Fluence

Less Noise, More Fluence

When you’re using your mobile phone or Bluetooth headset, does the person you’re speaking to hear you or does he hear you and all the noise around you? Repeating yourself often? Raising your voice?

Using today’s advanced telecom technology does not guarantee that you’re experiencing Fluence™ Noise Reduction technology—the latest in superior voice and audio communications. Fluence dramatically reduces background sounds such as traffic, interior car noise, wind, and other people talking, ensuring that what you say is heard.

“ Fluence uses dual-microphone architecture: one microphone captures the voice signal and the second microphone identifies the background noise and reduces it. This technology works in bi-directional communications and improves the user experience for the caller as well as the receiver. ”

- Ravi Satya

Senior Product Manager at Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT)

Magic through Microphones

How does Fluence eliminate background noise? The key is Dual-Microphone Noise Cancellation technology. Ravi Satya, senior product manager at Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT), says, “Fluence uses dual-microphone architecture: one microphone captures the voice signal and the second microphone identifies the background noise and reduces it. This technology works in bi-directional communications and improves the user experience for the caller as well as the receiver.”

Experience Fluence Now

Fluence technology is not a concept—it’s available now. QCT product manager Susan Silveira notes, “Since 2007, Fluence has been available in leading Bluetooth-enabled headset devices and will be available on Fluence-enabled mobile phones later on this year.”

Fluence is not just another improved-audio technology installed in Bluetooth headsets. For years, few wireless headsets have had favorable reviews in terms of sound quality. Fluence changes everything. “When we recently visited a prospective OEM (original equipment manufacturer) Bluetooth device customer—real audiophiles—they described experiencing Fluence was like listening to a concert pianist! Fluence is that good,” says Silveira.

Adds Satya, “When you tell people about how great Fluence is, you can see their skepticism. But when they try it—experience it—they became believers and agree that the difference between Fluence-enabled devices and others is night and day.”

Fluence Not Just for Consumers

Qualcomm always emphasizes that its solutions are designed to benefit the entire wireless ecosystem including consumers, OEMs, and wireless carriers. Fluence is no exception.

“A huge benefit of Fluence is that it’s easily portable to Bluetooth headset chips, enabling OEMs to provide consumers with headsets that offer superior voice and audio quality within the small confines of the latest headset designs.” says Silveira. “The solution requires minimal power and doesn’t require any additional hardware.

“Another benefit of Fluence is that it’s integrated into select Qualcomm chipsets, enabling mobile phone OEMs to create compact, low-power/high-performance devices without taking up valuable board space,” says Satya. “Also, for wireless carriers, Fluence optimizes network efficiency. For example, before a voice is sent through a digital wireless network, it is broken into digitized bits of data. When bits reach the receiving mobile device, they are reassembled and a voice is heard by the listener. A voice accompanied by background noise means more bits are sent through the network, taking up network bandwidth. If you eliminate the background noise—as Fluence does—you’ll send fewer bits of data, allowing wireless carriers to operate at peak efficiency.”

Relationships Matter

Why is Qualcomm so adamant about improving voice and audio quality? Satya reflects, “The Fluence team seriously considered what people wanted and what they weren’t getting out of wireless voice services. We realized that communication is very important. Through a mobile phone or Bluetooth headset, we want an experience that is second only to a face-to-face conversation. These days, it’s so important to maintain contact with friends and family. We travel, we’re at work, we’re constantly on the go, and we cannot always physically be there. But we can call. And when we do, all they should hear is you.”