Smarter HearablesEnabled by TDK Sensing SolutionsTrue Wireless Stereo earbuds, or TWS for short, have taken the world by storm as the latest “must have” tech gadget. These days, you cannot walk down the street without seeing these technological marvels in every ear that passes you by. TWS headsets are driving some of the highest revenues in the world – with projections to have them surpass the mobile business by 2026! If you haven’t jumped on this bandwagon yet, it’s only a matter of time! Unlike the earbuds of old, today’s TWS headsets are jammed packed with features enabled by the industry’s latest sensor solutions. Features like Spatial Audio, Active Noise Cancellation, Voice Activity Detection, and activity tracking are all capable because of the sensors found inside any standard TWS earbud. TDK’s solution portfolio for TWS headsets leads the way for innovation and feature enablement, bringing more value to the application, and a better user experience to the user! VibeSense360: A groundbreaking solution bundle including both the world’s lowest power IMU hardware with a bleeding edge, feature enriched software suite dedicated to the TWS market to enable features such as Always On Spatial Audio, Keyword Assist, TFT (Transparency for Talk) Mode and Machine Learning all on chip. SecureSeal*: Optimizes user experience by accurately ensuring the seal between the ear and the TWS bud is secured. By utilizing the barometric pressure sensor with the TWS Software suite, we can determine the seal, which creates a better ANC experience at significantly lower power than traditional processes today. TempAware*: Once a seal in the ear canal is determined, TDK can accurately detect a single point biometric temperature reading within the ear itself. This can be extremely useful in today’s focus on health and wellness by collecting body temperature data from multiple points of the user. SmartSound*: Features such as Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency Mode, Beam Forming, Voice Isolation, etc all require extremely high performance/lower power MEMS microphones to achieve. TDK’s audio solutions are built with this in mind and lead the way on power and performance in every way. |
TWS Features TDK Can Enable |
 | Immersive Spatial Audiowith TDK SmartMotion®As part of the 360 ToneAware technology from TDK, we can keep the gyroscope within the 6-Axis IMU “always on” and running at an astounding 280 µA. That’s 2.5x lower power than the next best option available today (which is also from TDK!). This means constant sensor fusion and head tracking data can be captured, which is essential for the highest quality 360º spatial audio experience. |
TFT (Transparency for Talk) Mode/Keyword Assistwith TDK SmartMotion®Long gone are the days of dedicated voice accelerometers used to detect when the user is speaking. Goodbye to voice detection using microphones that cannot determine the difference between the user and someone within range. TDK’s VibeSense360 solution suite uses the accelerometer inside our 6-axis IMU as a vocal vibration sensor that can recognize when the user is speaking to either shut down or turn the system onto full power. This not only saves overall BOM costs for a TWS system, but significant power by removing an entire sensor from your platform! |  |
 | Single Point Biometric Temperature Readingwith TDK SmartPressure™Within TDK’s industry-leading pressure sensor lives an extremely accurate temperature sensor. As we explore the accuracy of using pressure for in-ear occlusion, we believe with high confidence that once the ear canal is contained, the temperature sensor inside the pressure solution can provide a single point temperature reading inside the ear canal. |
Activity Trackingwith TDK SmartMotion®Historically collected at the wrist, activity tracking is another use case that utilizes the gyro/accel found in a standard TWS headset to bring even more accuracy to a user’s workouts. By collecting data from both the wrist and the head, the accuracy of the algorithms used in any based activity can be increased significantly. |  |
 | Transparency Mode / Beam Forming / Active Noise Cancellationwith TDK SmartSound™MEMS microphones are at the heart of any legitimate TWS product. Most headsets will use anywhere from 4-6 MEMS microphones in their systems for a variety of use cases. TDK has the highest performance/lowest power digital MEMS microphones in the world – a perfect fit for any TWS solution! |
