With all the more flashy news out of CES 2020, the announcement of a feature-rich Bluetooth upgrade seems to have slipped under the radar. The popular wireless audio format’s few pitfalls have become just par for the course over time, but it seems most of those issues will soon be solved.
In its current form, Bluetooth is the standard for streaming audio signals from smart devices and PCs to various headphones, wireless speakers, and even toilets. The concept of pairing a Bluetooth-enabled device with a speaker has been in most people’s lives for years now, as have the mild annoyances like the strain Bluetooth puts on battery life, or the need to individually pair and un-pair everything you use, every time. Its status as a ubiquitous piece of household technology is perhaps why this impressive update news has passed so unceremoniously.
According to Bluetooth SIG, the upcoming Bluetooth LE audio format will bring a host of upgrades, most notably more efficient battery use and a feature called audio sharing. Bluetooth LE devices will consume less power, and gain the ability to output signals from multiple sources. Bluetooth SIG plans to leverage those options to create Bluetooth hearing aids. The pitch is that TVs (or adapters you plug into them) will be capable of sending audio out to multiple Bluetooth devices simultaneously, rather than just one at a time. According to their press statement, “Within a few years most new phones and TVs will be equally accessible to users with hearing loss.”
The Advantages of Multi-stream Audio
One of the biggest features of Apple’s AirPods is that each Pod receives an individual signal from a paired iOS device. Typically, wireless earbuds only pair one of the buds to the outputting device, then subsequently project the signal to the other bud. This introduces latency to the overall sound, and diminishes sound quality. Bluetooth LE’s multi-stream audio will allow any supported device to connect to multiple devices, meaning it’ll be possible to pair two earbuds separately and get true stereo sound. This opens the door for true wireless headphones to be used in environments where timing is key, such as competitive gaming.
LC3 Means Better Sound
The Low Complexity Communication Codec (LC3) is responsible for Bluetooth LE’s reduction in battery consumption, but the improved efficiency of LC3 also affects sound quality. Usually, audio quality dips at lower bitrates, but LE maintains better audio fidelity even at low data ranges, due to enhanced compression. A Bluetooth SIG blind study showed users preferred LC3 over SBC (the current Bluetooth codec) even when the LC3 devices were set at lower bitrates.
Broadcast Audio Creates New Use Cases
Another improvement for Bluetooth LE is Broadcast Audio. As the name implies, this feature allows a device to share sound to as many devices as necessary. This creates new scenarios, like families being able to enjoy movies at higher volumes while the baby naps, or a Bring-Your-Own-Headphones movie theater. It has the potential to improve live entertainment experiences as well, by giving a production the option of broadcasting multiple languages of audio feeds to the audience’s headphones.
Bluetooth SIG has promised more details and specs before Summer 2020, but the wait for consumer-grade Bluetooth LE technology will likely extend into 2021. As a bonus, LE-enabled devices will still communicate with older Bluetooth tech as well.
Next: The 10 Craziest Gadgets and Tech at CES 2020
Source: Bluetooth SIG
