Audience has raised $30.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Audience's investors include Greylock, New Enterprise Associates, Sequoia Capital Israel.
Audience was a pioneering technology company that developed intelligent voice and audio processing solutions to enhance voice quality and suppress noise in mobile devices, PCs, and consumer products.[1][2] Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, it created low-power, hardware-accelerated digital signal processors (DSPs) and algorithms inspired by human auditory neuroscience, mimicking the "cocktail party effect" to isolate voices amid background noise.[1][2] The company served mobile device manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, Google, Apple, and LG, shipping technology in over 140 devices including the Nexus One, Galaxy S series, iPhone 4/4S, and LG G2; it went public in 2012 (NASDAQ: ADNC) and was acquired by Knowles for $130 million in 2015, after raising $45 million.[1][2]
Audience solved critical problems in mobile audio, such as poor call quality in noisy environments, by reverse-engineering human hearing onto chips for superior noise suppression and clarity.[2] Its growth momentum peaked with partnerships like HTC's Nexus One integration in 2010 and AT&T's adoption across eight handsets in 2011, plus expansion into PCs with Dell, before the acquisition marked its transition into Knowles Intelligent Audio.[2]
Audience was founded in 2000 in Mountain View, California, by a team of engineers and auditory neuroscientists aiming to replicate human hearing processes in silicon for better device audio.[1][2] The core idea emerged from collaborating with neuroscientists to model the human auditory system, leading to the first chips that enabled "auditory intelligence" in computers and mobiles using multiple microphones for noise suppression.[2] Early traction built through innovations like the earSmart technology, with a pivotal 2010 partnership with HTC for the Google Nexus One smartphone, followed by deals with AT&T, Samsung, and others.[2] Key milestones included going public in May 2012 and unveiling a voice processor-audio codec combo in 2013, culminating in its 2015 acquisition by Knowles Corporation, which rebranded the unit as Knowles Intelligent Audio.[1][2]
Audience stood out in the voice processing space through these key strengths:
Audience rode the explosive growth of smartphones in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when mobile devices became central to daily life and demanded better audio for calls, video, and emerging voice assistants.[1][2] Perfect timing aligned with the Open Handset Alliance's Android rise (Audience was a founding member) and iPhone's popularity, as market forces like increasing urban noise pollution and multi-mic hardware adoption favored its noise-suppression tech.[2] It influenced the ecosystem by setting standards for far-field voice processing, paving the way for modern AI voice features in devices from Google, Samsung, and Apple, and its Knowles acquisition amplified legacy tech into ongoing intelligent audio solutions.[2]
Post-2015 acquisition, Audience's tech endures within Knowles Corporation's Intelligent Audio group, powering noise cancellation and voice enhancement in billions of devices amid rising demand for AI-driven audio in earbuds, smart speakers, and AR/VR.[2] Next steps likely involve deeper AI integration for always-on voice recognition and spatial audio, shaped by trends like edge AI, 5G-enabled real-time processing, and privacy-focused on-device computation. Its influence could evolve by enabling more natural human-device interactions, reinforcing foundational impact on mobile audio as voice becomes the primary interface in ambient computing. This echoes its original mission: transforming how machines hear like humans.[1][2]
Audience has raised $30.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $15.0M Series E in March 2010.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 2010 | $15.0M Series E | Greylock, New Enterprise Associates, Sequoia Capital Israel | |
| Mar 1, 2009 | $15.0M Series D | Greylock, New Enterprise Associates, Sequoia Capital Israel |
