Allows Polyphonic and MP3 ringtones as well as other audio to be more easily heard in noisy environments

For Release on March 22,2004

Boston, MA/March 22, 2004 --- Sonic Network Inc., a provider of audio technology to the embedded device industry, has announced the release of its Sonic Booster™, a loudness maximization module. This new audio processor joins a lineup of other audio sweeteners in Sonic’s Embedded Audio Synthesis (EAS) line including reverberation, high-frequency enhancement, chorus and delay. Licensed as a reference design or as processor specific object code, the Sonic Booster provides maximal loudness of reproduced digital audio without clipping on a wide range of consumer devices including wireless handsets, portable audio players, laptop PCs, games and toys. Coupled with Sonic’s other audio products such as its MIDI audio (polyphonic ringtone) synthesizer, the new Sonic Booster offers significant audio ‘hear-ability’ without any additional hardware.   

When faced with loud or noisy environments, users of portable devices such as cell phones and MP3 players will typically turn up the volume. However, this often does not work effectively. Faint sounds or audio passages will still sound relatively faint, and hence unheard in a loud environment, while loud passages may be increased in volume to the point of clipping or distortion. The Sonic Booster makes audio louder without clipping, by turning up the parts that can be turned up, and not turning up the parts that are loud enough. All this is done so quickly as to be inaudible to the listener – the music just sounds louder! In essence, it adds more energy to the audio signal.  

In contrast to traditional compression and limiting algorithms, Sonic has taken a unique approach with its Sonic Booster. Unlike a limiter that ‘squishes’ the loudest peaks so the overall volume of the track can be increased but often adds audible distortion as a result of this limiting, the Sonic Booster uniquely eliminates the peaks. And, unlike a compressor where the volume constantly rides up and down to turn down the loud parts and turn up the soft parts, the Sonic Booster simply makes make quiet passages more audible. It does this in a way that does not affect the perceived dynamics of the track, so for instance, there is no apparent change in volume during a song - it just appears to be louder. This is useful, for instance, in assuring MIDI audio output such as cellular ringtones play back at consistent and maximized levels, no matter what the dynamics are of the song or sound being played, making the Sonic Booster very applicable to cellular handset and wireless chipset manufactures.

As the mobile and portable audio industry grows, consumers continue to demand higher and higher quality audio from their playback devices. To help meet this demand, Sonic offers several other audio enhancer software modules, designed to enhance digital audio playback of MIDI, MP3 and other audio streams. These solutions, all part of Sonic’s Embedded Audio System (EAS) line, are designed from the ground up as low memory and low MIPS algorithms, thus providing the highest quality audio in the smallest possible footprint.

About Sonic Network, Inc.:
Sonic Network, Inc. provides embedded audio technology and content (music and sounds) that enable high quality, engaging audio and multi-media playback. The company licenses its products in a wide variety of markets including Wireless Devices, Semiconductors, PC Soundcards, Games, and Music Synthesizers. Consumers enjoy crystal clear music and multi-media playback on all devices, despite a particular platform's memory, processing or functional constraints. For this reason, Sonic has gained a well-deserved reputation of providing superb next-generation quality audio. 

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KEYWORDS: embedded audio, Loudness Control, MIDI ringtones, wavetable, audio synthesis

SOURCE: Sonic Network, Inc.