measurements were then compared to a simple 'blind listening test' involving a small group of listeners. Based on frequency response alone, it is clear that the measurements do not correlate to listener preference.

To deliver quality sound, it is essential to analyze the sound produced by your device during the development phase, as well as ensuring the audio quality is maintained during manufacturing.

BANGKOK THAILAND : Apple launch new earphone Airpods Pro on December 5 ,2019 bangkok ,thailand

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Advancements in MEMS fabrication processes have resulted in a new micro- speaker using piezoelectric materials to actuate an acoustic structure. The radiating surface or membrane has many desirable attributes including, stiffness/rigidity, lightweight, high break-up, fast transient response, low thermal expansion, and moisture/humidity resistance. Packaged in a familiar semiconductor housing, these piezoelectric MEMS micro-speakers are SMT reflowable on flex/PCB or can be soldered with leads. Full Hi-Resolution/HD audio with 20 Hz to 20 kHz bandwidth is achieved in an occluded earbud design.

This presentation details the challenges of making audio measurements with piezoelectric MEMS micro-speakers using HBK's Type 3670 audio interface with Type 4157 coupler and Type 4620 ear simulators.

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Audio

Your Partner Through the Entire Product Life Cycle

Key Areas of Application

Headset and handset testing

Smartphone testing

Smart speaker testing

Infotainment system

Hearing aid testing

Bone conduction

Soundbar testing

Headphone testing

Our Customer Stories

Headphone measurements: the new standard, part 1

Three HATS, one church and experimental music

Testing for clarity – from the lab to the consumer

Improving the audio quality of Sony headphones

Diving deeper into the sound of blue whales

Industry Insights

A new approach to the evaluation of BSR artifacts in audio reproduction

Why do we like the sound of analogue recordings when measurements look bad?

Testing piezoelectric MEMS micro speakers

Get in Touch with HBK

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Audio

Your Partner Through the Entire Product Life Cycle

Development & Design

Manufacturing

Service

Key Areas of Application

Headset and handset testing

Smartphone testing

Smart speaker testing

Infotainment system

Hearing aid testing

Bone conduction

Soundbar testing

Headphone testing

Our Customer Stories

Headphone measurements: the new standard, part 1

Three HATS, one church and experimental music

Testing for clarity – from the lab to the consumer

Improving the audio quality of Sony headphones

Diving deeper into the sound of blue whales

Industry Insights

A new approach to the evaluation of BSR artifacts in audio reproduction

Why do we like the sound of analogue recordings when measurements look bad?

Testing piezoelectric MEMS micro speakers

Get in Touch with HBK

We have moved ${referer} to www.hbkworld.com

We have moved ${referer} to www.hbkworld.com

We have moved ${referer} to www.hbkworld.com

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Your Partner Through the Entire Product Life Cycle  