INSIDE MOBILE: Why Wireless Handsets Need Noise Suppression Technology

Multipoint pairing technology

The primary method of achieving noise suppression is called "multipoint pairing," which utilizes two microphones—one to capture what you're saying and another to capture the background noise (which is then filtered out). This is similar to what's done with noise-cancellation headsets that have become popular. The noise suppression technology in wireless handsets does a number of additional things to filter out background noise and shape the voice signal.

Noise suppression is also included in a number of new Bluetooth wireless headsets. These headsets also use multipoint pairing to assist in noise suppression. Once you've heard what a call is like when an embedded or Bluetooth-based noise suppression filter is included (compared to a noisy environment), it's really very shocking. For those who use Bluetooth headsets, they should only consider one that includes noise suppression.

"Why in the world doesn't every single cell phone in the world have one of these noise suppression chips?" was my reaction to hearing the difference.

You likely can guess the answer: cost. It simply costs additional money for the handset/device maker to add such a sophisticated new technology to the bill of materials (BOM) of the cell phone. They are not typically willing to increase the device cost by $15 to $20 extra to gain such capabilities.

The answer may come from wireless operators. They need to make noise suppression a requirement for device manufacturers and then amortize the cost over a multiple-year service agreement. Thus, a chip costing $15 might only add $0.625 per month to a user's cell phone bill under a two-year service agreement. In a recent survey, it was found that users indicated strong interest in noise suppression and were willing to pay $10 to $15 upfront to get it. Noise suppression Bluetooth handsets run $75 to $130.

I expect you'll start to see voice-enhanced services such as noise suppression in a number of higher-end handsets come to market later this year. Hopefully, it will become common in many handsets within five years. Someday, we will have all our calls rid of terrible background noise. That "someday" can't come soon enough in my book.

J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D., is the VP and Chief Analyst with the Frost & Sullivan North American Information & Communication Technologies Practice. As a nationally recognized industry authority, he focuses on monitoring and analyzing emerging trends, technologies and market behavior in the mobile computing and wireless data communications industry in North America. Since joining Frost & Sullivan in 2006, Dr. Purdy has been specializing in mobile and wireless devices, wireless data communications and connection to the infrastructure that powers the data in the wireless handheld.

He is author of Inside Mobile & Wireless, which provides industry insights and reaches over 100,000 readers per month. For more than 16 years, Dr. Purdy has been consulting, speaking, researching, networking, writing and developing state-of-the-art concepts that challenge people's mind-sets, and developing new ways of thinking and forecasting in the mobile computing and wireless data arenas. Often quoted, his ideas and opinions are followed closely by thought leaders in the mobile & wireless industry. He has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University. He can be reached at gerry.purdy@frost.com.

Disclosure Statement: From time to time, I may have a direct or indirect equity position in a company that is mentioned in this column.  If that situation happens, then I'll disclose it at that time.