Neat Amplifies Audio Experience with New AI-Enhanced Neat Center Capabilities and Hearing Accessibility

Neat’s intelligent audio capabilities enable more natural and engaging collaboration experiences

Today Neat (neat.no), the pioneering video device company, announced the first major upgrade to Neat Center, the center-of-room companion device, to deliver advanced audio capabilities that allow more natural conversations. Additionally, Neat now supports third-party hearing augmentation systems in all its new-generation devices, expanding inclusivity for anyone with hearing difficulties.

“High-quality audio is one of the most critical aspects of effective video collaboration, and Neat has always focused on delivering devices that allow everyone to hear clearly and feel confident that others can hear them equally well,” said Øystein Birkenes, Audio Team Lead at Neat. “By extending our industry-leading audio capabilities to Neat Center and providing hearing accessibility support in our newer products, we continue to make video meetings more equitable and engaging for everyone.”

“While competing solutions rely primarily on signal processing for their audio, Neat has developed a modern machine-learning approach to our audio processing that ensures our devices continuously learn and adapt to different acoustic environments. With our bi-monthly software updates, your audio experience on Neat devices will only get better and better,” added Birkenes.

Neat Center Audio Enhancements

Neat Center, Neat’s first center-of-room companion device, was designed to bring everyone in a meeting face-to-face so remote meeting attendees can follow the flow of conversation more easily. In the first major upgrade to Neat Center, Neat has extended its audio capabilities to intuitively track conversations and automatically shift to the nearest device, whether that is Neat Center or the front-of-room device, to deliver superior sound reception. This advanced audio intelligence developed by Neat continuously monitors and captures the nearest voice immediately, delivering a fluid conversation flow that participants can easily engage with and follow.

Additionally, existing Neat devices have included advanced audio technology to support clearer, more natural conversations. These capabilities are now included with Neat Center as well, ensuring that everyone in the room can be equally heard. These audio features include:

• Deep noise suppression – filters out distracting sounds that are not human voices such as keyboard typing or leaf blowers
• Dereverberation – filters out and reduces audio-distorting room reflections, such as those from walls, ceilings, objects and other room surfaces for better speech clarity
• Eliminating double talk issues – allows people talking at the same time to be heard clearly and understandably during lively meetings

Hearing Augmentation for Greater Inclusivity

Continuing Neat’s drive to make video collaboration more equitable and accessible for everyone, Neat now supports third-party hearing augmentation systems on all newer Neat devices. This enables hearing-impaired users to wirelessly connect their hearing aids, headphones, or neck loop transmitter and receiver to Near Bar Generation 2, Neat Bar Pro or Neat Board 50 devices for clear audio.

This capability relies on low latency between hearing augmentation systems and Neat devices' speakers to deliver an optimal hearing experience. Plus, Neat has made it easy to enable the new hearing augmentation feature in the "Accessibility" section of Neat's system settings, so IT administrators can easily empower users to begin using their chosen system with Neat devices.

“These advancements continue Neat’s mission to deliver exceptional audio and video experiences in every meeting space and demonstrate our commitment to continuously innovate and improve our devices,” added Birkenes.

About Neat

Neat brings people together with beautifully simple, versatile video devices and experiences. Neat's pioneering portfolio addresses the needs of today's workplace and natively supports Microsoft Teams, Zoom and a range of compelling business apps. Our Neat Pulse service gives you complete control of your device deployment, premium support care and extended warranty coverage. Neat is based in Oslo with a passionate team around the globe. Explore more at neat.no.

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