Provider of personal wireless technology CSR (News - Alert) has announced wide-ranging platform support for the freshly-ratified HFP 1.6 Bluetooth profile which includes Wideband Speech – commonly known as High Definition (HD) voice.

The company said that its BC6145 is the first mass-market mono headset solution that supports the new hands-free profile. Thanks to this, OEMs can now begin producing high-quality HD voice-ready products.

CSR has designed HD voice support into multiple products for handset, headset and automotive-specific applications. Company officials indicated that they plan to qualify the new profile across a broad range of platforms.

CSR’s BC6145 is aimed at single-microphone mono headsets, speakerphones, car-kits and other mass-market wireless audio accessories. In addition to HD voice, BC6145 is expected to support a set of consumer-centric features such as A2DP music streaming, advanced intelligibility enhancements and extended talk time. Also, BC6145 supports bi-directional noise reduction and ultra low-power Wind Noise Reduction (WNR), said company officials.

Anthony Murray, vice president of the Audio and Consumer Business Unit in CSR, said that the announcement marks two significant developments which together combine to help drive HD voice to mainstream adoption -- the long-awaited debut of the Bluetooth SIG’s new HFP 1.6 supporting Wideband Speech, and the immediate availability of HFP 1.6 compliant audio platforms from CSR in volume quantities.

Murray said that with numerous mobile network operators moving to offer HD voice technology, subscribers making hands-free calls using Bluetooth headsets and car-kits incorporating the BC6145 for example, should continue to derive all the compelling benefits that HD voice delivers.

In order to bring new levels of speech clarity to users, a number of mobile networks are introducing HD voice service, which at the network level supports a wider speech spectrum than was previously available to consumers.

Company officials said that with the increase in speech spectrum from 300Hz – 3.4kHz to 50Hz – 7kHz consumers should benefit from significantly improved intelligibility, even in the presence of noise.

Additional benefits include accurate voice control of peripheral, better speech-to-text, and a brighter audio quality that makes the caller seem nearer, said company officials.

Moreover, the extension of the networks’ HD voice services across Bluetooth can be possible due to the presence of the Bluetooth HFP 1.6 profile in both the cellular device and Bluetooth accessory. Company officials said that this may eliminate the constraint of low 8kHz sample rates and the resulting loss of high and low speech frequencies.

BC6145 with HD voice is now available in mass production quantities.

Earlier this month, CSR announced that its SiRFstarIV GPS architecture is powering location awareness in the newest version of Samsung’s flagship smartphone, the GALAXY S II.