USound, a rapidly growing MEMS loudspeaker and AI-based acoustic solutions company, has announced a collaboration with WuQi Technologies to advance the deployment of its proprietary biosensing platform in next-generation wearable devices. This partnership aims to bring sensor-free in-ear biosensing to True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds, hearables, and other wearable products.
Addressing Key Challenges in Wearable Design
The solution is specifically designed for wearable applications such as TWS earbuds, over-the-counter hearing aids, and sleep earbuds. In these devices, compact form factor, battery efficiency, and integration simplicity are critical challenges. Potential applications include heart-rate monitoring, wellness tracking, respiratory monitoring, and biometric user identification.
Transforming Audio Hardware into Sensing Platforms
As hearables evolve from pure audio devices into wellness and biometric platforms, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) face increasing pressure regarding component count, battery life, bill of materials (BOM) cost, and mechanical integration. USound's approach addresses these challenges by transforming MEMS audio hardware into a multifunctional sensing platform capable of delivering both premium audio performance and advanced biometric functionality.
Collaboration with WuQi Technologies
To support commercial deployment, USound is collaborating with WuQi Technologies. WuQi's low-power TWS platform enables USound's sensing algorithms to run directly on scalable commercial wearable architectures in real time. The collaboration combines USound's MEMS audio and sensing technology with WuQi's wireless connectivity, low-power processing, and edge AI capabilities to accelerate integration into next-generation wearable products.
“Hearables are evolving from pure audio devices into continuous sensing platforms,” said Ferruccio Bottoni, CEO of USound. “Our technology enables biometric sensing directly through existing MEMS audio hardware, reducing component count while opening entirely new categories of wearable functionality. Together with WuQi, we bring this capability into scalable, market-ready TWS solutions.”
“USound's sensing technology introduces an innovative approach to expanding the role of audio systems in wearable devices,” said Rian Wei, Vice President & Bluetooth Product Leader at WuQi. “WuQi's low-power TWS platform enables this capability to be efficiently integrated into commercial products while supporting the real-time processing requirements of next-generation wearable applications.”
Strategic Expansion of MEMS Audio Systems
The collaboration represents another step in USound's strategy to expand MEMS audio systems beyond sound reproduction into integrated hardware-and-software platforms for the next generation of hearables and wearable devices.
About USound
USound is a fast-growing MEMS loudspeaker and software & AI sensing company enabling customers to bring revolutionary hearable and wearable products to market. Its unique value proposition is based on radical miniaturization, power reduction, production efficiency, and software-driven functionality. USound's technology portfolio is protected by more than 500 patents. Learn more at usound.com.
About WuQi
WuQi is a leading designer of network communication and smart terminal chips, focusing on research and development and sales of connectivity system-on-chip (SoC) chips and software solutions. With core capabilities in high-bandwidth communication, low-power design, and on-device AI technology, WuQi has established a complete independent R&D platform and built an internationally competitive product portfolio, delivering premium system-level chip solutions to numerous well-known brand clients. Learn more at Wuqi-micro.com.
