Thursday, March 21, 2019

Semtech Powers New Radio IC For Hearing Aids

Camarillo-based semiconductor developer Semtech and hearing aid manufacturer Sonova announced this morning that the two have teamed up to create brand new, advanced radio systems which will power a new generation of hearing aids from Sonova. According to the two, they have created an ultra-small, integrated circuit (IC) which provides IoT connectivity and uses Semtech's LoRa protocol. According to the companies, possible applications for the radio system include connectivity to any Bluetooth enabled audio device, such as smartphones or televisions, and full duplex audio streaming between hearing aids and connectivity to wireless microphones. Sonova, based in Switzerland, owns the Phonak, Unitron, Hansaton, Advanced Bionics, and AudioNova hearing aid brands. Semtech's LoRa wireless networking products allow for extremely low power consumption networking of embedded, Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices.

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