Those headache-inducing Zoom and Teams meetings could be a thing of the past, thanks to a new dialogue-boosting Bluetooth speaker from ZVOX.
The Massachusetts-based audio company started out as a home theater speaker company, but has recently specialized in headphone technology and is applying that expertise to its latest AV70 Bluetooth speaker: AccuVoice.
Designed to improve speech in conferences and video calls, as well as dialogue in movies, shows and games, the speakerphone uses ZVOX's exclusive AccuVoice dialogue clarification technology to make voices sound clearer and easier to understand, even at low frequencies. volume.
According to ZVOX, the speaker is capable of boosting audio frequencies in the speech range, while suppressing background noise, making dialogue much easier to understand, even in noisier environments.
The portable speaker measures 4 inches wide by 2,2 inches high and features a sensitive hands-free microphone.
There's also a built-in battery, which keeps the device going for 24 hours on a single charge, plus buttons on the top to allow AccuVoice to be turned on/off, as well as volume, video pause/restart, and phone answer and commands for hang up. .
The ZVOX AV70 is on sale now at ZVOX.com (opens in a new tab), priced at €99.99 (about $81 or AU$147).
Analysis: This cheap smart speakerphone could offer welcome relief from conference-call hell
Thanks to the pandemic, most of us will have had to endure hours of long conference meetings through underpowered and often tiny portable speakers.
Understanding what friends, family and colleagues are saying can often be a challenge when there is also a lot of ambient noise, making a dedicated speaker for this purpose a game changer, especially for the hearing impaired. Will it become one of the best Bluetooth speakers on the market? It certainly presents a compelling proposition.
What we're really hoping for with the AV70, though, is that AccuVoice technology can counteract the stuffiness of video calls. It's usually thanks to extreme audio compression (like that used by Zoom and Microsoft Teams), which so often leads to listening fatigue – if ZVOX could manage to do it with the AV70, those endlessly long online meetings might finally become bearable. ..