Arkamys

Arkamys is a French-based company specialising in digital signal processing. Its audio processing solutions are applied in the sectors of Consumer Electronics and Car audio.

Arkamys was founded in Paris in 1998. The company initially used its patented sound spatialisation process to remaster movies and DVDs for the professional entertainment industry. Today its audio enhancement software is implemented in consumer electronic products, such as mobile phones and mp3 players, as well as portable media players and car radios.

History

1998 - 2004

Arkamys was set up to exploit the internationally patented sound spatialisation process invented by one of Arkamys co-founders. The Arkamys technology is based on a process which allows the spatialisation of an existing audio signal (mono, stereo, 5.1) and thereby aims to create a more realistic listening experience. The spatialisation process is initially used to remaster cinematic masterpieces such as Subway by Luc Besson (remastered in 2001) for the cinema and DVD industries.

Arkamys saw rapid growth and chose to settle down at Château d'Hérouville, a recording studio where stars like Elton John, The Bee Gees and Pink Floyd recorded their music. The Château’s main hall was used for the audio tuning and the tapes were afterwards remastered in order to transform a monophonic or stereophonic sound into a multichannel sound. Numerous movies were modernised with the help of Arkamys’ spatialisation process among theses for instance Peau d'Âne (Donkey Skin), a film inspired by the work of Jean Cocteau, but also Bagdad Café, Dirty Dancing, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as well as the series Le Gendarme with Louis de Funes.

2004 - Present time

In 2004, Arkamys re-orientates its business activities transforming from a service company that remasters movies into a supplier to the Consumer Electronics industry, specialising in car audio, mobile phones and media players. Therefore, the digital processing algorithms had to be adapted to the limited processor capacity of mobile devices and auto radios. First customers were media player manufacturer Archos and the airline company Air France that chose Arkamys to optimize audio restitution over headphones on their Business Class flights. A major licensing deal was closed in 2008 when Renault announced to equip most of its Mégane line-up with Arkamys technology.

Key Events

• 1998: Founded in Paris, France
• 1998: First sound spatialisation patent
• 1998-2004: Studio postproduction, entertainment & broadcast: hundred DVDs and music albums
• Jun 2001: Arkamys settles down at the once famous recording studio Château d'Hérouville.
• 2005: First applications for portable media players with Arkamys technology implemented on the Archos 604.
• Feb 2006: Arkamys is selected by Air France to enhance the music experience offered by the in-flight entertainment program.
• Jun 2006: Arkamys announces a licensing agreement with Sagem communication to improve audio quality restitution on the My700x mobile phone.
• Feb 2007: Arkamys partner with STMicroelectronics to embed its audio solution on Nomadik processor.
• Jan 2008: Arkamys and CNRS-LIMSI present “listen with your own ears”.
• Nov 2008: First car with Arkamys technology embedded. Renault presents its new Mégane with “3D Sound by Arkamys"

Main technologies

Car Audio software

The audio quality in cars suffers from physical constraints linked to security norms and concerns to optimise in- car roominess. Speakers are placed low in door panels which results in a perceived sound “coming from the floor” that is in many cases too lateralized, either coming from far left or far right. Audio reproduction is often unnatural and can lead to a phenomenon called listener fatigue after an extended period of listening.

The aim of Arkamys car audio software is to create a natural audio image with a harmonious positioning of music and voice in front of the driver at windshield level. This is called the sound scene.

The main difficulty is to create this sound scene without changing the car’s speaker configuration. The software implemented on the radio processes the digital signal of any media players (radio, CD, mp3, etc.). The processing has to be optimised for each car model taking into account the specific characteristics of the car’s interior (size, form, number and positioning of speakers) The diversity of car models makes several configurations necessary in order to adapt to different equipment levels from low level stereo systems to high end multi-channel sound systems which reproduce a 5.1 or 7.1 sound over 10 speakers.

Audio enhancement for mobile devices

Due to their small size portable devices like mobile phones and portable media stations are not able to use high-performance speakers. Moreover, compressing audio formats such as mp3 have become widely popular and users choose high compression rates to store as much music as possible on their players. Finally, cost constraints prevent manufacturer from using high-end equipment (speakers, headphones) that guaranty optimal audio restitution. These factors downgrade the audio quality of mobile devices.

Arkamys’ audio enhancement solution is entirely software-based which means that the original speaker configurations remain unchanged. The software operates in real time on audio streams and processes the signal (mp3, CD, radio, etc.) according to the specific constraints of the device in question (size, type and position of speakers, headphone type, player type, material used). The software is configured for each model and then installed on the digital signal processor (DSP). This process is in fact comparable to a remastering of the music.

Voice improvement software, AEC, ANC

This software is used to improve intelligibility and listening comfort during a conversation for all forms of communication systems: landline, mobile as well as car communication systems. Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Acoustic Echo cancellation(AEC) technology as well as volume control and audio enhancement software libraries are applied. The voice amelioration software is implemented taking into account the overall sound concept of the car or device in order to deliver a coherent listening experience for music as well as for telephone conversations. The coherence has to be respected concerning:

• timbre and dynamics of the sound (the sound texture)
• spatial position of the sound and the voice

Research

Publications for the AES

Arkamys regularly contributes articles to the Audio Engineering Society (AES) with subjects such as sound spatialisation and morpho-acoustic studies. Additionally, the company participates in conferences and symposia all over the world.

Research project "Listen with your own ears"

"Listen with your own ears" is a research project that Arkamys is currently undertaking in cooperation with the Computer Sciences Laboratory for Mechanics and Engineering Sciences (LIMSI) that is part of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).

Basing their research project on the science of the Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF), the CNRS and Arkamys intend to make personalized 3D audio for listening over headphones available to the general public. The researchers presume that today’s headphone solutions are limited due to the fact that they are all standardized in terms of their acoustic restitution. This is linked to the fact that the shape of each individual's ear and the size of their head are not taken into account. The project “Listen with your own ears" aims at developing an automatic process that measures the morphological characteristics of each person in order to directly treat audio streams with digital processing software. This will personalize one’s audio content for listening over headphones according to the shape of one's ears for a more realistic 3D audio effect.

External links

• Official website
• Audio Engineering Society
• LIMSI
• Listen with your own ears - Project blog

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