The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has announced a new audio standard in Las Vegas. Audio content should be able to be transmitted in high quality and energy-saving – even to several end devices simultaneously.
However, details of the new standard have not yet been announced. It is expected that more detailed information will follow in the first half of 2020. So far it is known that in addition to the new standard LE Audio, the standard Classic Audio will continue to exist. The new LE Audio standard will work with an energy-saving Bluetooth version (“LE” stands for “Low Energy”), while the Classic standard is based on the classic Bluetooth standard. Use cases and compatible audio products should not differ fundamentally between the two standards. For LE Audio, however, additional functions are to be introduced.
Overall, Bluetooth expects the LE standard to provide better transmission quality with low energy consumption. LC3 should be able to offer high quality even at low data rates.
In addition to LE Audio, the new function Broadcast Audio was announced, which should be of particular interest to companies and institutions. With this function, audio signals can be transmitted simultaneously to several terminals. The release can be personal or location-based. The number of receivers is not limited. Thanks to the lack of limitations on the number of receivers and the possibility of location-based sharing, this function is ideal for use in meetings or in museums and other cultural institutions such as theatres – where audio information is transmitted to different people at the same time. Up to now, this has usually been achieved with the help of unwieldy audio guides, which then have to be activated in some way. With the new Bluetooth function, these difficulties could be elegantly avoided.
