A lot of manufacturers have been asking Amazon to make available the microphone technology behind the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, and it looks like their prayers have been answered. Amazon has just announced that it is making available for third-party manufacturers the said microphone technology and the software that goes with it.
Amazon today announced that it is – for the first time since other manufacturers have been asking for it –making the high-performance far-field microphone array and voice processing technology found in the Amazon Echo and the Echo Dot available to hardware makers who want to incorporate the Alexa experience into their own products.
“With this new reference solution, developers can design products with the same unique 7-mic circular array, beamforming technology, and voice processing software that have made Amazon Echo so popular with customers,” said Priya Abani, Director of Amazon’s Alexa division. “It’s never been easier for device makers to integrate Alexa and offer their customers world-class voice experiences.”
With this announcement, Amazon is bringing to companies these elements: the same 7-microphone array found in the Amazon Echo and the proprietary software that makes Alexa have wake word recognition, beamforming, noise reduction, and echo cancellation. Lastly, it is also including in the solution the client software for local device control and communication with the Alexa Voice Service.
We will have to wait and see, but there are a lot of manufacturers out there who would love to get their hands on this tech – and it is available now for anyone who wants it.
SOURCE: Amazon
