Notebook computers containing Akustica Inc.'s single-chip microphone could be in stores as early as this spring.
The South Side-based company said Monday that its first product, in fact, is the first single-chip microphone on the market. It's designed to replace the conventional microphones used now in small computers, plus smart phones, cell phones, Voice over Internet Protocol phones and other devices.
Callers might not notice a difference with one device containing the AKU2000 chip, said Davin Yuknis, vice president of marketing with Akustica, "But when you use more than one together, you have better sound quality."
The company, founded in 2001, is promoting its small, thin microphone chips as a departure from standard microphone technology that has improved, but really hasn't changed much in 50 years.
Akustica said its silicon microphones eliminate much of the background and mechanical noise that can mar conversations over a computer or cell phone. Notebook computers are the company's initial focus. Yuknis said Akustica is working with customers who are expected to introduce products later this year.
"We are at the forefront of bringing new technology that enables someone to open a notebook and start talking, just like using a speaker phone," Yuknis said.
And microphone quality has become one of the biggest factors in choosing a notebook computer, now that consumers are embracing VoIP communications, said industry analyst Marlene Bourne of Bourne Research LLC in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Bourne bought a more advanced microphone for her notebook because she wasn't satisfied with the initial device. "You might have a great connection over the Internet, but maybe the microphone in the PC isn't that great," she said.
The AKU2000 stands out because it is a digital system and combines the microphone technology and related electronics needed to operate it onto a single, thin and light unit, she said.
Size, plus voice quality, also are essential in producing smaller, better sounding cell phones -- from the newest thin phones available now to the Dick Tracy-like wrist phones that could be on the market in the future, Bourne said. Digital cameras also could be equipped with the single-chip microphones.
Yuknis, of Akustica, wouldn't discuss sales projections but said the company is working with partners in the United States, Europe and Asia that will market and manufacture the chips, priced at $3.87 each in 1,000-piece quantities.
Industry analysts Yole Development, of Lyon, France, has projected growth in the silicon microphone market could be eightfold, to 800 million units, by 2010.
Akustica, a privately held company, expanded last year to 42 employees as it prepared to start production. Its cofounders are James H. Rock, formerly a cofounder of Boston-based Zefer Corp., and Ken Gabriel, who directed the Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University.
