THX AND SONTIA: BRINGING BIG QUALITY AUDIO TO SMALL DEVICES

THX and Sontia
The growing popularity of mobile devices is changing the landscape of consumer entertainment. With 50 percent of adult Americans owning either a smart phone or a tablet or both, according to a recent Pew Research report, the television is rapidly ceding ground as the device of choice for entertainment. Video on small, portable and mobile consumer electronic devices has improved tremendously over the past few years. Unfortunately, audio has largely been left behind, caught between two opposing demands, more output power and smaller size – until now. At CEDIA 2012, THX announced a partnership with Sontia, an audio technology company that has developed several audio processing technologies, including Sontia SPT – an innovative sound processing technology designed to enhance the acoustic performance of some of today’s most widely used consumer electronics. The technology allows for high-quality sound (with reduced development/production costs) in devices that rely on small, thin speakers for audio, including smart phones, headphones, speaker bars, and other compact and portable consumer devices; even cars. Sontia and THX are working together to carefully analyze products and evaluate their capabilities, leveraging both Sontia’s critical testing lab and THX’s regime of precision tests. The goal of a two-layer testing approach is to provide the optimal audio performance relative to individual products. THX’s partnership with Sontia helps us continue to innovate and deliver the best possible entertainment experience for both video and audio. Just because the device is tiny doesn’t mean the sound has to be – whether watching a movie on your phone or playing music through a speaker bar, we believe quality audio should be the standard on all devices. The partnership between THX and Sontia is being illustrated through sound processing technology demonstrations at CES 2013.